Renovation

This house down in Shaw has been in this state for quite a while. But I always thought it seemed like an unusual renovation. Thumbs up or down?

Shortly after closing, I wrote the first installment of the Adventures of Mark and Charles. Now I understand why reality shows film entire seasons before airing them. Poor PoP has been awaiting pictures and exciting renovation updates, and here it is, a couple months later, and the dynamic duo remain at the mercy of the DC gov permitting office.

Although the house had been gutted to the walls by one of the previous owners, there remained many truck loads of dust saturated construction debris. Original woodwork that could be salvaged was carefully tucked into a generous neighbor’s basement. The rest was carted away after many back breaking, mask-wearing hours and a bit of help from friends. The stage was thus set for the long awaited “Champagne in the Shell” party.

By candlelight and an electric lamp plugged into the one working electrical outlet, friends and neighbors gathered, eager to see the clean shell. With champagne-filled plastic cups in tow, tours were conducted by camping lantern. Stern warnings were issued as guests narrowly missed falling through a large opening in the floor where the staircase had once existed. Mark told the story of finding a letter from the 1940’s under the linoleum. We all oohed and ahhhed at the view of the pointy Victorian rooftops and the illuminated Capitol Dome and Washington Monument as seen from the third level rear window. Continues after the jump. (more…)

Please send your renovation/transformation photos to [email protected]  A reader writes:

“The first is a traditional bathroom redo. I hired a handyman to do the work and bought all the fixtures myself – a lot online on Overstock.com (including the vanity which was shipped to me for $1). The bathroom used to include separate shower and a tub. If one person was at the sink, no one could pass by them. This made for difficulty getting ready in the morning. We took out the shower and added a double sink where it used to be. We put the shower back into the tub which was challenging due to the large window in the tub area. All-in-all it is a much more peaceful space and leads to much more peaceful mornings as my husband and I endeavor to get to work on time.

The second update may be interesting to readers given the times. I would not characterize this as a renovation, but rather a way to deal with bad choices that someone else made in your home when you have run out of renovation money. For the cost of 4 gallons of paint, hardware and a light fixture, I transformed my kitchen. I painted the cabinets, added new hardware and replaced the ugly ceiling fan (that was dangerous because it was above my gas stove) with a light fixture from home depot. Yawn – right. But what I did next is something I think that few people consider and it made a huge difference – I painted the countertops.

The countertops were light blue. Not only were they the same color as the walls – which I wanted to keep because there is a nice mural of dogwood branches – but they were a nightmare to keep clean. Everything stained the light color, every watermark, glass ring, etc. showed. I though about tiling them and then read something about painting them for a fraction of the cost. So, I sanded them lightly using an orbital sander, wiped them down with a liquid sander and painted them. I used a heavy duty primer and two coats of Ralph Lauren River Rock paint – lightly sanding in between coats and leaving plenty of drying time. I then coated with three coats of water-based polyurethane (again lightly sanding between coats). The result is countertops that look like a warm concrete or stone. They have been done for about 6 months now and are holding up very well – no dings, no chips, no problems.”

Before pictures after the jump. (more…)

From a reader:

“I’m an investor and general contractor. I ended up buying the house at 5620 8th St NW, and it turned out great. It was half done- another investor had started, done some terrible work, and then lost it in foreclosure to the bank. When we finished the rehab, it went under contract in less than a week and it settled at $475,000 a few months ago, which was a great deal for the buyer, but still profitable for us.”

If you are interested in checking out some of his other projects:

“Here are some other of my projects- http://gormanpropertygroup.blogspot.com. I have a big 4 unit condo conversion I’m starting next week at 6th and M St NW- it should be a really fun historical rehab.”

If you have any renovation photos send them to [email protected] Check some before photos after the jump. (more…)

Please send your renovation photos to [email protected] From the reader:

“Here’s the befores and afters of our basement bathroom renovation. It was a small step above an outhouse when we moved in, the toilet used for emergency situations only. We gutted it, built properly framed walls, stuck in some recessed lights, redid the wiring, moved the telephone lines to a new modern box that is outside the house, and built the shower stall. I decided to reuse the sink (tight budget) and I haven’t gotten a new medicine cabinet yet, but that’s on the list. The travertine tiles may seem a bit over the top for a basement bathroom with the pipes exposed, but they were actually cheaper than anything we found at the dreaded Home Depot. And we didn’t frame in the pipes because it’s such a small space I thought I could handle pipes for 8” of additional elbow room.

The entire budget for the basement and full bathroom stands at $6,100 – but we have a few more finishing details to take care of…probably will finish it off at $6,500. We hired a plumber, an electrician, and a handyman to do the major work.

Here is the first half of our basement reno (the other half of the room is the utility/laundry room, which we still have to trim and paint). We stole our neighbor’s idea of just gutting the whole place and painting everything. So, we didn’t frame in the walls – just painted the brick. Didn’t close up the ceiling – just painted the joists and pipes and wires white (which was a major nightmare that took us nearly two months, every weekend, of painting with kilz). Rewired the place and installed recessed lights up amongst the joists. We ripped up the vinyl floor tiles and just painted the cement floor (which won’t last, but it was only $35 for the gallon of paint!). The rabbit ears still pull in our 7 tv channels and for under $6,500 we have a useable family room, utility/laundry room, and full bathroom. And, yes, I realize that the rug is too big for the room, but it’s a basement, right?”

Check the before photos after the jump. (more…)

A friend of mine had a big kitchen renovation where he and his wife had a wall knocked out and a bathroom removed to create an awesome open kitchen. He writes:

“As you remember our kitchen was about 4 by 6 with a nice bathroom between the kitchen and dining room. We decided to open up the entire floor and took out a wall that separated the dining room from the living room. That wall became the biggest issue because it was a load bearing wall and also had HVAC ducts in the wall which need to be moved. We closed in two windows – the bathroom and side of the house kitchen window — and then placed a bigger window on the back wall. We decided on recessed lights and a smaller set of pendant light because we felt it would overwelm the room. We also decided on white cabinets because we wanted to make the kitchen as light as possible to make it appear bigger. The granite we chose was called green galaxy and a mixture of green with white and dark brown streaks.

Our contractor was Harry Braswell and we liked them alot. they were middle of the road on price but we seemed most comfortable with them.”

I’m not just saying this because they are my friends but I think it turned out great. I suspect there may be some debate about taking out a half bath but in their case it was essential to create an open space.

After the jump check out the before pictures. If you’ve had renovations done in any room of your house please send photos to [email protected] (more…)