A Month of Renovations

And now the renovations begin. On the first day, the floors were ripped up, revealing a medley of floor types from previous generations. Here in the bedroom, likely the most recent addition to the home, the floor base was actually concrete.


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More examples of the types of flooring that were discovered underneath the carpeting. This was in the main hallway area.


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Hmm. Patrick doesn't look happy. I went on the record early as saying that he didn't really enjoy the "demo" process of the renovations. Never has, never will. Just makes me very nervous and the impatience really begins to set in to know that everything will be "okay"!


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And, yes, there were hardwoods underneath. Unfortunately, these hardwoods were in little quantity and quality to be used. It was determined that we would still use new hardwoods.


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Ohhh, doors in the shower? This can't be good.


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The American Dream (a.k.a. Life's Indebtedness To A Bank)

It's June 16 and Shannon and Patrick have just closed on the purchase of their new home in Lake Claire. We're on a corner of two streets (Arizona and New York Avenues). Here's a good front view from the Arizona Avenue side.


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Here's a good view of the house from the New York Avenue side (facing northeast). That's one of the great things about houses like this; they don't appear imposing from the front, but they have lots of depth, both down and out from the front. In this case, that's an exterior door to the finished basement below the sunroom. The interior basement access is just off the kitchen.

Map our house on Google Maps

A little history and geography all at once: The house is on a street that has a cul-de-sac at the end, which is different than most streets in this neighborhood that feed into DeKalb Avenue. There is a train yard and MARTA line that runs along DeKalb Ave. and we can hear the trains regularly. We are two blocks from Clifton Road, a major N-S road running through east Atlanta and Emory University.

The house was originally built in 1922, and our previous owners have told us that they have been told that it was originally built and owned by "the train conductor". With Atlanta's history as a major train depot and crossing point, this would make some sense . . . but which train conductor? That will bear some investigation.


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We took a few pictures during the inspection process a few weeks before the closing on June 16. All of these, of course, have the previous owner's touches to them, but that's the fun of owning your own home . . . you get to change whatever you want (and can afford . . . ).


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A view of the living room from the sunroom. Again, this picture will look drastically different in just a few days. This is just for some perspective.


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The kitchen . . . Shannon's lair. This sorta outdated look won't be long for this world if Shannon has anything to say about it. The first to go will be the floors. Appliances may wait until the rest of the kitchen is redone (counters, cabinets, etc.). Maybe not?


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Shannon found out that this dual oven combo was dated back to 1992. What? Only 1992? They still had clocks like that on appliances in 1992? Not for long. Count this one as extinct very soon.


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Exiting the kitchen opens up to a nicely done deck and well-shaded backyard.


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An outdoor swing! Phooey, the owners will be taking the swing with them, but the posts will end up staying, so we can easily add our own swing sometime soon. With the shady tree nearby, this will be a nice treat.


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This is a shot from the main hallway (guest BR behind, guest BA to the left). After this bookcase in the hallway are the other guest BR, which we will make an office then a little guy/gal room hopefully very soon thereafter. The laundry room is the last room on the left before you get to the master bedroom.


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Main guest bathroom, right off guest BR and on main hallway. Shannon like this paint color and shower curtain so much that she's doesn't want to change a thing. She managed to even find the exact shower curtain. No, not Pottery Barn. Restoration Hardware.


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Laundry room halfway down and off the main hallway.


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Guest bedroom in the front of the house (Arizona Ave side). Oh, this room is going to change too. Carpet out, sagging ceiling and light fixture will be the main changes and Shannon is thinking the paint color will change too. I would agree.


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The 3rd bedroom on the main floor. The previous owners used it as we probably would . . . as the home office and natural "catch all".


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In the master bedroom. First thing, there's lots of light coming in with two windows to the backyard and the big bay window aimed at New York Ave (but really at the big wooden fence). Oh the color, though. Shannon won't have this on the walls for very long, I promise. Methinks she doth wish for the Carolina Blue that graced our walls on Piedmont Ave.


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Vaulted ceiling in this bedroom is the result of the room being an addition to the main house at some point in the early '90's. Keeping this room cool might be a challenge?


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Looking into the master bathroom. Incidentally, on the other side of the bed is the the walk-in closet.


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What's this? Does one of these come with every house? Oh, sorry, wait, that's our little friend, Ethan Polk. Whew!


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