I bought a house in Detroit’s East English Village neighborhood this past April and have been rehabbing it over the last several months. The house was a foreclosure and had probably been vacant for just a year or so, but long enough that the garage door, water heater, and even all the door knobs from inside had been taken and scrapped. I even had some visitors while I was going through the closing process who stopped by to eat a bunch of pizza rolls and other microwaveable food, and I assume also sleep on the floor.

I wouldn’t call it done, because it probably never will be, but it’s close enough now that I can share some before and after photos.

I had a functional side door, but one of the first things I did was to put the front door back on and replace the locks. I also had a contractor put on a new roof, re-plumb the entire house, update the electrical, rebuild the furnace, and install a new water heater.

Garage:

Living Room:

Downstairs Bathroom:

Side Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Stairs/Hallway:

Midway through the progress…

Removing Boarded Windows:

Shoutout to my friend and now neighbor, Eric, who through this process: lent me a lawnmower, let me use the bathroom in his house while I was working on mine and had no running water, lent me tools (including a heat gun that I haven’t actually given him back yet), let me crash in his guest room longer than expected after my lease was up and house was still not ready, helped move furniture, and can be seen here taking a board off a window:  

Back Bedroom:

Upstairs Bathroom:

Front Bedroom: