McMansion Makeover Before and Afters

After getting cold feet on a lot out in a rural area, we decided to take on a MAMMOTH project of remodeling a “McMansion” foreclosure in one of Farragut Tennessee’s most prestigious neighborhoods. The home was built in 1993, no doubt as a “contractor special”. The home was littered with low grade tile, generic fixtures, and bottom of the line cabinets and appliances. As mentioned, the home was a foreclosure, and was treated as such with badly damaged carpet, huge holes in the walls, window treatments removed or damaged, and just a general lack of upkeep.

Exterior

We purchased the home for a ridiculously low amount of $62 a sq ft. It was basically a construction loan with an additional $100k to make repairs. The main issue with the house was the exterior cladding, which was EIFS. (Exterior Insulation Finishing System) It had, supposedly, been installed wrong, especially around the windows. Almost all of the windows were rotted, except for the ones already replaced by the previous home owner with vinyl. About 40% of the exterior sheathing had to be replaced, along with many of the 2×4 studs. The rotted studs had to be re-enforced with new studs. After the studs got replaced, new insulation, and new sheathing added the synthetic stucco was replaced, and the whole house repainted to match. Sound expensive? It WAS! The original quote laying on the counter when the house was on the market was for about $35,000. After all of the additional damage was found to the studs and windows the final bill was over $58,000! (START RANT: Five years later, after our stucco was re-done by the so-called “experts” in town over $20,000 dollars worth of additional damage was found during moisture inspection. Not only that, woodpeckers had discovered the home and had turned the back of the house and the chimney area into Swiss cheese. The holes made by the woodpeckers became nesting places for birds. EIFS is a FRICKING NIGHTMARE! Stay away from a house with any amount of EIFS on it at all costs!!! (END RANT) NO WAY we were going to put another $20k into EIFS repairs so we had the entire house clad in pre-painted Hardie plank. It looked amazing, and came with a 20+ year guarantee. Incidentally, our house SOLD within two weeks after the Hardie installation. It had been on and off the market for five years!

Interior

The first thing that had to be dealt with were the walls. There was wallpaper EVERYWHERE! I’m not talking about anything even close to cool either.  I’m talking “country kitchen” flowers and repeated patterns everywhere. Where there was no wallpaper the walls were all sunflower yellow. With two-story ceilings, and 5,000 sq ft we hired the pros for the paint. It took a crew of eight men two weeks plus to take down the wall paper, prep the walls, and do three coats of gloss white on the trim and two coats of flat grey tones on the walls and ceilings. A few years later, after trying to sell our house and constantly being told it was too cold and sterile, we repainted the walls a very warm, beige color.

The condition of the carpet in the house when we bought it was hard to describe. I would compare it to something out of a “Saw” movie. Every square inch of the carpet was stained with juice, dirt, or some other substance I would rather not think about. Because of the enormity of the carpeted areas, over 3,000 sq ft, we went with a rather low grade of carpet with installation from Lowes. The conditions of the installation were pretty bad for the crew, so I’ll cut them a little slack, but it was pretty rough. Wrinkles all over the place. Lines where the pieces were joined were very visible. The carpet was a very low pile, so that certainly didn’t help the cause. Half the lights didn’t work in the home due to electrical issues so they were putting this stuff in after 6pm in the dark, or with flashlights. Still, it was a HUGE upgrade from how the house looked with the original carpet in.

After the paint and carpet were installed we started on the kitchen. As you can see from the slideshow the kitchen was a disaster. Cheap cabinets, chipped laminate countertops, and generic six inch tile everywhere. The first order of business was to remove the wall separating the kitchen from the living room. This really opened up the plan and gave site lines to upstairs as well as the breakfast room. All of the six inch tile was removed and replaced with hardwood, which meant the entire 1st floor hardwood had to be refinished to match. Our contractor was a Master Plumber who had recently got his general contractors license, so re-routing the plumbing to clear the wall was no big deal. we also added a second sink, and turned the original sink plumbing into a pot filling/vegetable prep area. The cabinets were from Ikea and that was a love/hate project. We LOVED the style of the flat panel, and the price, but having to drive hundreds of miles (this was before the Atlanta store was built) to pick them up, find some missing, and have to go back was tiring. Still, the end result looked GREAT. Because of the money we saved we could go high-end on the appliances. I found a place in Georgia that would sell us a Fisher & Paykel package, along with some Decor pieces, and a Miele coffee maker with no tax and free shipping. We went with Silestone counters with stellar night color. Basically black with mirrored specks. The light coming in through the living room windows would reflect on the kitchen ceilings for a stunning effect. The counters looked as good when we sold the house as the day we had them installed. We will definitely be putting them in the new house.

I WANT THAT: Baths!

We had been living in the upstairs master while the renovation was going on downstairs. We demoed the downstairs master ourselves, with some help from our kitchen contractor to demo the shower area and install the spa shower plumbing. The master sat empty for quite a while due to lack of funds. HGTV, where we both worked, was looking for bathrooms to remodel locally, and because the space was nice and large to fit the camera crew in, we were picked for the show! While we had to pay for materials, and the tile installation, we got a designer to pick everything out, and the sinks, toilet, and glass shower door were donated. What we ended up with was a spa like retreat that was definitely my favorite room in the house.

The Rest

About the only items that were untouched by us were the recessed lighting, and a few vinyl windows. Every door handle was replaced. Every light fixture, indoor and out, was replaced. We kept the cabinets in the bathrooms, because they were solid wood, but painted them a glossy grey and put new stainless pulls on them. Every plumbing fixture was replaced. All toilets were replaced as well, including the two most used toilets with dual-flush water-saving models. The laundry got a complete makeover with plumbing moved to the dryer cubby, and stackables installed. This gave us a lot more room to add a sink, storage, and folding table.

Four years after the original remodel we repainted the entire house, replaced the ultra-modern light fixtures, with more traditional ones, and replaced the powder room wood, which was rotted in places, with porcelain tile, as well as a new backsplash and new, less ultra-modern sink, in an attempt to appeal to more buyers and sell the home more quickly.

The remodel was a TON of work, but I feel like we saved a home. The neighborhood was great, and this house was the eyesore of it. We bought it for $305,000 and sold it for $580.000. Considering the amount of money we put into it, we didn’t make a huge profit, but the neighborhood is much better for it, the new owners love it, and we learned a lot. If anything, that we didn’t want a huge house. We want to live nicely, but simply. On to the next build!

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