The Rental Property Is Finished!

From April until now, the all consuming thing in my life has been renovating a rental property that I own with my brother and sister.  Like all century buildings, one job leads to a dozen more and the project snowballed to a complete gut on some rooms.  My siblings, their spouses and myself are pretty worn out and so very happy to pack up the paint brushes, cleaning rags, saws and hammers!

I'll take final photos of the inside this weekend to show you that I haven't been slacking off, when my posts became sporadic, these last couple of months.

I will give you a peak at what we did for the outside.  We didn't want to spend a lot of money on the old garage and shed but they definitely needed to look a little more presentable.  Getting rid of the garbage the tenant left behind was a good start.

Here's the scary before pic of the shed! ~

The broken window was replaced with glass from an old window.  A few missing boards were replaced and a couple of gallons of stain were applied.  We switched out the old door with one we had replaced a year ago in the main building.  Then, we three ladies in the work crew set out to pretty it up.


Here's what a little ingenuity and some elbow grease can do! ~

The gates from the broken arbour became shutters.  A pile of bricks were arranged to form a planter.  Some white washed, clay pots brighten the window and some little pots of flowers set on the old rail road ties add a bit of rustic charm.

The garage soaked up another five gallons of stain.  It's the original barn from the 1800's and that wood is mighty porous!

There's a half acre of grounds that hadn't been kept up when the tenant was here, but it's coming back nicely with some love and attention.

When we bought the property from Mom's estate two years ago, we had all the windows and doors replaced and painted the exterior ourselves.  I give all the credit for painting the second story to my brother and sister in law.  It's a really tall building and there was no way I was going up on that extension ladder!

The retail space is at the front of the building and all it needed was some colour added with pretty planters full of flowers.  All the planters came from our own stashes so the only costs were in the flowers.  ~

So, that's the easy part of what we did.  The tough stuff was inside!

Thanks, readers, for hanging in there with me!