1970’s Colonial Home Remodel {Before Pictures}

We did it! We finally got a house and I’m so excited to share the before pictures of our Maryland Colonial Home with you.

This year was a crazy year for buying a house. We looked at 20+ different homes and submitted 7 offers. Most of our offers were over list price and we still didn’t get the house because they got a better offer.

One of the homes we put an offer in on we offered $50,000 over list price and they ended up with 25 offers and several better than ours. Isn’t that crazy?

Our Home Search

After searching for several months for a home we were scheduled to go see a home and noticed another listing in the same area that had been on the market for 5 days. In the crazy real estate market right now, a house that isn’t under contract within a day or two is hard to find.

Anyway, after looking at the pictures Jared didn’t want to see the house it looked like it needed so much work. I was able to convince him to just go take a look at the house, it was a colonial home which is a style we both really like.

Well after going to see the house in person we realized that the listing photos made it look a lot worse than it actually was. And we fell in love with the potential of the house and the backyard.

Since the house had been on the market for several days and didn’t have any offers we offered below list price with an escalation over list price.

They got back to us and said they just wanted to get the list price and asked if we would do that or they would wait for another offer. We accepted their counteroffer and were FINALLY under contract for a house.

The Colonial Home and Yard

Remember how I said we fell in love with the potential of the house and yard?

The Home

The home was built in the 1970s and was still owned by the original owners which means it was very well cared for but very dated. The home was very compartmentalized and had wallpaper everywhere. I told Jared we should call the house the wallpaper wonder.

The wallpaper was a mix from the ’70s and ’80s which means there were lots of colors and designs. The orange bathroom with flower wallpaper on the walls and orange plaid on the ceiling had to be one of our favorites.

We had a lot of ideas of ways we could improve the home for both function and resale value. We had a timeline of 6 weeks from the time we closed on the house until we had to be out of our apartment.

The plan was to get the house done and ready to move into in that time frame. But of course, remodeling projects rarely go as planned, so we moved into a renovation project and are having a great time making memories as we finish up the house projects.

The Yard

The yard was one of the big selling features for this home. It was very overgrown with large bushes, but it also had a few large trees which we love. The backyard was totally fenced in and big.

The front yard of the home also had trees and the home was set back from the street which is a big plus with little kids. There were some large overgrown bushes in the front of the house, but that’s an easy fix.

Our Colonial Home Remodel Ideas

There was a lot we felt like we could do with the house both inside and outside. Some of the remodeling projects would be quick and easy while others would take some time.

And of course, as we started on these projects we just found more projects to add to our list and realized that things we were planning on waiting on tied into other projects.

So needless to say our list of projects grew a lot from what we planned on doing right now to what we are actually getting done.

Remove The Wallpaper

The top remodel project on our list was getting rid of all the wallpaper and painting the house. We didn’t love all the wallpaper prints throughout the house and so it had to go.

Finish the Basement

The basement of the home had a large unfinished living room with a fireplace as well as a finished bedroom, bathroom, and an unfinished laundry room.

While the bathroom, bedroom, and laundry room could use some work and updating the main thing we wanted to get done in the basement was finishing the living room.

Add a Master Bath and Closet

On the bedroom level of the home, there were 4 bedrooms and a tiny hall bathroom. We decided to take the smallest bedroom and turn it into a master bathroom.

We also decided to take some funky space in one of the rooms and make a large walk-in master closet. I don’t know about you but I love having a walk-in closet and master bathroom.

Open the Kitchen, Dinning Room, and Living Room

Like most colonial homes this home had a very compartmentalized front room, dining room, and kitchen. The small closed-off rooms are one thing that a lot of people (including myself) don’t like about colonial homes.

Our idea was to open the kitchen and living room wall to give sightlines and a more open feel. We also want to remove the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room to make a larger kitchen with an eat-in dining area.

Add Laundry on 2nd Floor

Like I mentioned above there is a laundry room in the basement but since we were already planning on adding plumbing for a new bathroom to the second floor we also decided it would be nice to add laundry near the bedrooms.

Landscaping

Both the front and backyard need a lot of landscaping. First, we want to rip out all the overgrown bushes, trim the trees and get grass growing better (in the backyard).

At some point, we would love to add a firepit and other fun landscaping features but we haven’t planned that out and it will be in the future sometime.

Add a Garage

There is space to add a 2 car garage to the house and that is something that we would like to do at some point in the future, but it’s not currently one of our projects. We need to save some money after all these other projects before we do that.

Large Covered Patio

In one of the homes we rented several years ago there was a large screened-in back patio and we would love to add that to this house sometime in the future.

Build a Pantry

After starting several projects we decided that converting the hallway and hall closet into a large pantry would be a better use for the space.

Covered Front Porch

Another project for the future is adding a covered front porch to the house where we could have a swing and rocking chairs.

Final Thoughts

We are currently in the middle of all of these projects and I can’t wait to see them all come together. As we finish things up I will be sharing posts about each project and I will add links to those posts here.

I can’t wait to see all of our colonial home remodel projects get finished and see our home put together.