Home Tour: Our Cozy and Cute Rental Property

This year we took the scary and exciting step of becoming landlords. Michael had a home that he purchased before we were married and we decided to use it as a rental, but it needed some work before we could rent it out. We made some changes to create a cute and functional home that any renter would enjoy while making some thrifty choices to keep our costs down. The result is a cozy and neutral rental home perfect for a single person or a couple.

 

 

We didn’t do much to the outside of the house beyond power washing and repainting trim. We did, however, dress up the front door area with a porch light and house numbers on a painted mount. We used a spare piece of wood and painted it gray before mounting the light and numbers. We also repainted the old metal mailbox black. Both projects just added a little extra style to the front porch.

 

 

You enter into the living room from the front of the house. We kept that area extremely neutral by just painting the walls white. That also helped put the focus on the beautiful hardwood floors. We painted the front door with the same gray paint that we used on the kitchen cabinets to create a uniform look throughout the house.

 

 

In terms of remodeling projects, we had the most fun and made the most changes in the kitchen. The kitchen originally had wooden stock cabinets with no pulls or knobs. The floor was an ugly tan vinyl and there was a laminate countertop with no backsplash. The only thing we decided to keep was the laminate countertop because it was in good shape and was a fairly neutral color. We painted the cabinets and added some pretty nickel pulls to the doors. We purchased and installed a new stove and a new faucet. We also added a backsplash using vinyl peel and stick flooring in a wooden plank print. It gave a fun and textural feel to the backsplash while also resisting water and food stains. Finally we added a new vinyl floor in a retro print of gray and white checkered squares.

 

 

In the two bedrooms, we kept the walls white. One of the floors was in wonderful condition so we just polished up the those floors. The other floor needed some patching and repairs so we decided to paint it with gray porch and patio paint. I love the look of a painted floor and this one turned out beautifully.

 

 

The only bathroom in the house is small, but it has a large storage closet. We painted the walls gray and added another coat of white paint to the cabinets to brighten them up. We also added the same retro vinyl flooring that we installed in the kitchen. Other than that, we just thoroughly cleaned everything to make sure that all of the tile and enamel surfaces were also bright and spotless.

 

 

Finally, the door in the kitchen used to lead out to a poorly-laid patio curving off of a hill. We dug all of those pavers stones up and laid a stable crushed limestone foundation so that we could create a secure patio. We used the original pavers to lay a flat and stable patio that the renter would actually want to use. The old patio also used to look out on an apartment complex so we decided to build a small run of fencing to provide some privacy. The result is a secluded back patio that functions almost like an outdoor room. It’s the perfect little space for morning coffee.

There are still some things we would like to do to the house. Eventually, we would like to paint the outside and possibly add a full backyard fence. At the moment though, we’re just so glad we could make our rental a place where a tenant could really feel at home.