5 Years in a Fixer Upper: Before & After Reveal

This month marks five years since Eric and I moved into our mid-century modern fixer upper! The first time I saw this house, I saw a one-of-a-kind charmer that I wanted to call home. It was easy to gloss over the 1,000+ square feet of ivy, 50-year-old carpet and dimly lit kitchen with 1980s appliances.

I’m glad I saw past the cosmetic issues because this is a special place, but I can’t say every part of the restoration process has been a dream.

Sometimes I pine after home listings offering those three little words I long to hear: MOVE. IN. READY.

When we first moved in and started planning our remodeling projects, I read that it’s a good idea to look at your home restoration in terms of a five-year plan. Assume it will take five years to accomplish what you want, and divide your end goal into yearly projects to get you there.

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So How Realistic Is the Five-Year Plan?

Some people fix up their homes in five years or less (according to Pinterest). If you have a healthy amount of free time and money, that definitely helps expedite the process.

For the rest of us, five years might be more of a starting point, especially for a bigger fixer upper. But you can still get a lot done in that time!

As Eric and I celebrate our five-year house-iversary, I wanted to share what we’ve done so far, and what we still want to accomplish. Wherever you are on your home improvement projects, I hope you enjoy this before and after progress report and keep finding happiness in beautifying your fixer upper.

Completed Fixer Upper Projects

Major joy is sparked when I see these parts of the house with no projects in progress. Pop the champagne.

Living Room

This was one area that drew us to the house. We removed the carpet and added hardwood floors right away, which took this space to 90% complete. We also had the fireplace doors plated in satin nickel. Décor wise, I think I need to collect some art to hang above the couch over time, but structurally I consider this room good and done!

Shop This Photo: Orla Kiely Multi Stem Pillow | Yellow Corduroy Pillow | Boho Mod Fringe Blanket | Marshmallow Sofa

Exterior Siding & Stain

Two years ago we repaired our cedar siding and had our house stained to a dark brown. This was a huge step in creating the mid-century modern lodge look that I was going for.

I’m glad we prioritized getting this done within the five-year plan, before the siding could take any more weather damage. This update should last awhile.

UPDATE: Check out our latest accent paint and curb appeal updates

Breezeway

Right away I added concrete planters to spruce up the breezeway. But I kept losing plants because it was too dry, too shady, and I forgot to water them enough. So I recently finished up my breezeway for good with artificial plants. No more dead plants!

Guest Rooms

I feel happy with this guest room just as it is now. We removed the carpet and polished up the hardwoods, then added paint and the mod cat decor that so clearly belonged in this room.

Shop This Photo: Mod Cat Art by Donna Mibus | Orange Hipster Cat Pillow | Turquoise Cat Pillow

Our basement guest room is also in good condition. Once I settled on a paint color, this room was simple to fix up by adding travel posters and bedding.

I Love Lucy Craft Room

Creating this craft room was an undertaking that wasn’t complete until year four. The wood panel walls had to be patched and painted. The musty basement floor was cleaned, deodorized and painted.

We replaced the flickering lights with mid-century globe lights. Then we built the storage table and wall units to create a space worthy of holding pretty yarn, fabric and all the crafts.

Shop This Photo: Lucille Ball Poster | Mid-century Modern Counter Stool | Yarn Storage

Massive Ivy Removal

My yard as a whole is still a work in progress, but I feel like I need to acknowledge my ivy removal project as complete. With the help of solarization, we got rid of the invasive ivy in the yard for good. Now I can focus on growing happy plants with no evil ivy.

Fixer Upper Rooms in Progress

These parts of the house are SO CLOSE to completion. They were almost complete within the five-year plan!

Entryway

The entryway got a lot of love this year. We finally fixed up the previous wallpaper damage, painted the door and added new Sputnik wallpaper. Eventually we want to refinish the stairs, and Eric is planning to strip away the shine on the slate to give it a matte look. Then we can call this area done!

Dining Room

The dining room got a new George Nelson light, paint and hardwoods. I plan to keep this room nice and simple. The only lingering project is the liquor cabinet, which you can’t see around the corner on the left. We took out the ’80s floor cabinet early on, but that spot needs a new floor, and maybe a couple of additional shelves.

Office

We both spend about nine hours a day in our home office. This is an area that needs to be pretty, and it’s come a long way.

We gave it a modern light, a new day bed and a mid-century shelving unit. There’s also a mod cat painting above my desk, featuring my two cats.

The final thing I want to do in here is replace the steel desk with a huge built-in desk that extends from the bookshelves and all along that left wall. I just have to get Eric on board with this plan.

Upstairs Bathrooms

I love our pink and aqua mid-mod bathrooms. They are only missing a few last touches, like a metal finishing strip and backsplash on the counter in the aqua bathroom. And a fresh shower tile job for the pink bathroom. Maybe that’s a little more than a “last touch,” but it’s getting there.

Master Bedroom

I would call the master bedroom done, except the bed is the focal point and it’s just not bringing it. I’m looking for the right headboard to give this bed some personality. This will probably turn into a DIY project.

UPDATE: Here’s how I finished styling this cozy minimalist bedroom

Future Projects

These are the big remaining projects on the house to-do list. Luckily the main floor of our house is almost done. These rooms are mostly in the daylight basement, except for the kitchen.

Kitchen

We gave the kitchen a mid-century modern style floor and new appliances, as well as fresh contact paper and other little updates. I love the 1960s wood cabinets. But the overall layout is on the awkward side, so we’ve got some plans in the works.

Della from MidMod Midwest has great ideas about how to update these square mid-century kitchens here.

Just a few days ago we decided to start our major kitchen remodel. We opened up the wall above the counter facing the dining room (right side of the above pic). Oh so much light is now flowing into this previously dark kitchen. Now we have to patch up the drywall and replace our countertops and backsplash tile.

UPDATE: See my new glitter laminate kitchen countertops

Rumpus Room

The basement rec room is the future home of our tiki bar. This will be a fun project involving retro tiki lights and lounge seating!

Replacing the floor will be the biggest part of this project. Even though these retro floor tiles are just my style, they are cracked, brittle and chipping all over the place, so we’ll be covering them up.

UPDATE: Check out the cork floor we installed

Basement Bathroom

The basement bathroom shower has dark brown tile and grout. I feel like I’ll never be okay with that. We also want to give this room a more era-appropriate floor.

We’re making progress on the new built-in you can see below. I also painted the vanity using some of our house colors to give it a more retro look, and we added mid-century style lighting.

Laundry Room

So here’s my scary basement laundry room. I know that a beautiful laundry room is a novel idea, and we’re really lucky to even be living in a time with washers and dryers. But have you seen all of the stunning laundry rooms out there these days?!

My fellow blogger Karen at Decor Hint gave her laundry room a gorgeous makeover. It’s enough to make me think there could come a day when I don’t dread stepping into my dungeon to do laundry. Goals.

Landscaping

I sketched out a backyard design early on, and the yard is starting to resemble my sketch! We created a pea gravel area with new raised garden beds, added tiered beds along the fence and replaced tons of grass and ivy with mulch and new plants.

The deck and stairs to the lower part of the yard were rotted. We ripped them out and added new stairs last summer. Eric also built a mid-century modern gate, and we added a breeze block wall for privacy, with help from Eric’s brother and dad.

In addition to the never-ending battle with weeds, there are a few remaining projects in my yard. I’m still working on adding more paver stepping stones. I’d like to level out the fire pit area and create a built-in fire pit. And now that we have stairs, we’re planning to finish the lower area of the yard with a new deck.

I just have to walk the line between maintaining the landscaping I’ve already done, and squeezing in new projects to get this yard in shape. We’re getting there!

UPDATE: Here’s how our Trex deck turned out

Keep the DIY Dream Alive

So where are you on the five-year plan for your fixer upper? I know it can feel like you’re drowning in DIY projects and your inner perfectionist can’t go another day staring at that dingy carpet or busted wall. I’m with you.

Fixing up a home can be such a long process, and the five-year plan isn’t always realistic. Just keep working. Throw in a margarita once in a while. And come cry into my inbox on the bad days.

Someday we’ll be able to call our homes move-in ready. 🙂