Let's See Your House Projects!

[lsturbointeg]

+1 on the pictures

[hooligan_G01]

The listing agent took terrible pictures, honestly.

Here are a couple of shots, though. There is a flat-roofed two car garage at the front-left of the home if you're facing it from the street. I suspect it was originally a carport when it was built in 1951.

The kitchen/dining rooms have awful red tile - not pictured.

It's small-ish at just under 2K sq/ft with no basement (slab foundation). We'll probably do a master suite addition down the road a little. We're going to live in the house as-is for a good 5-6 months so we can decide what does and doesn't work for us with how the house is currently configured.

Complete kitchen gut and new floors throughout are definitely going to happen.

Cosmetic bathroom renos are probably first up, because we're not changing any configuration with one of the full baths, for certain. Probably need to reconfigure access to the half bath, you have to go through the laundry/mechanical room to get to it, currently.

[lsturbointeg]

Lots of open views! I like that. Lots of potential! Love the wood floors. Look at those hydrangeas!

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by hooligan_COLD

The listing agent took terrible pictures, honestly.

Here are a couple of shots, though. There is a flat-roofed two car garage at the front-left of the home if you're facing it from the street. I suspect it was originally a carport when it was built in 1951.

The kitchen/dining rooms have awful red tile - not pictured.

It's small-ish at just under 2K sq/ft with no basement (slab foundation). We'll probably do a master suite addition down the road a little. We're going to live in the house as-is for a good 5-6 months so we can decide what does and doesn't work for us with how the house is currently configured.

Complete kitchen gut and new floors throughout are definitely going to happen.

Cosmetic bathroom renos are probably first up, because we're not changing any configuration with one of the full baths, for certain. Probably need to reconfigure access to the half bath, you have to go through the laundry/mechanical room to get to it, currently.

I like those floor to almost ceiling windows, lots of natural light. Also looks like you have a decent sized property there - what is the acreage?

[hooligan_G01]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Lots of open views! I like that. Lots of potential! Love the wood floors. Look at those hydrangeas!

Yeah, we had a bunch of hydrangeas at the house in Charlotte, so the wifey was well pleased to see those in the front yard. The trees and other plantings in front need some serious clean-up/removal.

The size/privacy of the back yard, and the huge windows across the back of the house are absolutely what sold us, that and the neighborhood - it's about a block walk to Patriarche Park and probably less than a mile to the edge of campus, but still not an area that is full of students.

I'm think the master suite addition would add about 400 sq/ft or so, leaving us at ~2375sq/ft and 4 beds, 2.5 baths.

[hooligan_G01]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

I like those floor to almost ceiling windows, lots of natural light. Also looks like you have a decent sized property there - what is the acreage?

Just over .5 acres, which isn't bad for in the city. Not much room on either side, but the lots in that part of the neighborhood are pretty deep.

That glass block and low roof at the right-hand end was an addition of a full bath and an office. That's the part of the house that will eventually become the master suite, I think. We'll extend that whole area out and make it a proper bed/full bath/closet on that end of the home.

We also need to add a patio or ground-level deck to the back. There's nothing but grass there currently. I'm thinking big patio with a Malm or Preway freestanding fireplace. Maybe a small courtyard off the new master suite, as well. I'd LOVE to score some breeze blocks to build a privacy wall for the owner's courtyard area!

[RickFLM4]

I also like the glass - very nice. Congrats!

When you say you plan to live in it for 5-6 mos. before tackling projects, does that mean you plan to move out once the projects start? The one thing I wish we did before moving in was replacing the tile flooring. Doing that when all your stuff and you are in the house is no fun, so I feel stuck with the tiles we have.

[hooligan_G01]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

I also like the glass - very nice. Congrats!

When you say you plan to live in it for 5-6 mos. before tackling projects, does that mean you plan to move out once the projects start? The one thing I wish we did before moving in was replacing the tile flooring. Doing that when all your stuff and you are in the house is no fun, so I feel stuck with the tiles we have.

No, unfortunately, we'll probably have to live through the renovation process.

I just meant we want to actually live in the space for a while to get a feel for what we do and don't like about how the home currently functions.

Even with our brand new semi-custom build that we had in NC, after we lived there for a little while, we realized we would have done a couple of things slightly differently.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by hooligan_COLD

Just over .5 acres, which isn't bad for in the city. Not much room on either side, but the lots in that part of the neighborhood are pretty deep.

That glass block and low roof at the right-hand end was an addition of a full bath and an office. That's the part of the house that will eventually become the master suite, I think. We'll extend that whole area out and make it a proper bed/full bath/closet on that end of the home.

We also need to add a patio or ground-level deck to the back. There's nothing but grass there currently. I'm thinking big patio with a Malm or Preway freestanding fireplace. Maybe a small courtyard off the new master suite, as well. I'd LOVE to score some breeze blocks to build a privacy wall for the owner's courtyard area!

Not bad at all for the city. To be honest, it looked like even more from the pictures out the back from the floor to ceiling windows, though of course I can't judge property lines.

We don't live in the city, so we are on a 2.2 acre lot, but I figure at least half, maybe more is wooded. And I just spoke to the guy who apparently is buying the 55 acres we (and all my neighbours) back onto, and he seems like a nice enough guy. He was enquiring whether some of my neighbours would be interested in purchasing some of the land to add to their own property since he doesn't need it all, which I suspect they would be interested.

And I would be very interested in purchasing (or even better, having my neighbour purchase who I know is interested) this little 33ft swath of property in between us, which this new guy will own. If we can get that, we can block all access to our private road, and keep things the way they are. We are 15 minutes drive (at least the way I drive) from a decent sized city, so I feel like we have the best of both worlds.

[hooligan_G01]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

Not bad at all for the city. To be honest, it looked like even more from the pictures out the back from the floor to ceiling windows, though of course I can't judge property lines.

Yes, that part of the neighborhood is a big horseshoe, so the back yards all butt up against one another, so it looks bigger than it truly is.

Originally Posted by Joekerr

We don't live in the city, so we are on a 2.2 acre lot, but I figure at least half, maybe more is wooded. And I just spoke to the guy who apparently is buying the 55 acres we (and all my neighbours) back onto, and he seems like a nice enough guy. He was enquiring whether some of my neighbours would be interested in purchasing some of the land to add to their own property since he doesn't need it all, which I suspect they would be interested.

And I would be very interested in purchasing (or even better, having my neighbour purchase who I know is interested) this little 33ft swath of property in between us, which this new guy will own. If we can get that, we can block all access to our private road, and keep things the way they are. We are 15 minutes drive (at least the way I drive) from a decent sized city, so I feel like we have the best of both worlds.

That does sound like the best of both worlds. We may yet buy and build a few years down the road. If we do, we'll probably be in your type of situation - 2-3 acres within a reasonable drive to "the city".

[hooligan_G01]

Hugh Stubbins is the architect who designed the neighborhood - most of the houses are a variation of a similar floorplan, 2/3/4 bedrooms based of a modular design.

He designed the Reagan Presidential Library, the CitiGroup Center building in NYC, and lots of other things.

https://www.google.com/search?source...10.izID_3W2lwY

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by hooligan_COLD

Hugh Stubbins is the architect who designed the neighborhood - most of the houses are a variation of a similar floorplan, 2/3/4 bedrooms based of a modular design.

He designed the Reagan Presidential Library, the CitiGroup Center building in NYC, and lots of other things.

https://www.google.com/search?source...10.izID_3W2lwY

Cool stuff for sure on the residential side.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hugh...w=1920&bih=937

Interesting to see what all he's responsible for on the commercial side. Cool to know!

[lsturbointeg]

Awesome! Looking forward to the house projects. Post your progress

[e90alpinem3]

We put a new deck on the house late last year. Finally the weather in MA is getting nice enough to enjoy it now have to get the furniture out! Some pictures as the build progressed and then the finished product.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by e90alpinem3

We put a new deck on the house late last year. Finally the weather in MA is getting nice enough to enjoy it now have to get the furniture out! Some pictures as the build progressed and then the finished product.

pretty SWEET! that deck sit pretty high but I can see why with the yard sloping down. I like how you have lights incorporated into the steps and post

[e90alpinem3]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

pretty SWEET! that deck sit pretty high but I can see why with the yard sloping down. I like how you have lights incorporated into the steps and post

Thanks! Yes the basement has 10' ceilings so naturally the second floor is higher plus the slope of the yard.

[lsturbointeg]

progress pictures! half of the stairs is done. the landing is done and now starting to work on the stairs rest going up. I must say i'm very happy with the way it's turning out. everything looks and feels solids. no creaks whatsoever. still need to get the iron balusters installed and the small 1/2" molding to cover where you can see the wood floor on the tread and riser. also there's the molding kit that goes around the bottoms of the Post newels to cover up those metal brackets.

[e90alpinem3]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

progress pictures! half of the stairs is done. the landing is done and now starting to work on the stairs rest going up. I must say i'm very happy with the way it's turning out. everything looks and feels solids. no creaks whatsoever. still need to get the iron balusters installed and the small 1/2" molding to cover where you can see the wood floor on the tread and riser. also there's the molding kit that goes around the bottoms of the Post newels to cover up those metal brackets.

Nice picture framing on the stairs looks great!

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by e90alpinem3

Nice picture framing on the stairs looks great!

Thanks! i'm really excited the stairs will be done after wanting to do this for the last 2.5 years lol!

[David70]

Currently putting in a 2 zone mini split A/C/heat system. Redid (gutted) 3rd floor of our 110 year old house and didn't want to go back with a window A/C unit. Then with the mini split decided to get a 2 zone to also cool our bedroom. Because bedroom is on the 2nd floor with a whole house A/C heat system, not as cool as we like when we go to bed. Normally turn whole house temp. down around 8:00 so that upstairs bedroom gets to desired temp after hours of running. In future won't need to worry about it and will be able to cool bedroom by itself to whatever temp we want. Mini split is more efficient than the whole house and bedroom is roughly 1/8 of the house so likely be much more comfortable and far more efficient. Installing most of mini split myself.

[lsturbointeg]

stairs are 90% done!






so here's what i'm doing with the side trim

[shimmy23]

We're going to replace the hardwood (solid) flooring in our home; hallways, kitchen, great room.

I'm torn between solid hardwood and engineered hardwood. Price doesn't really matter. The old school part of me thinks solid is better just because? On the other hand, our contractor says engineered hardwood would be much easier to maintain and better for the kitchen.

What's everyone's thoughts? Engineered or solid?