A few months ago, this house was a mess: Water was dripping through a big hole in the roof to a trashcan with a kiddie pool underneath it. There were heaps of outdated clothes thrown on dirty yellow shag carpet in the master bedroom, and duct-taped carpet squares concealed holes in the linoleum.
The wallpaper alternated between burlap and garish mid-century patterns.
But there also some interesting period details.
The kitchen combined two popular colors from my youth: burnt orange and avocado green.
And giant lamps that wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1967 Debbie Reynolds vehicle, “Divorce American Style.”
But it wasn’t clear what would survive the renovation. The property, located in a Lodi subdivision near the Mokelumne River, needed a major overhaul before it could go back on the market.
A few months later, most of the interesting period details have been stripped out.
The walls are white and the carpet in the bedrooms is beige. New hardwood floors have been installed, and the roof completely redone.
The counter tops have also been replaced with the marble-looking finish you see everywhere.
Hints of mid-century design remain.
The swoop of the dining room wall — my favorite feature — is still there. It’s just not as noticeable in white.
The gold cushions in the breakfast nook also survived the process. But the walls didn’t match any longer.
The brown tile in the master bathroom is still there.
But the distinctive, if cheap looking, front entrance seen in this pre-rehab Google shot, was completely knocked out.
Instead of screaming mid-60s, the house now whispers it. It’s a shame, but truth be told many of the old materials weren’t that high in quality. The property will surely sell more readily this way than it would have with refurbished period details.