A House Update - 1960's Fixer-Upper Ranch House

In case you missed it, I gave a BIG life update in this post which mentioned that we would be moving to Pennsylvania in the fall and taking on a fixer-upper Ranch House from the 1960’s! I’m actually in Pennsylvania until July while my husband is working overseas so I’ve been able to check out the house situation and try to figure out what to do next! It’s going to be awhile until we can actually do some major work on it but I thought I would at least show you all the BEFORE photos of the house so you can see what we are dealing with!

A 1960’s Fixer-Upper Ranch House

This house actually has a lot of family history. We are moving into my husband’s grandparent’s house. I believe his grandfather built the house (or helped design it – not sure) in the late 1950’s and they added onto it in stages as the family grew. So I’m excited to move in and give this family home a refresh because it’s been neglected for awhile.

However, it needs A LOT of work and it seems kind of overwhelming. We aren’t exactly sure what needs to be done because I’m still in the process of looking for contractors and electricians and plumbers BUT I have a feeling that we will need to fix a lot. I also have very high aesthetic/design tastes and this place has a loooong way to go before it meets my standards…haha.

But overall, it’s a nice size house with lots of space and lots of potential. We don’t have floor plans so I don’t know the square footage. But right now it has 6 bedrooms(!), 1 bath, kitchen, dining room, laundry room, mudroom, and garage.

Kitchen “Before” Photos

Soooo this kitchen is a whole project. Not only is it outdated, it’s rusted and falling apart. And the layout needs a redesign. Right now there isn’t enough room for the appliances – the fridge and stove are blocking cabinets. We also need to figure out space for a dishwasher and microwave. A pantry would be nice too… If anyone has layout design suggestions hit me up!!

One of the things we need to do is take down the big arch which is really making the kitchen area look small and blocking a lot of space for cabinets/appliances. (I love a good arch but unfortunately the size of this one is just too much). I’m hoping to make the kitchen flow nicely into the dining room area so that it’s one big room.

1960s rancher kitchen before photos — Hopefully we can bring this sink back to life.

SO yeah…the whole kitchen is getting ripped out and the only thing that’s staying in the vintage farmhouse drainboard sink. At first I was going to take that out too and go with a more modern farmhouse sink but this one has charm! Hopefully it’s salvageable and won’t cost too much to restore.

Living Room “Before” Photos

The living room area is not bad. It’s a nice big space with a large window. I’m not thrilled with the carpet but at least it’s relatively new and clean. The fireplace is a nice size – although I’m not in love with the style of the brick. The large arch will also come down because it just makes the room feel smaller (the small arch going into the dining room will stay). We are hoping to swap out the carpet with wood that will continue from the dining area into the living room. The trim needs to be redone and the walls need a fresh coat of paint. That’s probably all we will be changing for now!

Living room in a 1960s rancher fixer upper — That door is technically the front door but eventually we will remove it and add the front door somewhere else where it makes more sense.

Bathroom “Before” Photos

Sadly, this is the only bathroom in the house! It’s very small and obviously, a mess. Someone started tearing off the tile and never finished. And the floor is in pieces as well. The standing shower situation is actually new and doesn’t look bad. But with two small kids we really need a tub. It doesn’t seem like fun trying to bathe a 4 year old and 1 year old in a standing shower! So we are hoping to put a tub back in, redo all the tile, flooring, lighting, etc. This will be our top priority along with the kitchen. Oh – and the plumbing needs work – OY!

1960s bathroom fixer upper before photos

small bathroom fixer upper before photos

We will eventually be adding another bathroom to the house (fingers crossed) because I can’t imagine living with just one bathroom…haha. Even in our small apartment in California we have 2 full bathrooms and one half bath. But obviously, that’s a huge expense and we will have to get to it later.

The kitchen/dining, bathroom, and living room are the priority right now. Hopefully if we can get these areas fixed up we will have a nice section of the house to live in while we work on the rest of the house. I’ll be sharing the rest of the rooms in a blog post later but if you want to see a FULL HOUSE TOUR video then check out @thefamilyhomestead on Instagram! That’s where I’ll be sharing all the home content and updates!