Fall 2024: I Bought a House Full of Junk—Here’s What Happened Next

When we first acquired this house in August of 2024, it had been left unattended for over 15 years. It was completely full with books, clothes, trash, and many little critters. I had a plan to completely flip the home and get it ready to rent by August of the next year. I knew it would take a lot of hard work, I had a vision and I knew the place had some amazing potential! Our first step was to dig through and save any furniture we thought we could restore. Then our team headed in to clean out everything that remained. We filled three entire garbage trucks and it took a week just to empty the house. At this point I was very nervous, and the task ahead seemed daunting. Would we really be able to finish all of this in just one year? 

Above you can see images of the state of the home when I first purchased it. The amount of stuff filling the space was indescribable. It was truly an intense task just to haul all of this out! Below there are some before and after pictures to help you visualize the cleaning process. It was great to see the space cleared out so I could start making decisions about the layout and designs.

Kitchen before and after clean out

office

living room

primary bedroom

The next stage of our renovation was demolition, where we tore up carpeting, crumbling plaster, and all the old bathrooms. We also had to remove the knob and tube and all of the old radiators. Everything in the house was stripped down to the studs so that I could plan the new layout of the home. Now that the house was clean of any moldy carpeting or old chemicals, my dog Izzy loved to join me in my walkthroughs. She loved to sniff around and explore, and didn’t at all mind the noises of our busy team (see if you can spot her in some of my photos! ). We exposed four windows that had been boarded up by the previous owners, we opened up the attic space to be large enough to fit a bedroom and a full bathroom, and we even expanded the basement to make room for future renovations. I also decided to redo the layout of the first floor, aiming to create a more open floor plan. My new design allowed for a mudroom, closet storage, and powder room to greet you from the backyard entrance, while a wide open living area, large kitchen window, and beautiful fireplace would become focal points from the front door. Below I’ve added some pictures of what the house looked like with nearly everything stripped out! Next steps, start building back up!