this week i want to showcase how talented my husband is. one of his favorite hobbies is to purchase old homes and renovate it himself. he learned it from his talented dad who built his first home by reading a book when he was just in his early 20’s. yes you read that right, by reading a book on how to build a house! talk about a genius, right? and the house still stands strong today and someone else lives in it now. so jay helped his dad build their 3 houses in Hawaii when he was growing up so he can do pretty much anything; plumbing, electrical, you name it, he can do it.
so this is our house #1. we used to live in this townehome until last fall and as you’ll see from the pictures it was really outdated. to see a more detailed video of the before see here.
the backyard before:
the kitchen before:
i helped a little too haha. but i was 4 months prego so i couldn’t help out much.
the after:
just omit the mess of the kitchen in the pics below. 😉
the wall by the entry door was shortened a lot so it’s more open
and look how little miss A was with her two teeth on top and bottom!
she was excited for the renovation too.
and jay’s friends/cousins/family came to help in the process too. thanks guy!
we’ve now moved into another house because jay was getting the renovation itch again but my dad retired recently so my parents moved back to their house here from Korea(YAY!!!) a few weeks ago and jay graciously offered to renovate their whole house before he gets to ours. so i’ll have to post pictures of my parents’ home too when they’re all done!
the backyard before:
the after:
the fireplace before:
the after:
then he broke down the huge wall upstairs
and built a new wall/doorway facing the other way
so the bedroom would be connected to the bathroom(which it wasn’t before)
the bathroom before(after we painted the stripes):
the after:
(and the closet you see with the clothes hanging used to be the hallway.
but now it’s being used as the walk-in closet.)
i wish i could find more pictures of the before/after of this house,
especially the bathroom on the main floor, bummer.
but as you can see, he is amazing. i’m so proud of him!
wow, your husband is so talented! so did you guys pick out the new stuff together or was that mostly your touch?
great hobby and it's very smart way to earn some money:)
I hope some day you will find the perfect house from which you won't be willing to move out;)
hugs!
ps.have a look at my giveaway,it ends today:)
J.
That is awesome Sarah! I love doing that type of stuff too but don't dare do it on my own, lol. My grandfather use to build homes from scratch as well so I think that is in me because I have been really itching to do the exact same thing. Just the housing market really sucks here in AZ and well being a stay at home mom on one income with three kiddos doesn't leave a lot of room or flipping houses or so the banks think. So someday. The renovations Jay did are great! Love how both of you are so inspiring and so talented! Keep it up!
Very impressive!
Wow do you rent him out?
WOW….he really is talented! I wish I know how to fix houses too. Does he need an apprentice?
dude i love what j did to your old place. can he do ours when we buy a house in hawaii? yay thanks. haha i can't wait to see what he does to your new place. and when he does i wanna come over and help so he can teach me how to do it, i love watching hgtv. i wanna learn. tell j
thank you everyone!
@julee: he picks out all the stuff and asks me what i think on certain stuff. i usually always like the stuff he picks out since he has good taste so it works out good. 🙂
@casey: wow you know how to renovate stuff too? i think it's even cooler when girls know how! 😀
@nelli2: he gets all the comments on his email too so i'm sure he'll get your message. haha ur so cute. 🙂
Just found my way over to your blog from IHOD's post about you, and I must say your DIYs have me all sorts of inspired! I love everything you do; it all is so gorgeous! I'm smitten with your blog 🙂
wowowowowow holy crap, jay! this is awesome!!!!!! way to go! i love your blog, sarah!!
I love your blog! It looks like you and your husband are both very talented!!
you have such an amazing talented husband. He could make a living doing stuff like that for people.
wow!! he sure is the man!! i LOVE LOVE LOVE the fireplace!!!
A man that can build things and/or cook is something else! What a keeper you have!
X
Jeanelle
http://www.GlocalGirl.com
thank you so much everyone. your comments means so much to me!
i married a handyman too. love it 🙂 x