Brenda’s family had to move out-of-state and they needed to get as much out of their house as they could for their fresh start. The work took longer and cost more than expected, but in the long run it was worth it. This house sold in 2 months for $226,000 after an offer of only $100,000 before the renovation. Why is it that our houses always look their best right before we leave them?
The free-spirited attitude that made this house a home had to be obliterated for the sake of marketability. An interesting side note, I ended up meeting and becoming friends with the gentleman who ultimately purchased this house. I am glad that a good family is making this their home, because I worked really hard on it and I am proud of it. If the new owner has questions, he can always call me!
This 100 year old house had some issues, we had to build proper headers for arches and windows. The old plaster had failed, which offered the opportunity to update the electrical and add some insulation. I made the decision to remove all the old windows and install new vinyl windows…in the long run it saved time and money, and potential buyers like the idea of windows that will be hassle free.
The kitchen is small, so I added a pocket door to close it off from the more formal dining area. I added 20-amp GFCI outlets higher on the wall in the dining area because this wall is perfect for a future built-in buffet for additional storage. Crown-molding was added throughout the main floor to accent the 9′ ceilings.
This house had an open staircase, but also needed storage. Building the 5′ closet gave me the opportunity to steal just enough space in the back corner of the living room to turn the existing closet into a half-bath. And whenever someone says “they don’t build houses like they used to…”, my retort is “Thank God!” I often find perilous framing when working on a renovation, and once you find it, you have to fix it.
A tiny but welcome half-bath. Where the new header sits was the old doorway to a 36″ closet. I borrowed a foot from the kitchen (next to fridge), and a couple of feet from the living room (left of the new 5′ closet). The bathroom ceiling was dropped to 8′ to accommodate support framing and an exhaust fan. A black & white basket weave floor tile was chosen to keep in character with a turn-of-the-century house.
Small kitchen. I had to keep the layout and existing cabinets. There were 3 – double cabinets for uppers. I took the double cabinet to the right of the stove, cut it in half and added it to the left of the fridge to open-up the room. I also installed a Space-Saver microwave and vented it to the outside.
I wrapped white subway tiles around the stove and over 2 of the counter spaces. Farmhouse sinks are popular these days, so I splurged and installed one. On the side of the kitchen to the right of the stove I removed the upper cabinet. I have used slat board in the past in laundry areas and garages…why not a kitchen! This way there is still some interesting storage capacity without closing the room in.
When building the counters I put 45 degree angles on them to add just a little more workspace. There was a door between the kitchen and the back hall which I removed to keep the flow of the kitchen more open. A new backdoor was added with a full-lite to bring some much needed sunshine into the space. The basement stairs were completely torn out and brought up to code.
I relocated the washer and dryer from a corner in the basement where you had to duck under pipes and ductwork to operate them, to the most open space in the basement. First, the floor had to be flooded to remove old tiles that were probably made with asbestos. I sent tile samples to Wayne State University’s geology department to have them tested and the results came back inconclusive. Better safe than sorry. When wearing the correct gear and working underwater, you can safely remove questionable tiles.
Many layers of wallpaper had to be removed from the walls that weren’t being demo’d. There was a small nursery type room upstairs that was sacrificed to rework all of the 30″ existing bedroom closets into more modern 48″ to 72″ closets. All together, 22′ of linear closet space was added to this house!
Wow…unless you have been through a major renovation, you may not have an understanding of just how ugly your old house is underneath everything! This small room above the back porch had a really low ceiling. You can see in the image to the left that the ceiling joists were just a few inches above the windows. Well…I ripped it all out and raised the ceiling (and beefed up all the rest of the framing, and re-enforced the porch foundation underneath). Now this room is perfect for an office that has a great view of the backyard.
This stairwell was originally 2-stories. I dropped the ceiling on an angle and installed mini-recessed can lights. This facilitated the bedroom adjacent to the stairs receiving 6′ of closet space in lieu of the 3′ it was born with. The bathroom got a new toilet, new floor tile and a new medicine cabinet for a much needed update. The hallway got a new linen closet at the end and an enlarged attic access that was framed to be drop-stair ready. All new trim, doors and white paint throughout the house really made the house feel like the new owners could start over and make this place theirs!