The Stunning Power of Elbow Grease

So, I buy a house that is not only in Oak Cliff (which has a reputation for ghettos, gangs, and crime that was legitimate 10 years ago and is still too true in other parts of OC) and that also needs a LOT of work. No way around it, my house was an ugly mess in a pretty ugly neighborhood. You know how my parent's reacted? They got up early the very next day, put the lawn gear in the van, and worked on the yard with me for 8 hours spending the whole time complimenting the potential of my house and neighborhood. I am so lucky!!!

As you can see, the yard had gone wild for a number of years. Large saplings 1 to 5" in diameter were growing in the fence and next to the house and everywhere a lawnmower can't go. Bushes grew across sidewalks and clogged parts of the yard. I chose to make the yard the first priority to send a message to the neighborhood that things are changing and to hopefully attract more people to buy and fix up other homes on my block. There's a lot of gentrification going on nearby, but it hasn't quite reached my street. The three of us worked ALL DAY . Between the saplings, wild bushes and vines we pulled off the house we had a brush pile the size of a small sedan by the time we were done. Meanwhile little old hispanic women kept coming out of houses and pretending to check the mail and staring down the street at us, I discovered the invigorating power of taking things down with an electric saw, and my parents discovered the awesomeness that is the wandering Paleteros (hispanic men with small ice cream carts that cruise the area ringing their bells and selling ice cold Paletas. They are the best part of living in a majority hispanic neighborhood in the summer.)The same corner, 8 hours later. Go Team!
(we set the camera in the car window to get a group shot)

My first floor tenant told me later that she got a call from her cousin saying "what's going on at your apartment? I see a bunch of white people in your yard and they're doing things to the house. Is everything ok?!" Apparently the sight of us was very out of the ordinary.

I'd suggest that anyone wanting to improve the look of their house start first with cleaning up the yard. Cut down bushes that aren't needed and do some quality pruning. Don't be afraid to take out large branches! As you can see, it makes a huge difference.

my second entrance, Before

After

The next day we conquered the upstairs apartment, which had been abandoned by the current tenants, leaving a lot of stuff behind.

Living room on that first day
looking into the small bedroom/office in the corner and the hallway on the far right


Small bedroom/office on that first day

Look at the wall colours! The nasty dark blue curtains!!! 6 trash bags full of junk and a twin bed later, we had it cleared out. The tenant downstairs still had a few months left on her lease that I was required to respect, so over the next three months I lived at my parents house half an hour away, worked 60 hrs a week at my job, and put in another 30+ hours a week working on the upstairs apartment.

Here's some after photos of the same area from the pics above, but after a LOT of elbow grease and paint.

The same corner of the living room, looking into the small bedroom/office
Afterward

The Living room entrance after a lot of paint, refinishing the floor by hand, and a new (vintage) door

Up next on the blog: a series of dramatic before and after photos and a photo recap of some projects past

Up next in the house: Ripping out kitchen cabinets/countertop to put in a washer and dryer. By the way there's no washer and dryer hookups. Do you know a cheap electrician and plumber? And I think we'll need shelving. Basically, after the photo recap, watch Tracy and Marco make a complete kitchen reinvention happen with only muscle, imagination, a few power tools and $300 budget. Did I mention the washer and dryer will be delivered in two days and my kitchen is tiny? HA! Should be fun! (i'm getting excited...)