The Backstory

Our rental renovation journey is pretty crazy… let’s start from the beginning. My husband is in veterinary school at Michigan State University so we moved to the area in August of 2016. We weren’t sure where we would end up after school with his job placement so we were very hesitant to buy a home and risk having to resell it when school was finished. We started searching for a rental property but weren’t having much luck. We were put in contact with someone who owned a home in the area, that was formerly his grandmothers, and he was going to flip it and sell it but then later decided that he wasn’t ready to let go of it and wanted to rent it out. We knew that the home wasn’t in great shape but were willing to take a look.

The State of the House

We drove up to Lansing to view the space and when we arrived the entire house was gutted down to the studs. EVERYTHING inside needed to be replaced. They assured us that the renovations would be completed by the time we moved in and were wondering if I wanted to help with the design. I was able to help pick the colors, cabinets, finishes, etc. It felt like a dream. I just kept having to pinch myself. How is it possible that we came thinking we were just going to rent a property and I ended up getting to design our new home. We signed a 4 years lease and prayed that everything would be completed by our deadline when we needed to be moved in for TJ to start classes. The renovation process took a couple months and we made several trips to Lansing during the process. Thankfully, everything was completed on schedule and we were able to move in as planned. Even since the renovations were completed, we have continued to do our own DIY projects to make this house feel even more like our own.