01/28/2026
Long Story. But first, I'm available and booking February!
I regret forgetting to take “before” photos on big transformations, but sometimes I just get blindsided with discouragement. When we arrived at this house in Savannah, GA, it was truly disgraceful. The tenant had trashed it and abandoned it.
It sat for five months with no power (imagine what a fridge full of food looks like after that) There were holes punched in multiple walls, broken furniture, kicked-in doors, garbage everywhere, and a pile of stolen, ripped-open Amazon packages on the back porch. The toilet and sink leaked. The bathtub had some kind of tar splattered across it. The grass was 2 feet tall, and a tree from the abandoned neighbor’s property had fallen onto the house. No heat. No running water. Literally every surface needed repair, treatment, cleaning, and paint. Even the hardwood floors had heaved from the cold ( it’s currently colder in Savannah than Vancouver, which feels upsidedown).
While we worked, my husband and I slept on an air mattress in the house. It was worse than winter camping because we were ill prepared. We wore every layer we had and shivered through the first night, then borrowed space heaters for a couple of marginally better ones until the furnace was finally replaced.
BUT... by the end of the week, it felt like a beautiful little home again. We cooked meals on the now-spotless stove. In seven days: junk-removal, tree-falling, landscaping, deep cleaning, carpentry, drywall, painting, bathtub epoxy, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and staging.
It went from deeply discouraging to a presentable real estate listing in one week flat.
And I am profoundly grateful that chapter is over.
..Now we have had our flights home canceled for 3 days in a row. Fingers crossed that we make it home tonight...