What to do first when you've bought a fixer upper

Two years ago Mr. H and I moved into a house that needed significant work and we were on a timeline. I thought I’d share what worked for us to take our house from disgusting to livable in short order.  This article applies if your home is a cosmetic fixer and you plan to live in the home while you renovate yourself. If you need a new foundation or have huge holes in your roof, rent an apartment and hire the pros. If your house is outdated, dirty and covered in ugly wallpaper, keep reading.                             

First things first, the day you get the keys, before you do anything, take photos. You’ll want to have these “before” photos to look back on when, a few months from now you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere.

As you’re walking around taking photos, start a list of everything, big and small that needs to be done.  Did the previous owner take all the light fixtures with them along with the stove burners? I can relate. Those items should go to the top of the list. Once you’ve got down everything you can think of, prioritize by importance so you know where to begin. This is also the time to start thinking about budget—for major items, make a column for estimated price.  Once your list is set, you can work through it as time and money allow. 

As soon as the photos are taken (and the list is started), it’s time to clean. If your house is large or in really bad shape, focus on one room you can live in, one bathroom and, hopefully, the kitchen. Vacuum, mop, scrub and disinfect.  We focused on cleaning our living room and lived there while we did work on the rest of the house.

Which leads to the next tip. Don’t really move in. Unpack a few essentials and stack the rest of the boxes in the garage. Live in one room if you can, tack some sheets on the windows and get to work.

Now that you have a bed and at least one clean(ish) room, have a party. Make some snap decisions on paint colors, buy all the supplies and invite over your family and closest friends for a full day of work.  Have them help you remove wallpaper, prime and paint walls and trim. Get as much as you can done in a weekend.  If you’re going to replace carpet or refinish floors, you won’t even need drop cloths, if you’re keeping the flooring, be sure to cover the carpets.  We got almost the entire interior of our home painted in a weekend this way.  It wasn’t the best paint job ever and the colors we chose aren’t perfect but there’s nothing like a layer of paint to freshen up your home and make it feel like yours.  Check out some other articles on Refurber for painting tips and be prepared to let go of how you’d do it in favor of having help and getting it DONE. Reward with pizza and beer.

If you need to do floors, do those next and, after that, you can start to really move into your home. As soon as you move out of your one room studio and into the rest of your place, you’ll quickly realize you need some curtains or temporary window covers and probably a million other things but you’re already well on your way. 

Good luck, enjoy your new home!