This is the final posting about the Sheridan renovation. This home has sold and is now being enjoyed by its new owner.

Here is a link to the finished project page.

When we bought the property, it had been a rental home for several years, and the landscaping was very overgrown. As we have progressed through spring, we have seen many beautiful plants come out of hiding and put on a show of colorful blossoms. We guessed someone who loved to garden owned the home at one time and have learned from long-time residents of the neighborhood that this was so.

This is the second pile of pruning from the week’s work.

This past week, I have been working in the morning hours while it is cool to reclaim the beds and front yard. So far we have removed fencing, cleaned up fence rows, pruned bushes and pulled weeds. Plants, including knock out roses, day lilies, peonies, iris and cannas, have been transplanted to new areas of the yard.

I have pruned back the holly and box woods and azaleas back to their original cutting lines. While they look severely whacked back right now, with luck they will have plenty of healthy new growth by the time we are ready to market the house.

The poison oak and poison ivy are gone. Where we were unable to pull out the weeds, we have sprayed. The clematis and climbing rose have been staked. The beds have been mulched. Things are coming along.

I love this lone purple spider wort growing the next door neighbor’s driveway.

The bride’s bouquet

An aside. Back in April, when the iris were blooming, a friend of mine postponed her wedding celebration because of Covid restrictions. Instead, on their originally planned wedding day, she and her fiancé choose to have a small private civil ceremony (Part 1) to legally tie the knot and rescheduled the larger, wedding celebration (Part 2) to the fall. I asked her if she would like me to make her a bride’s bouquet for the small event, and she said yes, mentioning that yellow was her favorite color. So, I fashioned yellow iris and ferns from the project yard, along daisies and rosemary from my own home, into a bouquet that became a part of the Part 1 wedding event. I believe the gardener who originally planted the flowers at the project home would be pleased to know her blossoms were part of this happy occasion.

One thing the Covid crisis has made clear is that having a dedicated place to work from home is more than a nicety, it is a necessity. We are believers. Being self-employed, we have a room set aside for this purpose in our home.

Early on when considering what to do with the former kitchen space, we decided to locate the laundry in part of the area as existing plumbing was available. We realized that the remaining space, approximately 8’ x 10’, would make a great home office. The area is next to the back door, convenient to the kitchen and away from the main living areas. It also has a great view of the backyard through the newly installed replacement windows. So, on one end of the room we will enclose a stacking washer and dryer in a cabinet so that it will not be distracting. The rest of this light-filled space will be devoted to office (or whatever the new owner chooses) functions. Tap on the photos to take a look at the evolution of this space.

“What is under that paint?” This was a big question when we considered purchasing the house as the floors in almost every room had been painted chocolate brown. While there was obvious damage in several areas, it looked like the former owners had taken the less expensive route of painting rather than fixing and refinishing the floors. After considering several options, and doing several tests to see what would work, we have chosen to repair the floors where needed, sand off the paint, and then do a buff and coat finish. Evan has become very skilled at the precise and tedious job of repairing wood flooring through his work on previous houses.

After additional head scratching, decided to use wood flooring in the former kitchen/soon-to-be office area. All the floor stain colors will complement the butcher block countertop we are using in the kitchen.

We are able to save the tile from the existing bathroom. The rest of the room’s design choices will be based on the floor.

Update: Look at the beautiful marquetry border we found underneath the paint in the main living areas! Usually our renovation surprises are not so wonderful.

One of our greatest pleasures is seeing the houses we work on being transformed. Often our memory is short; we look at photos taken at the start of the renovation process and think, “Wow, did it really look like that?” The gallery below is a great example of the existing garage’s resurrection. It was covered with a tangle of vines, and the exterior was in rough shape. However, the basic structure was good, even though it leaned a good 6”. John and Evan straightened it back up and strengthened the walls. Next came new exterior siding (we found material that would match the original wood) and the addition of two windows. The original doors had great style, but were in really sad and could not be salvaged. Evan built new ones of the same design and installed them. Tap the photo below to see how the work progressed.

Progress report - Lots of interior finishing has been taking place. Felipe and Walter covered the popcorn ceilings with 1/4” sheet rock, finished the new interior walls and made repairs to the existing ones. Mark and David have been painting pretty much anything that did not move.

Don’t you think this is a good look for John? During closing, we sat on opposite ends of the table, PPE in place, signing documents with sanitized pens.

We are cruising on this house, maybe because of the social-distancing guidelines, maybe in spite of them. If, big if here, all goes well we will have the house on the market in mid-June. It will have two bedrooms and two full baths, and wait for it, a home office, and a garage. It is located in the VECA neighborhood within a few blocks of Rhodes.

Demolition

Out with the old. We try and recycle as much construction waste as possible by using EBOX.

Scarce commodity

Yes, we have four rolls of toilet paper on site.

Powered up

We are using Victory Electric for this project. The house has passed its rough-in inspection.

Women build 901 too

Angel has worked for Victory Electric for 18 years.

Repurposed space

We captured square footage from a very small bedroom to make a brand new kitchen with a doorway to the back yard and a new master bathroom suite.

Repurposed space 2

Soon the former kitchen will house an enclosed laundry area AND a home office.

Tile repair

We will replace the broken tile before refinishing the tub surround.

Brand new windows

Usually we try to repair the existing windows, but these were just too far gone.

Instead

We have installed Energy star rated Pella windows throughout.

Exterior paint

Fresh. Clean. Cottage-like. Can’t wait until we get the pink (yes, pink) on the front door.