Reno Diary Day 1: Finding the Right Fixer-Upper (And Knowing It’s Worth It)
- nvilu7
- Mar 31
- 6 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
30 days to closing
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I wasn’t planning to move. I’d made my condo close to perfect. But, after over a decade of condo living, I wanted something a condo couldn’t offer—independence, a yard, and a garden. Here’s how this renovation started.
At first glance, the house looked OK. Many of the big-ticket items were solid.
The roof was less than 5 years old and the gutters were in good shape. The furnace and water heater were less than a year old. The original windows had been replaced by modern double-pane windows that were in great condition.
However, there were lots of red flags.
The house had been a rental property for decades, getting just enough maintenance to keep it rented. Most of the original house remained, including electrical and plumbing, kitchen, and interior framing and walls. New, cheap, ugly carpet hid the original linoleum floors in most of the house.
The front door and refrigerator looked like they had been attacked by an ax murderer. The stove did not work (despite the listing description of “almost-new stove”). The kitchen had four electrical outlets, no dishwasher, and no running water. When I opened a drawer in the original kitchen cabinets, I couldn’t get it closed.
Outside, the soffit and fascia looked like it had been gnawed on by rabid squirrels. The exterior paint was crumbling off the trim and concrete block exterior.
The yard was overrun by ivy, Oregon blackberry, and more weeds than you could imagine. There were five mature trees planted five feet or less from the house doing god knows what to the foundation. All of the smaller trees on the property looked diseased.
When the home inspection was done, the resulting report was 90 pages long.
BUT.
When I walked in the front door the first time, I knew I had found my home. Because it had never been remodeled, it retained its original midcentury-clean design and aesthetic. The light was wonderful. While the house was small, it didn’t feel cramped. It felt graceful and elegant, with good bones.
Renovating this house wouldn’t involve undoing 20-year-old “improvements” to uncover the original midcentury design. That meant I could get started immediately on projects to make the house safe and functional.
As soon as I walked in, I knew exactly what I needed to do to transform it into the home of my dreams.
I saw glowing hardwood floors and vibrant area rugs. Walls the color of spring leaves. A fireplace hearth tiled in a vibrant orange. A kitchen with enough room to host family dinners with many cooks. A cozy office with sky blue walls. A mellow green bedroom to dream in.
I also knew (before the official home inspection) that the transformation would require a complex, expensive infrastructure investment to update fundamentals like electrical and plumbing.
But, if I got it right, I wouldn’t just have a nice house.
I’d have the right house.
The owners accepted my offer, and my greatest reno adventure began. I closed on the property at the end of August. Acting as my own contractor, I planned, managed, and completed the renovation and moved in at the beginning of November.
How I Got Here
My first two home purchases were new builds where I watched my home come to life from a big hole in the ground to a finished, turnkey house. It was a painless way to learn how a house is actually built.
My home renovation education began when I moved back to my home town and bought a 50-year-old house. Over ten years, that schooling included removing walls, refinishing hardwood floors, replacing the windows, roof, and furnace, adding air conditioning, and upgrading electrical.
After living happily in that house for ten years, I relocated twice, and finally settled in Portland, Oregon, where I bought a two-bedroom condo, which I renovated over time. Every project added to my renovation experience and brought me closer to my ideal home (you can read about those projects here).
After twelve years, the condo was as perfect for me as I could make it.
I also spent ten of those twelve years as the condo’s de facto property manager, managing multiple buildings, exterior landscaping, utilities, frequent emergencies, and copious owner tantrums.
While working full time and traveling two weeks out of the month on business.
Managing the condo was a master class in property maintenance, emergency management and not killing people.
So, even after I read the home inspection report, I was unfazed.
Because, by then, I had already spent years solving harder problems.
Why I’m Sharing This Reno Diary
I was proud of my accomplishment, but didn’t see it as particularly extraordinary. I had spent a career in technology pulling off complex, “impossible” projects with ridiculously high expectations and unreasonable deadlines.
So, I categorized the reno as another difficult project requiring planning, sequencing, budgeting, and problem-solving.
But, after dozens of family members, friends, and acquaintances visited me post-move and said, “OMG! This is beautiful! How the HELL did you do this so fast?”
After every delivery and tradesperson who entered the house post-move said, “Wow! Your house is COOL!”
After my real estate agent came over for coffee a few months after I moved in and said,
“You don’t understand. Renos don’t EVER happen this fast with these results.”
After all that feedback, I still shrugged it off. But then someone I considered a mentor sat me down and said, “What you have done here is extraordinary, and you should share what you know.”
After months of getting this reaction—especially from my women friends—I began to think that maybe I should share how I did my reno and what I learned while doing it.
Because I think a lot of people—especially women—have been conditioned to believe they are less capable than they really are.
Women and Home Renovation
I was lucky. I learned about renovation by owning a 50-year-old house and managing a 45-year-old condo property.
But many women have never been taught basic home improvement skills, yet are somehow expected to magically know them.
Which is nuts.
No one is born knowing how to install drywall or replace a faucet.
People learn because someone teaches them—or because they decide to teach themselves.
Also, contrary to popular mythology, most home improvement is not brute force.
It’s knowing how houses are built.
It’s measuring twice and cutting once.
It’s planning to make sure reno tasks are done in the right order, with no do-overs.
It’s sequencing a kitchen reno from the walls in.
It’s keeping your head and problem-solving when you discover rotting studs.
It’s people-managing so tradespeople get their work done without getting each other’s way.
All of which anyone can do with pre-planning and little gumption.
And yes, sometimes you absolutely need help. There are projects that require specialized expertise, more physical strength than one person can safely provide, or need more time to complete than you have available. I hired help when I needed it, too. There’s no shame in that.
This series is about taking agency. About learning. About knowing when to ask for help—and knowing when to move forward.
Competence is earned, not bestowed.
The house looked terrible when I bought it.
But underneath the neglect, I could already see home.
And that turned out to matter more than anything else.
What I Used to Start my Home Renovation
Assessment
Measuring (quick room sizing + layout planning)
Tape measure (quick room sizing)
Laser measure (fast and accurate)
Moisture Meter (detect hidden water damage)
Outlet Tester (check electrical safety instantly)
Flashlight (for attic, crawlspace, and under-sink inspections)
Planning + Project Management
Graph Paper
Extra-fine pencils
Painter’s tape (map layouts on floors/walls)
Labels (for demo + organization)
Storage Bins (for sorting + staging materials)
Safety + Demo Prep Basics
Work Gloves:
Safety Glasses
Dust Masks
Heavy-Duty Contractor Bags
Up Next
I start my home renovation with a 90-page home inspection report.
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