We've made a lot of progress improving the curb appeal of our Diamond in the Rough in the last couple of weeks. The team from Waterhouse Builders has been out working their magic. The old porch has been enclosed into the house, the walls/windows/doors were removed and now there is a wide open feel to the space (ha, but not quite as open as this photo!). 
They've installed a brand new front door with beadboard inset and sidelights. It really dresses up the facade. |
| 'Before' |
 |
| Load testing the overhang! |
But as often happens when you're working on an old house, it's created a couple of new challenges.
1) What brackets should we install on the overhang? The guys are tired of me showing them pictures and asking their opinion. I finally made up cardboard samples, so we could really look at the overall scale of the bracket and the roof (Richard promptly vetoed this one). Here's the final selection, which we hope to have on site next week.
2) The shingles under the vinyl siding look really good. The dilemma, do they all look good, or will we find a really bad spot if we start ripping off vinyl siding? And what's the cost differential to go back to shingles vs. keep the siding. Not sure what we can afford to do, but a shingled cottage would look so nice!So, we'll continue to agonize over which choice to make in the next couple of weeks. But for now, we're really pleased with the progress! What do you think?
Definitely better with the porch roof. Nice idea.
ReplyDelete:-) Thanks!
DeleteEven the half finished, bare bones structure already makes the house look so much more welcoming and friendly. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
DeleteGet rid of the hideous vinyl. Your work so far is so good!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! We used to live right around the corner from there when we lived in SoPo. Drove past that house multiple times a day. The porch balances it out nicely. Do miss the neighborhood. It's looking great!
ReplyDeleteWhat a small world! I'm sure you miss the neighborhood, it's wonderful!
Deletethe new door and porch roof has already made the house look so much nicer. Great idea.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Hmmmm, what are chances these folks had okay shingles and covered them with vinyl just for the sake of having maintenance free (essentially) vinyl siding? Given the rest of what you've found in the house... My guess is they got vinyl siding to cover up some stuff. ;) What to do, what to do...
ReplyDeleteWhat to do......it's like a song that keeps going round and round in my brain! LOL
DeleteNoticed the shingles in the photo of you 'load testing' the porch roof and thought you should pull the vinyl off and reveal the shingles! There's always the risk of what you will find but might be worth the risk! Disclaimer: I HATE vinyl siding. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteWe're not fans of vinyl either. But we're trying to make sure we don't make a big financial mistake!
DeleteIt's amazing what just that "small" difference makes. House now looks so welcoming and cozy. Can't wait to see it with the added window up top. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteDenise
Thanks so much! The new window is supposed to go in next week. Can't wait to see how it looks.
DeleteJust what the house needed, its looking great! Our contractor made our brackets, I showed him a curved set and he said he couldn't do that. We were already into the project to order them. Funny what you find out after the job starts rolling. Looking forward to seeing more progress, awesome cupula btw!!
ReplyDeleteGreat work so far...I was one of the wannabe buyers in the market when this foreclosure property appeared on the MLS, and I seriously considered it (I work just down the street and was looking in the neighborhood). However by the time I was ready to take a serious look at the place, the price dropped and there was a flurry of offers right away -- yours among them! In retrospect, with all the needed fixes you've discovered, it's probably a good thing I didn't jump on this one; I couldn't have handled the reno expenses without some very creative financing. But I love that you've immediately addressed one thing I'd been bugged by: that weird roofline! Your fix looks wonderful, and is just what it needed.
ReplyDeleteAll's well that ends well -- I ended up buying a place just down the street, on the Ferry Village side of Broadway, and the most difficult fix is going to be stripping wallpaper to paint the kitchen and swapping out a bathroom sink. And the fun stuff (shopping). :-) Put me down as a fan of the shingles, and blue for the garage. The sea-inspired palette is a classic with wide appeal around here. Light shingles, white trim, blue accents, throw some hydrangeas into the landscaping mix, and you're good to go!
After seeing a whole bunch of SoPo properties, I will tell you one of the most appealing features in the place I eventually bought was the bone-dry, whitewashed basement. It's not technically a finished space but it feels like one! The drain and drylok and good lighting and dehumidifier are worth every penny. Also, if you are looking for sound-dampening options for bedrooms, reconsider carpet...every family I know who deal with allergy issues ends up ripping it out because of dust/pet dander issues. Cork is a great eco-friendly, inexpensive, sound-dampening and allergy-kind option, and some of the finishes are really nice!
Wow, thanks so much for all the input. Sounds like you've found a really sweet house - without all the anxiety that lots of surprises can bring!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the suggestions. Your basement comment really resonates with us. We're in the process of adding a french drain around the basement, so hopefully it will be nice and dry soon. And of course we're updating all the other infrastructure as well. It will be like a new house - sort of - when we're done!
Laurel
I was pretty pleased with my find. It's smaller than your Diamond in the Rough but in excellent repair & with a lot of the original features intact, which I love (the bathroom *looks* Restoration Hardware, but it's original!). My little place was on the market for such a short time the seller's agent didn't even have time to put a sign up.
DeleteThe French drain is a big plus. The sump on the place I just bought was also new, and they were actually tying the sump into city water at the curb on the day I put in the offer. The sump also has a 3-day battery backup, which has been mentioned (and admired) by literally every guy I've shown the place to, so that might be a good selling feature too, as was the fact that there was enough lighting down there that you could clearly see every corner. I did my house inspection on day five of that crazy rain spell where we had 7"+ inches of rain, and the basement was completely dry even after all that. If it wasn't leaking then, it's probably not going to leak anytime soon! Definitely a plus to a buyer looking to avoid headaches, and a bonus for properties in this area given the generally high water table.
Looking forward to seeing what you guys do to the place--good luck!
Wow, sounds like you found a great place! Congrats!
Delete