Apartment Before and After

Some of you may know that we have an apartment in our basement. We originally lived down there renting from some people named Marlo and Lindsey. He got transferred with his work and decided to put their house up for sale. My parents were looking around for an income property, at the time, and bought it from them. J and I moved upstairs and became the managers. My parents then sold it to us about a year and a half later. (P was born on the 26th and we closed on the house on the 31st. I highly recommend NOT purchasing a house at the same time as having a baby. Major stress!)

So, we've owned the house for a little over four years. J and I have done a few things to fix up the apartment. The bathroom originally just has a shower. Unfortunately, it started leaking and we had to replace it. I insisted on installing a bathtub because I figured we could appeal to more potential tenants. We've ended up replacing a water heater that is located in the basement and replacing a furnace down there too. Those were completely unexpected but had to be done.

Anyway, our old tenant gave her notice in the middle of October. I immediately started looking for some new tenants. (This time of year is a terrible time to find tenants. It's cold, the holidays are near, and the university is already in session.) I managed to find someone quite quickly and they decided they wanted to move in. She and her husband have four boys and were worried that they'd trash the carpet in the living/dining room. She suggested installing some plank self adhesive vinyl flooring. We went together to The Home Depot, priced it out, and shared the cost in the flooring. We'll be prorating the amount she paid out of their rent slowly. Anyway, it was a great opportunity. They came over a few days later and helped us lay down the new floor. It went down pretty quickly and looks great! Here are some pictures:

Dining Area Before

Tiny Kitchen Before

Living Room Before

Living Room After!!

Dining Area After!!

Tiny Kitchen After!!

Don't mind the shop vac. I was tired and too lazy to move it! ;-)

We are really pleased with how it turned out. Now, one day when we get lots of extra money (HA! Yeah right!) we will be expanding the tiny kitchen. J has the plans made already for what to do. 

One day, one day .........