At the inception of EcoLiving Property, we aimed to have a positive impact on the properties we touched and the communities surrounding them. We wanted to inspire others to follow our influence and see how homes can be renovated in a mindful way which reduces harm to the environment. We knew with every project we would find ways to improve our own system; increase the sustainable ideas and decreasing the waste. We knew we would face challenges and that others would doubt our ability to accomplish our goals.
What I failed to realize is the positive impact we would have within our own house and with the next generation EcoLiving home rehabber. My daughter has absorbed so much of the business from how we preview a property and estimate repairs, to what products we use in our projects and how we market. She can recite many of the things I tell to real estate agents, contractors and fellow investors about our business. And she is excited about some day being responsible for her own project. Now if she could differentiate between colors/patterns of her own preference and the preferences of the majority of buyers I would say she is about ready.
This knowledge and experience will give her financial security early in life by recognizing the value of real estate and understanding the business. Even better, she identifies the desire to protect the environment. I have no doubt my daughter will continue to improve our processes and share the positive influence until the environment will no longer need protection. I’m just grateful to be planting the seeds.
Seeing as it goes with the character of this century old victorian property, we opted to reintegrate it into the hall bathroom. With naive optimism we assumed finding hardware and installing plumbing would be as easy as a Sunday afternoon soak… Select a tub faucet, handle, shower faucet done – right? Let’s just say, after hours of searching, conversing about and re-searching faucet options – we still don’t feel like we have determined how this bathroom will take shape.
In place of continuing to shop for faucets that don’t exist, I turned to a google search for “clawfoot tub images.” This will help give me some direction for what to look for, I thought. It didn’t take me long to find almost exactly the tub we have in the house with the same three holes and where they are positioned. Enlarging the image showed it was attached to an article link entitled “Why You Shouldn’t Install A Clawfoot Tub.”
One of the first tasks to this project was reinforcing the main beam in the basement of the house to ensure it will continue to be structurally sound for another century. The house had a noticeable droop in the middle and walls were cracking and some doors were not level because of this. Then, throughout the main floor we refinished the wood floors and trim. We fixed the pocket door between the dining room and office and opened part of the wall between the kitchen and dining room. We removed the drop ceiling and paneling, updated all of the electrical and added new light fixtures.
Beyond opening the kitchen to the dining room, we also reduced the full bathroom to a powder room in order to add more cabinet and counter top space into the kitchen. The new cabinets, counter tops, tile and paint compliment the classic design of the property. It was important to us to maximize the kitchen design to include the most storage space as possible while not interfering with the back entrance to the house or basement door. We overcame this challenge while still maintaining the big open feeling everyone desires in a kitchen.
The office is on the main floor with access from three doorways; the front hall, dining room pocket door or the kitchen. It was also a victim of the drop ceiling and paneling. We also had some damage to the wood floors in this room which was able to be remedied to blend.
One of the greatest improvements to Midtown Blue is the addition of a master suite. Fortunately this room already had a grand size walk in closet which we know is not always the case in houses built in this era. Once the clutter was cleared we were able to construct a plan to open a doorway between two bedrooms to add an en suite bathroom. The second bedroom (the blue room) also provided a stairway to finish the attic into livable space. The master suite is stunning and we are slightly jealous of the future homeowner who will get to lay their head down here each night.
remembered carrying bricks between the houses to construct the patio, how her dad put a giant freezer in the storage area and then built walls around it, and the hours spent on the pool table and entertaining in the basement. She talked about where the original stairway to the basement was and how her dad “got a wild hair” to put in the spiral staircase in the middle of the entryway. And she is looking forward to bringing home whiskey barrels from the bar as her own memento, as she remembered her dad’s dedication to making wine that everyone said tasted awful. Jessica also had fond memories of the home and especially the bedroom in the corner where her name remained on the wall when we bought the house. We had been calling the pink room “Jessica’s Room” all along. She reported unfortunate memories of taking a few tumbles down the stairs when she was young. And remembered dancing with her cousins on the dance floor and mimicking a champagne celebration by shaking up sprite, loving the sound and feeling of shoes sticking on the wooden floor.
