There's no place like home...

This is my house. I closed on it May 8, 2007. It was built in 1910, is one story, and about 979 square feet. Sometime along the way it had been divided into two small apartments, right down the center of the house. I plan on renovating the house completely, turning it back into a single family home, as it originally was.



The smaller apartment on the right, Apartment A, consisted of a front room, a bedroom, a small kitchen, all right behind one another, and a tiny bath off of the kitchen. Apartment B, on the left, had roughly the same layout, but with slightly larger rooms. A side porch had been closed in and made into a hallway for Apartment A sometime in the home's past.



There is a screened in porch on the back of the house, but you can't get to it from inside. The doors had been closed in and the small bath for Apartment A was actually built out on a part of the screened porch. In its current state, you can only reach the back porch by bravely crawling through the overgrown backyard. On the porch lives two hot water heaters and several piles of discarded junk. I still don't have pictures of the back yard yet because it is so overgrown and I have been concentrating on working on the demolition inside the house.



As you can tell from these pictures, the house sits on a narrow lot, roughly 42 feet wide by 140 feet deep. There is no driveway; parking is on the street only. The neighbors on each side are fairly close, but not crazy-close. I've met most of them already and they are friendly folk. They're all glad that someone bought the house and is showing it some love, since it has been empty and neglected for so long.

This is my first house but not my first experience with renovating a home. My parents have renovated several. Often I was right there with them, learning about architecture and getting my hands dirty. I learned from them that hard work pays off, that sweat equity is one of the most fulfilling things in the world, and that home ownership is a noble and special thing. Had they not exposed me to all of their before-and-afters, I wouldn't have been able to spot this jewel in the rough nor had the imagination and determination to see what it could be.

I look forward to sharing my story, the knowledge gained, the unexpected surprises (good and bad), and the joy of turning this lost, lonely, little house, into my home. I have already realized my dream of home ownership and can't wait until I'm able to live there.

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home..."
~John Howard Payne (1791-1852)