BEFORE PHOTOS

In 2013 our family purchased our current home. I never imagined that I would ever live in a double wide home because lets be honest...they are often looked down upon. However, when your family has a dream to get out of debt and to live a debt free life your opinion of things change. I am hoping that I can show others that you can love where you dwell and create a home that you love no matter what others may think.

One of the most wonderful things about our home is that is located just behind the church that my husband currently is the pastor of. We walk to church and have a gorgeous view of our church building that is over 100 years old. We also have a view of the original brick school house for this community. We believe that this was all a part of Gods plan to put us in our community where we could minister to those around us. 

This home was a newer double wide that had been foreclosed on. The first time we seen it there was pure shock that people could live in such filth. The previous owners took what was important to them and left everything else. It is a large home consisting of four large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room, kitchen, laundry room and living room. We seen the potential and ten thousand dollars later we owned this home.

The first order of business was hauling out all the trash and then ripping every single piece of carpet out of the home. Then it was time to get to work with painting the sub floors and scrubbing what felt like endless amounts of dirt out of the home.

So here are the before photos.

EXTERIOR 

 

These photos were taken after the really tall weeds were cut down.
This place had been let go long enough that it was like being a field full of weeds. 

 This was a very old garage. This also happened to be the trash pile.
Imagine piles of trash as tall as this building and so much broken glass.
The building interior was also piled full of trash.

 

The lovely stairs.

Side view of the home. 

KITCHEN

Pantry that was located in the middle of the kitchen and dining room

In this shot I would be standing in the dining room looking into the kitchen.
Pantry area is where the broom is leaning against the wall area.
The pantry is one of the first areas that we tore out.
It took up a lot of space in this area and I knew I didn't have enough stuff to fill it.

They left the fridge full of food and trust me there are no inside photos of this thing.

I don't want you to gag. We taped it shut and hauled it out outside!

The orange on the walls is grease my friends.

So many hours spent scrubbing and then painting over this area.
The laundry room is located just through the opening that you can see.
The microwave was full of food splatters and was beyond gross!
Did you see the lovely lighting that they put in here?
There was two of those fluorescent lights.

This shows how the kitchen ends and where the dining room begins.

We have a very large table and a lot of double wide homes do not have a lot of space for a dining area. I remember telling my husband that if our table couldn't fit in here then there was no way we could purchase the home.

One of the biggest draw backs to buying a double wide home is what they call the marriage wall. This is the area where they would take the home apart to move it. On the back side of this wall is where the former pantry was located. I am standing in the living room looking towards the kitchen. The dining room is on the right. The plan is to take this wall down in the future so that it opens up our entire space. However we are unsure if we are going to move this home onto much more land so the wall remains until we can make that decision. 

DINING ROOM

 Standing in the living room looking into the dining room. The light chain was locked up with a lock.

 Standing in the kitchen looking into the dining room.

Just off the dining room is the hallway that leads to three bedrooms and one bathroom. 

LIVING ROOM

Oh sweet living room what can I say. Y'all that was some sort of faux brick painting that was done on the wall. Not wallpaper! It was like a texture process and it was all chipping off and somewhat of a pink color. It was awful. The front door had no handles and was beyond repair. I spared y'all the pictures of the nasty carpets. In this room there was furniture left and so much trash. 

 The fire place area. This was built at an angle in the living room.

 Fireplace and living room windows.

 This is the wall between the fireplace and the entrance to the master bedroom. The kitchen and dining room are located to the right.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE BEFORE AND AFTERS