Hello dear friends. Well, we are finally finished! If you have been following along with me on Instagram over the last year, we bought a house sight unseen from Auction.com and have finally completed phase two of the renovations…..YAY! We’ve listed it as a short-term rental and have been blown away by the response. We are very tired but very happy campers. Would you like to see the journey from Foreclosed Property to Short-Term Rental?

Let’s take a quick tour.

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From Auction Find to Short-Term Rental

A little background…my husband found the house online one Saturday morning (looking at real estate is relaxing to him). He was intrigued. I was meh. The house was located close enough to us that we could do a drive-by. I was still meh. The house was listed in the auction as a 3bed/1bath house with an attached garage.

The location was fantastic. Six blocks from Lake Michigan and two blocks from downtown. Walkable to all the local restaurants and shops. Great neighborhood. However, when you buy a house at an auction, you are purchasing it “as is,” and we were not able to see the inside at all. This is what the house looked like on the day of the drive-by.

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Welcoming it was not.

Despite some serious reservations, we decided to bid. The opening bid was 11,000, but over the course of a few days, it grew to $38,000. Looking back, I can see what a deal it was, but at the time, it was nerve-wracking! We placed our final bid of $42,700 just seconds before the auction ended and held our breath, unsure if we wanted to be the high bidders. A few days later, we were notified that we were indeed the house’s new owners! EEK!

Transforming a Neglected House:

Once we got in and took a look around, we gave a big sigh of relief. For real estate rookies, we had truly gotten off easy. The structure was not only sound, but someone had begun making improvements by adding a 1/2 bath in the house (for possibly a flip?).

The main issues on the inside were the amount of garbage (several dumpsters worth), and we would need to update the heating and cooling. The roof was in good condition, and some of the windows were newer. The outside needed lots of love and cleaning up, but we were pleasantly surprised at the condition overall. I think we had convinced ourselves it was going to be a disaster. Once we cleared the trash, we rolled up our sleeves and decided to start renovations on the bottom floor.

Living Room Renovation

This is what it looked like on day one.

And this is where we ended up.

Shop the space here:

We did most of the work ourselves, but we hired out the things we had no experience in. Floors were one of them. Having the wood floors refinished made a huge difference. Once the floors were stripped, we didn’t stain them; we just added a matte poly for protection.

You can follow more detailed project progress here as we completed the first floor as a project for the One Room Challenge last spring.

The walls are SW Snowbound, and the trim is SW Morning Fog.

In the living area, we needed to ensure comfortable seating for six. The sofa is slipcovered for ease of cleaning.

Dining Area:

Kitchen Renovations:

Kitchen before picture.

Since we knew we wanted to turn this into a short-term rental as quickly as possible and we needed to keep costs under control, we tried to keep and reuse as many of the materials as possible.

The cabinet boxes in the kitchen were in decent shape, but the broken doors needed replacing. Keeping the concrete countertops on the bar and coffee station saved money. I donated the original hood vent shown above, and DIY’d a more modern hood vent, as I wanted something warmer in the space.

We also added the butcher block countertops but saved the original sink and shelving.

We also kept the tile kitchen floors and just replaced a few broken pieces.

White appliances and a light green backsplash help add to a coastal vibe.

One of the biggest bonuses we discovered was that a powder room had been added somewhere along the line.

Although it needed a few updates.

One of my favorite things about this renovation is the wallpaper from SpoonFlower! I just love the birds!

Now for the upstairs!

We painted the stairway trim, SW Iron Ore.

Bathroom Renovations

Here is a before-shot to show you where we started from.

The upstairs bathroom is small but mighty. And this was a BIG job. We replaced everything except the tub (which we had refinished) and the linen cabinet in here. We took the subway tile up to the ceiling and put penny tile on the floor worked perfectly to retain the character and make the space feel fresh and updated.

For me, it’s always about the details. I adore these floral decals. I got them from Leen, the Graphics Queen. They have held up very well, and this is one feature the guests have commented on.

Upstairs Bedrooms:

The upstairs has three bedrooms.

Bedroom number one:

This is my favorite bedroom by far.

Bedroom number two:

Okay, I also love this one!

And finally, bedroom number three. It’s the smallest of the bedrooms. Our goal was to sleep 6 guests, and we made it!

Creating a Welcoming Outdoor Space for Guests:

One of the very best features of the house is the large deck.

What a great place to enjoy a sunset!

From Foreclosed Property to Short-Term Rental

This house’s journey from foreclosed property to short-term rental certainly had its challenges. It involved countless hours of physical labor, navigating our DIY skills (or lack thereof), and moments of immense financial and personal stress. But looking back, the effort was undeniably worth it. Witnessing the transformation firsthand, from a neglected house to a thriving and consistently booked rental property, is to this day, incredibly rewarding. We are very proud of creating something beautiful from the ground up.

You can see the Airbnb listing here.

Thank you for coming along for the tour today!

Other posts you may enjoy:

DIY Kitchen Hood Vent

Cottage Style-The Little Green Cottage Reveal

Modern Cottage Kitchen Reveal

Until next time,

Libbie

This post was updated on 1/12/2025