It's one of the most frustrating things: Putting all of that hard work and cash into a renovation and then realizing, when it's all done, that you didn't take a "before" picture. And there's no going back:
Photos of your kitchen, bath, whatever space you're renovating can be useful for a number of reasons:
Bragging Rights: Just showing friend and family how bad the space was before you renovated can be quite fulfilling.
Blogs: How else can your space ever be featured as a Before & After project here on Apartment Thearpy?
Resale: We've yet to see a home marketed in this way, but we're waiting to see a renovated home's listing complete with before and after shots to show just how value was added to the property.
Those are some pretty important reasons for taking "before" photographs. But if you, like us, forget to do so all the time, here are some ideas:
Write a note. Afix a note that reads "Don't forget before pics." to your toolbox, paint cans, whatever you go to when you start a project. We store all of our interior paint colors on a shelf in the basement. A reminder taped to their lids would prevent us from moving on to painting yet another room without first photographing it.
Check with the realtor: Did you rent or buy your place through a realtor? Check with them to see if they still have the listing information for your home. While this isn't ideal, it will provide you with some form of "before" photography.
Okay, so now that you've been reminded and you're setting off to photograph your "before" spaces before a hammer is swung or a brush is dipped, here are a few pointers for taking the shot itself:
Angle: Take some good overall shots at an angle you can anticipate will be good once the reno is complete. Before and after shots are so much more compelling when they're taken from the same angle.
Honesty: Don't junk it up on purpose or take the "before" shot halfway through demo when it really should be called a "during" shot. Simply take a photo of the space that reflects its traits before it was renovated - this will drive home the impact your renovation truly had on the space.
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Thankfully I saved most of the MLS pictures for our house and my husband and I took some of our own, but I still don't feel like our "afters" have finished evolving.
Good call. I realized we didn't have any "before" shots of our new home before our decorating, but I was able to take a screenshot of all the listing images in my web browser, crop them, and save them as examples. Don't tell the realtor; pretty sure there's a reason the site wouldn't allow me to save them directly!
good tip putting the note on the toolbox! I have forgotten many a time to take before shots.
I wish I had seen this post about a year ago, but then I hadn't even discovered AT yet. I have a new beautiful kitchen floor, which I hope is just step one in an eventual complete redo, and no before pictures of the cheesy cheapo vinyl tiles that had big cracks and holes following the gaps in the slapped-down OSB sub-floor. Still have a bathroom with the same tiles/cracks/subfloor: I wonder about photoshopping it into a kitchen before-shot!
YES!!! I regretted not taking any 'Befores' of lots of projects since we started our reno. So before we gutted our kitchen, first floor bath and pantry last fall, I made sure we got 'em all documented. Hopefully we'll have some decent enough 'Afters' that years from now someone won't be blogging 'Befores' of all our hard work!
Don't forget to make the lighting ideal and identical to your future 'After' pictures to pacify the people looking at your before&afters... ;)
JK. good tips !
Back in the early 90s, my mom had a one-woman business of cleaning and doing small renovation jobs for houses on the market. One of the things she did was take the before photos mostly for personal satisfaction, because boy-o-boy, some of those houses were b-ad. But for larger renovation jobs, showing the before photos to potential buyers makes a lot of sense.
@eeks: lol! =)
I can't agree more. My fiance and I are ending our 6 month reno of a house built in 1850 but not updated since the 1980's. I have taken SOOO many pictures (over 500) of everything that has been down to the house for so many of the above reasons. I wish our house had been completed in time for the Ask This Old House Reno contest but alas maybe next year!
Thanks for the tip. I'm about to move into a new-to-me, but very dated condo. Right now I'm just in the imagining phase of renovating the kitchen and bath areas in the space, but will move "Take Pictures" to the top of my To Do List - right before "Roll Up Sleeves."
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