I have to wonder if some of her friends aren't actually professional designers who helped her out gratis. Maybe?

I've been wondering all afternoon, while I was painting our guest room, about the things cyn427 outlined. How do you manage all that work in 20 days? I'd guess that it was the demo & construction that took place over the 20 days and the finishing touches and decorating took place after they moved in?

That had to have been a hefty budget.

rosie - the entire kitchen was not demolished. The island and peninsula were removed, but some of those cabinets were reused to fill in where the dining room door used to be. And the preimiter cabinets were all painted. Then a new island was added (I think some of the cabinets were reused there too). So, it wasn't all demolished. Although, I do have to admit that the opening was a little off putting. She showed a picture of the outside and said what a mess the house was. The outside did not look that bad. OK, the landscaping was not perfect, but hardly a mess. The back, on the other hand, was a mess.

Even with that, I loved it. A beautiful job and it's amazing that it was done in only 20 days. My impression was also that the work was done by professional workers. She did the design herself with help from a few family and friends.

I really enjoyed that!

I lived in a home in Dallas(built in 1993)that had a very similar kitchen (including the cabs and checkerboard tile) and master bath. It was fun to see how she transformed the space.

I think the owner must be a designer as it was mentioned that she purchased some sconces from "market" which I think is for those in the design trade.

She did an amazing job.

I may be a bit of a cynic, but if she bought a foreclosure, she probably had a year's time from the start of negotiation until closing, ample time to make all the decisions she needed, shop for the new items, and put together an action plan.

The last paragraph before the picture states she's not a designer but she had 5 friends to help her out, plus she had time to think and order things during the closing on the home.

Nice home, but it would be great if the commenter on the blog didn't comment. lol

"The kitchen had never been updated. It was stuck in the 90s.."

Oh dear. Since we "updated" our kitchen in 2009, does that mean it's time to update it again so it will be in style for this decade?

WOW, WOW, WOW!! Beautiful transformation!!
I can't go over the 20 days either!

Beautiful home and to have all those windows..sigh!!

Thanks for sharing:)

Yep.....loved the transformation....but like Oakleyok said...my house is now out dated....sigh....

Jillinnj, I really should have read more carefully. Good for her! That gorgeous after is also far more impressive for what it was transformed from.

Hmm...I wonder what her version of "a tight budget" happens to be. You can get only two out of three: cheap, fast and good.

Beautiful transformation! Can you share the grey paint color used surrounding the fireplace? Thanks!

tsan731 - It didn't list the paint colors anywhere, but I was also wondering about the paint color. I'm really starting to love wood painted with that grayish bluish color. I was looking at my bathroom cabinets earlier thinking how nice they would look in gray.

Laurie

A very nice, but very standard renovation. Amazing that it all got done so quickly, but I think that she did have help. You can see it in the one before pix that is posted right near the end. Workmen clearly trapsing around.

She has done some pretty rooms, but seems to have an issue with balance and proportion Look at that hot mess on the wall in the library/dining room. Lamps that are too large for tables is an issue everywhere.

Still overall impressive. I KNOW that even with help I could never accomplish all that hard work in that amount of time! And I still wonder how much the whole thing cost.

For those who check out CdeT on a regular basis, didn't you think 1) Why isn't that seagrass custom cut for the room and 2) Where is the gray wicker? LOL

yeh. I really love it.
Anyone else wonder what our houses would look like if someone with 5 talented friends and a boatload of money renovated them?( to me it is a boatload) Off to buy lotto.

I think I recognize her floor, it looks just like what we used last year. It's prefinished.

Impressive job ... and of course she had professional help, she just didn't have a gc. Very well organized, obviously. I help out a designer friend every once in a while, and she can pull off transformations in record speed, too. When it's not structural, just furnishings and accessories, BOOM ... a couple of days, and the place looks totally different. You have to buy off the shelf, though, or use your own stuff.

Budget, eh, yes, I'm sure it is someone's idea of budget. She was downsizing, all things are relative. :-)

I had a friend who worked on job where the couple 'downsized' to an entire floor of an apartment building with its own ballroom, so yeah, its relative :) Still an amazing turnaround time, no matter the budget.

Very nice but she had to have help. There is no way she had all this stuff already and it fit so perfectly in the new space. There was no mention of cost involved. When you can throw out a lot of dough it is amazing how fast things can be done. Organization is helpful too. You see those staging shows where they work really fast.

Beautiful, but definitely not a budget reno. I also noticed the huge lamps everywhere that Les pointed out. My house is stuck in the 90s also!

It is nice but all I could think of was the Barbie. And how about 1 in 100,000 woman have a Barbie figure IRL. Same goes for a Barbie Dream House budget.
I'm a bit crabby today.....

I'm a sucker for those before-and-afters, so I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!

I hate to sound like a negative nellie or a wet blanket (or whatever), but to me it did look like a 20-day job and it didn't look v. expensive, either. Those kitchen cabs are just so-so (in my opinion), and painting them white didn't make them any prettier (in my opinion). Or more functional (I'll bet), although the layout is insanely more functional! I think it was *very* smart of her to just use what she has and "make it work" with the island.

All the electrical cords really bothered me. I understand she only had 20 days and her tight budget (whatever that means), so she couldn't / wouldn't put outlets in the floors, open up drywall to put in new outlets. But if you're going to have a floating desk or a penchant for lamps everywhere, then put in the appropriate outlets (if you can).

I also think her choice of tile (for the master bath) and granite (for bath & kitchen) were pedestrian. Her curtains felt totally personal! And she clearly has a thing for huge table lamps and lanterns, which I liked as again, that's personal (I mean the homeowner's personality, not mine). But the granite ... not so much.

I guess to me it felt like someone trying to flip a house would do: in & out, as cheaply as possible, making it look good and appealing to as many as possible.

flyleft voiced my thought (guess I better get going on my stuff). But I also thought she probably bought the place based on function she wanted but also furnishings she already had (ex: all the white slipped furniture)or touches had used before (ex: lanterns throughout). I like the oversized lamps if they are on large enough tables (I think most were). The only room I didn't see much I liked was the DR/now library. If books piled on a table make a library, I have plenty of "libraries" in my house; I kept thinking they were little "messes" I must clean before company comes.

Anyone else notice the wierd choice of crown molding above the cabinets on top of the soffit that created a sorta "picture ledge" that isn't and that really just highlights the fact that crown molding was used wierdly because you have a soffit?

And what about closing up the door from the DR to the kitchen? How are you supposed to bring the platter of roast beast to the table? OK, so you are using the DR as a "library". Without bookcases and books? And with yard sale furniture in the most formal part of the home?

There's a lot of curiously impersonal personal choices here. Like removing the brass and glass panels in the shower and just not replacing them. It's like she's trying to make poor design decisions appear to be deliberate design choices. And not in a minimalist aesthetic choice way either. I agree that the home looks like a flip.

Twenty days, huh? I like most of the changes. Not crazy about the decorating. What's up with all the curtains that don't close? And those lamps on steriods! I do like the gray on the fireplace and bathroom cabinets. Yeah, that "library/ dining room" is definitely peculiar.

I'm less impressed with the creativity and choices of the homeowners than I am with their good planning, organization, and ample financial resources (not buying the "tight budget" story!) With all of the above going for them, I see no reason why they couldn't have accomplished this in 10 days!

Before and after:

It looks like the owner paid attention to the inside but didn't bother to replace the roof.

Would have to agree that after the kitchen, the remodeling wasn't especially remarkable. I found the tiles in the master bathroom to be very builder-grade-quality-looking (like the tiles in our lease, lol) and I definitely wondered about the dining room-turned library set up.

I still think that the renovation itself in 20 days was an impressive feat and must have cost a boat load considering the crew that had to be brought in for the demo & reno itself.

I thought she did a nice job - the only thing I didn't like was the master bath. Not a fan of the tile choice. The color isn't really very appealing and I think I'd hate that open shower. For one it would be cold, and two, It's so very open - no privacy.

I thought the rest was done in more of a real house look. Personally, I hate houses where everything is so very perfect it looks like a decorator came in and "did" the house.

I didn't get the comment from rmkitchen that her drapes were totally personal? Is that what you meant to type? I'm confused, if it were my house I want my drapes to be totally personal. :-)

I got the impression she was doing this house for herself, not as a flip and wanted to move in quickly - hence the 20 days. I think what she got done was pretty amazing for 20 days. Just doing the tile work and floors would take at least a week alone and then all the demo, painting, yard work etc. Definitely had to have concurrently working crews!

Yep -- I was saying that in general it felt like a flip to me, generic, inexpensive, expedient choices, except for her curtains and table lamps which felt like the personality of the homeowner (not like a flip), her personal choice (not geared toward the masses). Even if it's not my personality I always love seeing the homeowner's personality -- I think that's the fun part. Hope that helps clarify what I meant.

Wow. Have y'all read the comments over there? I understand both sides - the overwhelming praise vs the skepticism - but I must say that the discussion here is much more civil. :)

Lamps on steroids,LOL! I thought the same thing. I would add the same comment about the lanterns :) I also agree about the piles of books--untidy! And I thought the colors in the master bath clashed. I feel better now that I am not the only one with a negative reaction.
Though I truly love the white/red color scheme, the front yard, and the courtyard.

I think she did an awesome job. Its a great example of what you can do if you are creative. I love the slate patio. I think she made a way nicer kitchen with the resources she had. Looks like the dining room is still close by.

If our own houses were posted on Cote de Texas's blog I wonder what kind of comments they would get!

I think she did an awesome job too, but I think it's a great example of what you can do when you are in possession of what (in my world!) is a boat-load of money. Great-looking results, no doubt about it.

It is important to not lose sight of what this "after" cost. People with more modest financial resources (most folks) could not accomplish this in 20 days, merely due to the price tag. I know individuals who are far more creative who would need to take at least a few years to do this, due to the costs involved, not a shortage of ideas or good taste!

I enjoy and appreciate "real people" makeovers that truly demonstrate how more dash than cash can yield exciting results.

I really would be happy living there. To me it looks lovely and very, very well done.
But not so much the lamps.

Those lamps are really cool, but not in that room.
Sorry all about the Barbie post. I'm usually a glass 3/4 full person. Been trying to get the HVAC unit fixed at work for 20 weeks. When I saw the 20 days I lost it....
It was just fixed an hour ago. No longer crabby.

As these things go, all the bits and pieces and some of the things that bother people like the piles of books may either not be all hers, or may have been rearranged for the shoot.

Often when things are photographed they are pretty heavily staged or rearranged for the sake of composition. Some magazines come with a literal truckload of accessories and stuff, shocking the homeowner who often thinks a shoot will be a photographer with a camera. I know this is a blog not a magazine shoot but some of the same actions must take place.

Some of the antiques and objets vendors that Joni Webb frequents in Houston and features in her blog display large, and I do mean large, lanterns (I've seen this myself at many of the same venues) and lamps on relatively small consoles and tables. When I first saw this, I assumed the weird juxtaposition of scale was coincidental: the retailer wanted to display all the wares and whatever table was convenient received the lantern, altar stick lamp, etc. Now, it seems that the oversized light atop the relatively diminutive table has become a standard in many magazine shoots and blogs, as though homeowners copied an artifact of retailing for their own look. I happen to like large chandeliers, probably too large by many folks' estimates, but I agree that a few of those lamps dwarf their surroundings. However, the wonky scale may be the owner's thing or she may have sentimental attachment to those lamps. All in all, the project is remarkable. Other than the master bath, most of the objections voiced here are about decorating decisions that can be easily changed. That tile and absent shower enclosure, though, well, not. The homeowner made decisions according to a budget, established priorities, used much of what she had already collected, and appears to have executed one Herculean organizational feat. One bothersome question for me, though, is how is that gas cooktop ventilated and were permits needed/was a new gas line run/or an old one used? That issue is a bit iffy, no?

I think it looks lovely! Not all of it is my style or what I would choose, but I think it's amazing and that she's to be commended for a great job!

Isn't the shower enclosure just likely on back order? It just didn't get there on the 20 day mark or whenever the pictures were taken.

In terms of the gas...there is a national building code and there are unvented gas ranges (a recirculating hood doesn't count, imo)in new construction all over the place, so it can't strictly be part of the national code,right? its how local inspectors choose to interpret, enforce and make their own requirements hold force.

Or it has a downdraft.

I have a confession, I did notice the very tall lamps and I had to ask myself what I thought. I thought it was kind of refreshing and liked it. :)

I didn't go back and look for the lamps ya'll have mentioned, but I have seen the large lanterns on several blogs and in decorating magazines. Even Pottery Barn has them.

tina

Sheesharee - funny that you felt you had to confess!

OK, I confess, I like the open shower. I hate cleaning shower doors. I dream of a shower big enough to not need an enclosure. And, I don't understand the privacy concern. The only one that could walk in on me is my DH and why would I care if he walked in while I was showering? My kids do not walk in my bathroom when I am in there.

About the lamps -- I'm not sure how I feel about them (the big lamps, not the lanterns). I did like that it was different.

Here's a big part of it:
* During the closing process, she started ordering flooring, lighting and hardware to save time � even knowing she might be risking the money.
* By ordering before she closed on the house she was ready to start the demo on day one.
* Friends pitched in to help with the frenzied redo.
* She saved money by going to Lowe�s and buying from catalogues like Ballard Designs.

************
Looking at the "Befores", it's a house with great lines and good interior detail that needs some paint and a freshening-up. It's 100% cosmetic. They didn't move any walls or fixtures - it's what pros call a "minimal remodeling".

The 20 days is quite adequate when you aren't waiting on contractors and supplies and a general contractor. And "satisficing" from a catalog and being decisive really cuts the time it takes.

Much of the work was removing detail - removing that built-in office thing, removing the bookcases, closing off badly placed doors. That's easier than building things.

They saved the cabinets and painted them white - big savings in money and time.

Laying pre-finished wood floor is NOT hard, it just takes strong knees, a good back and a miter saw.

The tile and new fixtures were probably done by a pro, but if you know what you want, it's not going to take a long time.

Her "new" bath vanity is the old one with added drawers and a trendy paint job.

************
I'm impressed!

The one change that might have taken a long time was replacing the electric cooktop with a gas cooktop. Unlike the other changes, which didn't require plumbing or electrical trades, this one does. There is no apparent vent, which may not be to code.

Sue, gas cooktop was mentioned above. It could easily have a downdraft.

IMHO there are some really beautiful aspects of this makeover, but given all of the phallic symbolism, I can hardly believe that this is a single MOTHER'S home!
I think it belongs to a single father.

It does say she's a mother, I believe it's all in the eye of the beholder !!

Hmm.. I'm not seeing how some of you are getting guy out of that?

She's single, thats why she developed the subconcious phallic symbolism? (although I didn't really see it.)

I think that there really wasn't that much actual work done to the interior of the house and it definitely could have been completed by small crew relatively quickly and I don't think that expensively either. She probably had had painters for the walls and cabinets, floor people, landscapers, and probably a general type carpenter for the doorways and trim.

Keep in mind when you are ripping out flooring, painters can move in and patch and paint without have to tarp or tape things off. This saves huge amounts of time.The kitchen cabinets were left in place and merely painted. Likely the doors were removed and taken to a shop and sprayed. The face frames are rolled quickly.

The new island has basic partial overlay cabinets mixed in with some beautiful architectural details like corbels and applied panel molding. Looks harder than it really is. They may even be slab drawers with applied molding.

Prefinished floors would only take a few days to install. Demoing the existing would be 2 days probably. Baseboards are popped off and replaced easily, then nail holes are filled and painted.

The bathroom demo would have been the most time intensive but I think tilers would have easily done the whole thing in a week. She may be waiting on glass for the shower; that is usually a long lead time for custom.

I think she did a beautiful job and has a great eye. She probably had a lot of the furnishings already. The whole time the interior was being working on, the landscapers were clearing, cutting and placing the stone. The house had great bones, just needed a facelift!