Welcome to the SmokeHouse
our first project: the smokehouse
The SmokeHouse was built on a beautiful corner lot in 1973 in a nice, quiet neighborhood in that’s close to amenities, a park, a community center and nature trails. This bungalow has original red oak floors, two gas fireplaces and a finished basement and it is the PERFECT layout for a conversion.
The old owners clearly loved their house and took great care of it….except they smoked in the house and boy did it show. The walls, the ceiling, the windows, the blinds, the cabinets, the floors, and basically EVERYTHING had a yellow tint to it – hence, the Smokehouse.
It has great bones and we’re planning for it to help us complete our goals of making it a cash-flowing property. (If you want to learn more about why we chose this house in particular and the strategy behind it – join the email party to get access to the secret spot on our website where that post will live – a password will be sent to you when it’s posted and VOILA – access granted. TAP HERE to join!).
Let’s go on a tour!
Enjoy all of the before photos below because it is going to look COMPLETELY different. We’ll share the projects that we take on for it along the way so check back soon!
Entrance + Living + Dining Room
Entrance + Living + Dining Room
The first thing we thought of when we walked into the space was how fast we’d be taking down the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen! There are some great features like the hardwood floors, large windows that provide a ton of natural light and the fireplace. The red brick is classic but it’s definitely not the look that we were going for so that was added to the to do list as well. We also noticed that there was a serious lack of lighting fixtures, the ones that you see in the photos above were plugged into the walls!
Goal: Open-concept space
To-Do:
- Remove the wall (providing it isn’t structural)
- Paint fireplace
- Add recessed lighting (pot lights)
- Focal point in the room
- Prime + Paint
kitchen
kitchen
This kitchen offered up a whole lot of NOPE. Nope to the floor, cabinet colour, clausterphobic layout and old appliances. We knew this part of the house would be a total GUT but we didn’t want to buy an entirely new kitchen. So we got creative (or ‘scrappy’ as Chip and Joanna Gaines would say) and decided to keep the existing cabinets and update them by painting them. Stay tuned for a post all about our cabinet painting process to make sure you get a smooth and professional looking final product.
The kitchen also led to the backyard and the basement which is like hitting the JACKPOT for an income property. We’ll be putting up a fire-rated wall to separate the units in order to make it a legal second dwelling.
Goal: update + open-concept
To-Do:
- Sell all old appliances (Facebook marketplace is great for that)
- Remove floor and put down new tile
- Take down upper cabinets on the right to provide more of an open feel to the kitchen
- Paint the cabinets
- Order new appliances
- Put in an island that will house the washer and dryer to provide in-unit laundry
- Update lighting
- New plumbing fixtures (sink & faucet)
- Tile the backsplash
- Paint
- Separate units with fire-rated wall
main bathroom
main bathroom
It’s a decent space and the bathtub is perfect for a young family or for anyone who loves a great bath bomb (and wine? – maybe that’s just us!). The wear and tear on the vanity is a clear indication that it needs to be replaced – so buhbye! We also want the bathroom to match with the rest of the Farmhouse Modern theme that we’re going for so we’ll pick design elements that will reflect that.
Goal: update
To-Do:
- Remove + replace the vanity
- Remove + replace floor tile
- Re-tile the shower
- New black matte light fixture
- New mirror
- New plumbing fixtures (sink & faucet)
- Paint – maybe an accent wall…if Will can be convinced 😉
Bedrooms + master ensuite
bedrooms + Master ensuite
The master bedroom had the worst smoke damage by far. It was supremely yellow and it took multiple coats of primer and paint to cover it up. The ensuite sports a vintage pink toilet and an old vanity so we plan to remove all of the fixtures and start from scratch. As for the guest bedrooms they had some really dirty green & pink carpets that needed to be removed, thankfully there are hardwood floors under them! (hallelujah!)
Goal: Refresh
To-Do:
- Remove carpets from guest bedrooms
- Paint + Prime the bedrooms and closets
- Remove + replace the vanity
- Remove + replace floor tile
- New matte black light fixtures
- New mirror
- New plumbing fixtures (sink & faucet)
basement (aka. second unit)
basement
We’ll be tackling this project after the top unit is ready but we figured we’d include it in the home tour. There are a couple of things that we legally need to change for the unit to meet code (egress windows, natural light allowance, etc) that we will walk you through in a later post. After that we need to design and create a functional space that doesn’t feel like a basement apartment – super exciting!
Goal: Convert into a standalone unit
To-Do:
- Change windows
- Remove carpet
- Lay down new floor
- Run new plumbing and electrical
- Follow all of the rules & guidelines of a conversion (so much more to come on this)
Thanks for coming along on this tour, we can’t wait to show you our journey of transforming the smokehouse into a fresh new home.
We’d love to hear from you!
- What do you think of the before pictures of the smokehouse?
- Which projects are you most interested in seeing?
Let us know below!
Will + Julia