Windsor Terrace Reno
The grand tour... »
January 20, 2007
So it begins...
As the saying goes....start at the beginning. So I think this week is as much of a beginning as a blog can possibly expect.
We have been waiting for closing day for several months and what was once a far off worry about how we are going to transform this place is now the full on stress creeping its way from the back room of my mind to the front door. So very much to do in a house that has so much potential but so many problems and expense. It’s got money pit written all over it.
Sigh.
Anticipating a day that we will actually live in this house and that the house be totally transformed, I'm starting this blog to chart the progress. Or lack thereof. When it’s all done, I'll look back on it and laugh at all the crazy times. You know, how the work finished early and under budget and better than we hoped. HA! Okay, maybe I'm recording this whole thing because I'm keeping my mind off worrying about it. Either way, if anyone is still reading, please enjoy and leave me a comment or two.
Here she is:
Maybe you're thinking to yourself, 'that doesn’t look so terrible, what’s to worry about?'. Ok, you asked for it!
*warning: this photo not suitable for the young or the young at heart!
What’s that? You've seen enough! I thought so. And I bet you won't even believe this photo makes this room look BETTER than it looks in person. That's right, you read correctly: better. What’s all that brown stuff? I’ve tried to tell myself its dirt but I’m not about to do any taste tests.
Whoever said pink and brown was fashionable didn’t have this torture chamber in mind.
Yes, there are some nice things about this house that did make me fall in love with it and its potential, but right now its being outshined by the bad. The few people who have come thru the front door with us usually do this quiet mumble of an "ugh" because it’s pretty disappointing once you get inside. But beyond all that dirt and nastiness, I think a gem is waiting underneath. Hopefully I thunk right. So I'll go into some of the positives in a later post. Until then, don't let this bathroom haunt your nightmares.
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Comments
Nice place. I see a lot of paint stripping in your future. Have fun.
Posted by: glenn at January 25, 2007 12:16 PM
Good luck!
Posted by: carolyn at January 25, 2007 12:16 PM
Congratulations and Good Luck!
We bought a place 1 yr ago in probably the same condition if not worse. The best advice I was given a long time ago was to take my time and live in the house first before any major construction.
So, we carved out a space to live - made a workable kitchen, bathroom and 2 rooms to sleep in. I'll add that we have a child who at the time was 4. We also had to use space heaters to heat this livable area because all of our pipes busted just before we closed on the property.
Were we crazy? YES! But because of that experience of living in the space we soon learned that the architect's drawings didn't quite go with the flow of the house. The house actually told us how to design the space. I know that sounds crazy but we changed the location of the kitchen 3 times and finally have found the best location. The light that came into the space dictated where the best location for the family room should be. Anyway, I can go on, and on about this but thank goodness we did this because we're saving a lot of time and money by taking our time.
At the end of the day, I've found/learned that all of the cool items that we've cut in mags with their layouts didn't necessarily work for us. Each home is unique and each family have their own way of living. Take your time and learn more about the home before starting any costly construcion.
- my two cents
Posted by: Anonymous at January 25, 2007 12:36 PM
Don't despair. When I bought my house it had not one but three bathrooms worse than that: scummy square sixties tile (one bathroom in pink, one in green, one in white) covering what turned out to be rotten walls underneath. Ripped out the tile, rebuilt the walls, inserted greek key floor tile borders from American Olean (they custom make them in the pattern and color you want, charged per linear foot - six weeks for delivery), added hex tile internal field and Victorian tile or bead board wainscoting and nice period plumbing and lighting fixtures and voila! Of course I could only afford to do one bathroom every couple of years, but when I finished all my friends came over for a bathroom party. Hang in there, it's worth it.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 25, 2007 12:54 PM
Congratulations, what a gorgeous house on the outside! :) I'm looking forward to sharing your adventures with you.
Posted by: ppsw at January 25, 2007 1:40 PM
this is a gem...don't you worry, it just needs a good polishing. congratulations!
no personal (tacky) questions asked.
Posted by: modern in cg at January 25, 2007 5:17 PM
Love the banister and doorknob! You were right about the latent beauty in there, and it's wonderful that you're putting in the work to restore this place. Good luck!
(Sorry if this is posting twice, but I just got an error message)
Posted by: waverly at January 25, 2007 5:57 PM
If you paid, 900K, it was a steal. I suspect you paid significantly more. You have a beautiful house and I agree with many posters above. Excellent bones and solid, if tarnished detail intact. Any skeptics have no idea what they are talking about.
Yes, you may need some significant upgrade costs, but take it slow and your confidence will grow as your experience does.
Any similar houses on the market for me? By the way, don't bother with the paint stripping. Painted mouldings can be quite beautiful, unless you have lead paint concerns.
Posted by: Andrew from PS at January 25, 2007 6:32 PM
Well at least you have a sense of humor about it (for now!). I like the tone of the blog and the good pics so far. Question: How did you go about estimating the renovation costs? Did you work with an architect? Thanks and good luck.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 25, 2007 6:41 PM
Thanks for the comments everyone.
For those who have been there, done that, I'd love to see some photos of your homes if you dont mind sharing. There are a lot of decisions we have to make in terms of how things look that I'd love to hear some expert advice on. We are having a particularily hard time finding tiles for the bathrooms that are period appropriate without being insanely expensive.
Yes, we are working with an architect. So far, he has been really great in honoring the ideas we have and also giving us some great suggestions. We've never worked with an architect before since our previous reno jobs were not as complex so I wasn't sure how critical it was. Now we are in the midst of things, I can see how a good architect is worth his weight in gold.
We estimated our reno costs by getting some estimated bids on the work we wanted done before we purchased. But we know full well that estimates are just that ... so our architect is doing a very specific set of plans so we can get formal bids from several contractors. We want to limit the # of surprises as best as possible.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at January 26, 2007 11:23 AM
Wow !!! Great job !!! What do you think is reasonable for a budget--I'm guessing 400-500k to do a great job ?
Posted by: Anonymous at January 27, 2007 2:18 PM
Mrs. Limestone,
I say clean up the space with soap, water and bleach. Carve out a livable area and live in the house for 6mths to a year without starting any real work. Trust me, the house will tell you what it needs and it will give you enough time to do research and learn what's really cost effective versus overpaying for jobs.
Good Luck.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 28, 2007 10:23 AM
Nice site you have!
Posted by: dizionario at February 22, 2007 3:17 PM
What is the name of this great architect you are working with? We have a similar project coming up and are loking for an architect.
Good Luck!
Posted by: Anonymous at February 22, 2007 9:15 PM
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