With the end of the year rapidly approaching this may be the last reveal house of 2019. There’s a slight chance we’ll have one more completed by the end of the year, but with the holidays we may hold off on the reveal until the new year. It just depends.
Introducing the “Honey House”
So with that, I am sharing what I nicknamed “The Honey House”. The backstory on this house is interesting because when it was first listed it was priced high for what the condition looked to be. BUT it had a much larger foundation size than most homes in this neighborhood.
If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you know that I primarily buy houses from the MLS. It’s always a surprise to me when people say they can’t find any deals. I find them all the time. This particular house was listed at a higher price point than it should have been but it was also in good enough condition for someone to either live in “as-is” or to buy and renovate over time. I still went to look at it as soon as it came onto the market. I knew that if they made some price adjustments may end up being a great opportunity.
Sure enough, within a couple of weeks the first price adjustment came and it was significant (20K). Watching price adjustments on listings is a really good indicator of the motivation of the seller. Especially when they are large and happen quickly after listing.
I still waited a few weeks and a few more adjustments before submitting an offer. Once we submitted our offer was accepted quickly.
House Layout
The bones of this house were great and as I said before, the main floor square footage was 40% more than the majority of homes in the neighborhood. This area has also been supporting new construction and extensive renovations for the past few years so there is strong resale activity to support a significant remodel.
So this house had two bedrooms in the upper level with no bathroom, two bedrooms on the main floor and a basement that was about 50% finished. The jackpot was on the main floor where there is a 400 square foot addition off the kitchen with a gas fireplace. This space could act as any number of areas depending upon the individual homeowner. We staged it as a second family room/living area.
We’re going to do the blog reveal of this home in two different editions so we can focus on the changes and the details in each. This week we are going to focus on the main floor and all the elements that were used to create an entirely new flow and space.
The main living areas are made up of the living room, dining room, kitchen and family room. These spaces were previously segmented from each other by walls so the overall design immediately included removing them and opening all the spaces to each other.
Kitchen
The other priority in the design process was making sure the kitchen could accomodate a large island. I knew from walking through many of the new construction projects in this area that many had nice kitchens. I wanted a spectacular kitchen in this house.
Dining Room
The dining room area is off the kitchen and main living room. While it is open, there is plenty of opportunity to add in extra seating with additional tables or extending an existing table. There is also a door off this space to the back deck area. One detail I always try to be mindful of when creating layouts is the connection between indoor and exterior access.
Family Room
The back family room is such a special space. The focal point is the gas fireplace but that was in need of a change as well. Adding the shiplap detail and installing hardwood floors that match the rest of the house create a warmth and character to the room.
Since there is a detached garage and a door in this space as well it is likely that there will be some traffic into the house from the back garage. Anticipating the need for storage, there’s a closet and I also added a bench and hooks just inside the door. Now there’s no need for balancing on one leg while trying to get that winter boot off.
Living Room
The front living room in the house underwent a transformation of its own. Mainly, carpet and wallpaper remival. If you look closely between the before and after photos you will also see that the mantle was updated by removing some of the more ornate fluted details and replacing them with a clean, modern profile that matches the other trim details in the house.
Those are the main details for the main level. Let me know which one is your favorite. Be sure to check in next week when we look at the upper level and the lower level.
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Amber
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