Buying a home is always an adventure, but let me tell you—our current home? It was a full-on project from the get-go. Our first two homes were pretty straightforward; they needed some minor finishing touches, but they were definitely livable from day one. This house, though? It was a whole different story!
We first saw it just before Thanksgiving in 2018, and if you remember, Thousand Oaks had been through some serious challenges that year. Between devastating fires that had burned down homes in the area and the tragic Borderline shooting, the town was going through a tough time. We saw the house in the evening, so it was dark, and we couldn’t really get a feel for everything the home had to offer. But Melisa? She instantly fell in love with the layout—four bedrooms upstairs, perfect for our growing family.
However, there was one tiny problem… The house was stuck in the past. Picture this: pink carpets everywhere, window treatments that looked like they hadn’t been touched since the ’80s, a closed-off kitchen that desperately needed a remodel, ’90s wallpaper in the bedrooms (yes, wallpaper!), drop ceilings with those harsh fluorescent lights, and pretty much every room in the house screamed for a makeover. We knew it was going to be a serious fixer-upper, but we could see the potential.
We didn’t make an offer until almost two months later, after the holidays, but because of that timing, we managed to get a great deal on the home. The crazy part? We didn’t see it again until the inspection. And that’s when we got a huge surprise!
In the daylight, the yard turned out to be gorgeous! It was beautifully landscaped, with tons of privacy and big, mature trees that we completely missed when we first saw the house in the dark. The neighborhood also had tons of open space, which felt like a dream for our family. And seeing the house again during the day? It felt so much bigger than we remembered!
That’s when reality set in. We had a lot of work ahead of us to turn this house into our dream home. The pink carpets had to go, the wallpaper needed to come down, the kitchen had to be opened up and remodeled, and we had a long list of projects for every room. But we were excited to dive in and start transforming it—one room at a time.
And so, our adventure began! This house has been our biggest project yet, but with each renovation, it’s becoming more and more us. We’re slowly bringing it into this century, making it the perfect space for our family, and we’re loving the process (even if it’s been a bit of a wild ride!).
Stay tuned for all the before-and-after moments as we continue turning this house into the home of our dreams!
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