Yuliya and Eugene Kovalov saved money by living in her parents’ basement, but they didn’t have a bathroom or separate kitchen to prepare meals for themselves and their daughter, Victoria.
So they decided to buy a cheap home and renovate it. When the couple viewed a house on the south side of Lake Lanier with Don Frey of Keller Williams Realty Community Partners, the lot was overgrown and a leaking boiler had caused mold and stinky, wet floors.
Eugene, who works in IT, and Yuliya, who is studying to apply to dental school, bought the three-bedroom fixer-upper in Cumming. Yuliya chatted about the search, which included viewing more than 25 houses, and DIY renovations.
Q: Why did you decide to buy a home?
A: Even though it was a good deal for us, it wasn't the best option with the baby (Victoria turns 2 in March). We started looking at apartments. They're crazy expensive. We needed at least two bedrooms. That would put us at over $1,000 a month. A lot of our friends, what they bought is some really cheap, beat-up houses. (They) completely renovated them and did it themselves. I thought, "OK, we can probably do that too."
Q: How did you find the home you bought?
A: At the beginning of our shopping, we looked at these houses close to the lake. It was listed for $124,000 for a long time. It was listed as a three-bedroom, one-bath, so I never considered it. Then the price went down. They listed it for $98,000. We said, "Let's go see it, and maybe they can bring the house down even more and maybe we can put up with one bathroom." There was actually two bathrooms. One was a half bath in the master bathroom, but it was easily extendable to adding another shower. That was our first project. We offered $95,000. They agreed. Then a long process of short sale started. We were waiting for over a month for his bank to say, "OK, we accept this offer, too."
Q: How did you start off remodeling?
A: The kitchen was positioned in a really weird way (with a half wall). We changed the plan around. We completely stripped the bathrooms and tiled everything.
Q: What did you pick out for the home?
A: I got gorgeous, hand-scraped dark wood floors (from Dollar Floors). We got the shaker-style cabinets from Home Depot. The appliances (such as a Bosch stove top and GE Profile oven) were floor models. We got floating vanities ($50 each on Craigslist). We did all the recessed lighting.
Q: How did you do DIY projects without making mistakes?
A: We're YouTube certified, as we call it. Before any project, I watch hours and hours and hours of videos. I read everything possible — blogs and everything. I see what people do or how they messed up. I laid the kitchen backsplash myself. The most important part is research.
Q: How much did you spend on the renovation?
A: Including appliances, we spent $15,000. And we did it the way we like it.
Q: What was your favorite project?
A: The fireplace. We destroyed the huge red brick one and tiled it to look sleek and modern. Everyone comments on how cool it looks.
At a Glance
Eugene and Yuliya Kovalov’s home in Cumming, built in 1979, has three bedrooms, two baths and about 1,100 square feet. They purchased it in April 2015.
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