How’s that for alliteration??
I left out one rather large part of the house in my previous post. The basement.
Our basement is actually zoned as a separate unit (so technically it’s a 2 family). It has a separate entrance from the side walk and into the back yard. The space isn’t huge. It’s a studio with a kitchen & bath, although currently that description is very generous.
The “kitchen”:
The “bathroom”:
Obviously they both need to be completely redone. The basement is at the top of our priority list because we have a tenant moving in July 1st.
Today we had a family yard sale with our parents. I’m not a big yard sale person because they just seem like so much work. This actually wasn’t so bad. Rob and I got up about 6am, pulled out the tables and started setting up all our wares. Our parents are very generous and decided that whatever money made went to our house fund.
At the end of the day, we walked away with $284 profit! Cha-CHING!! This is now our basement bathroom budget for the entire bathroom renovation. We want to retile the floor and install tile in the shower. The vanity & sink need to be replaced. We’ll also need a new shower head, toilet seat, and light(s).
We haven’t priced anything out yet but I think it’s doable. Do you? Any tips??
brickcitylove.com 
the house looks so interesting and full of character! i have a question: how did you ever manage to find a tenant already?? especially considering that it looks like it does??
A friend from high school is getting a job in NYC and needs a place. I’m not sure he’s actually seen pictures yet….
Hey! Woo! Big project! We did 2 bathrooms for $1k…but did not do it ourselves, bargain hunt, or try to save. We did it based on our taste and also for re-sale in a few years.
I would say choose cheap but durable plain tile, if you can, go to a demo sale thinger and try to get the vanity from there!
It’s totally doable, but you just gotta be careful from the start. $300 bucks goes quick. I have found that it’s really hard not to bump everything up to get a little bit better. It’s really easy to say, “It’s only $20 more and it’s so much nicer.”
From our experience with a rental house, I would just say try to remember that you aren’t living in it. You want it to be clean, functional and in working order. It doesn’t have to be what YOU would choose. I wouldn’t have chosen the bathroom faucet in our rental, but it was $15 on sale and worked well. Check! If I were you, I’d start with Habitat ReStore or other similar places, before you even go to Home Depot or hardware stores. (We got tile at ReStore for dirt cheap, which is awesome because tile can get so pricey.) A basic vanity and sink can easily run you $200, but much less at the ReStore.
Good luck! Cannot wait to see how it turns out. I think just a good cleaning would make a huge difference.
Congrats on the home!
I will never install carpet in a main rental area again. Even rentals with good tenants have carpets that just get so freaking icky, expecially in a basement. You never know what or when the rain/melting snow will randomly cause flooding in the basement.
We laid tile on the downstairs of our rental last summer and its longevity and hardiness has really impressed me so far. Much better than having to replace carpets every few years or frequent expensive cleanings. I’d only go for carpet if your planning a complete renovation of the basement in a few short years. The ease of being able to rip it up with be helpful.
Since you already have a concrete slab down you can avoid one of the speniest parts of laying tile which is the cement board. I’d go with a skim coat to even out the floors and lay the FREE leftover tile. 7′ ceilings are normal in basements, and is especially good in such an old house.
If you tile, get good knee pads.
– Good luck!
Looks like an amazing space…congrats on closing.
You’d be surprised about living in a narrow house becomes a non issue after a while. My last house was 13 feet wide. Furniture placement was a challenge but after that, I never even thought about it.
Carrie,
I highly recommend you visit Second Chance (again). Remember how much you liked some of those vintage steals? I think a road trip is in order…. don’t forget that there is one in Philly too 🙂
Love you,
Melissa