I have been working on a remodel in the Charlotte area for awhile now. It all started while we were still living in Fort Lauderdale and decided that we wanted to plant roots in Charlotte and raise our babies here. So we started looking for homes online and got in touch with a local agent. We explained what we were looking for and listed our credentials. One day she called us with a house that had just hit the market. She walked it with us on FaceTime and we decided to fly up the next day to see it.
As soon as we pulled up to the house I wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful home... but it just didn't speak to me. However, before we even stepped foot in the house I asked about the one across the street with a For Sale sign. My husband shrugged and our real estate agent quickly said, "you don't want that one." Honestly, that response sparked my interest more. As we were walking through the home we flew up to see it became very obvious it wasn't a good fit for us. There were too many things that we would want to change and yet not enough wiggle room to buy it and fix it up to our liking. I kept thinking about that house across the street... so I asked to please see it.
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| The original exterior. |
By the time I was off the phone the agent had gotten us into the house I liked across the street. It was a very awkward lay out. Very dated and closed off. The kitchen was long and tight and there was barely any natural light in the home. All the windows were narrow and tall and every room had a door. The dining room was closed off with a pocket door leading into the kitchen. That pocket door was in the middle of the kitchen wall creating a tight walkway and lots of wasted space. There was a bay window in the kitchen but the placement created a useless space because if a table was there it would block the side door and entry to the laundry room.
Going up the main stairs even I felt the need to duck. There was a jack-and-jill bath built directly over it that created an entry way and foyer that maxed out at 7'6". Upstairs there were 4 bedrooms and two jack-and-jill baths. No master. A saving grace? There was a huge bonus room over the garage. There was also a massive third story attic that was unfinished.
My husband said, "no." The real estate agent basically said "I told you so." And I said "wait..." I think Joel looked at me like I was crazy. I stood in the single entry door and started explaining quickly. We put in double doors, we take out this wall and this wall, we rip out the stairs and rebuild a sweeping staircase on the right side. We can remove these columns and raise this section of the floor to make it all level. (Here comes the good part...) We rip out the fire place and put in a full wall of glass sliders and move the fireplace 'here'... I kept going... and going...
It just flowed naturally. I didn't think too much about it and just said what could be. It made sense to me. Up stairs we would remove the two bedrooms on the back of the house and create a master with en ensuite. It gave us the best view of the golf course. The front two rooms would stay but we would give each their own bathroom with the side closet spaces and utilize the wasted unfinished storage spaces. This would allow us to open up the foyer and make it a grand two story one.
My husband followed along enough to say we'd think about it and call the agent tomorrow. As we were leaving I called and spoke to the dentist. My son had finally fallen asleep and the dentist was telling me he may lose his tooth. The one he just cut the month before. The cute little bottom tooth just left of center. While I was on the phone with him the babysitter called and said the tooth had fallen out. I was hysterical. I didn't care about any house at that point. I know a part of you may think I'm crazy and that "it's just a tooth..." but as a mom it's never "just" anything.
I'm a stay at home mom. I was the primary and only caregiver my children knew other than my husband. It's my job to keep the kids safe and healthy and happy. And now I am away for the first time, really away out of state, not out to dinner down the street--and my son is not safe, not healthy, and not happy. It was horrible. I couldn't get home soon enough.
When we were on the plane and I finally stopped dwelling on my baby at home, I grabbed the air sickness bag. Joel looked at me again like I was crazy. But then I grabbed a pen. I sketched out our home. He asked me how I remembered the layout from the 10 minutes I was in it. I said because it's going to be our home, and it's going to look like this.
We made an offer the next morning and were under contract that week.
And then the fun began...
💥
Below are the pictures of the home from when we bought it!
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| The foyer view when you walked in. This was actually taken more from the coat closet angle. When you walked in you looked directly at a wall (you can slightly see it far right in photo) |
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| The view from the top of the stairs into the foyer. That was the foyer light. You can see the single front door below the wall. Behind this wall is a jack-and-jill bath. |
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| This was the dining room. It was completely enclosed. That door way is a pocket door leading into the kitchen. And this picture was taken from the wall backing up to the foyer. |
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| This was the great room. It was a sunken room with 4 pillars lining it behind the sofa. (Take note of the built ins and television wall... it becomes something great! ) |
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| This fireplace was blocking a great golf course view. The first day we went in the house I knew it needed to go... preferably to that wall pictured on the far right 😉 |
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| Kitchen view. That is the pocket door leading into the dining room. And you see the other wall with another pocket door leading to the foyer. Can you tell how narrow the kitchen is?? |
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| One of the four bedrooms upstairs. |
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| The two bedrooms on the back side of the house each had a built in desk backing up against the jack-and-jill bathroom walls. This was all removed and those rooms and bathroom would be converted into the master bedroom and ensuite. |
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| The second bedroom on the back side of the house. This window eventually becomes a door from the master bathroom onto the balcony! 😲😀 |
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| This was the bathroom between the two back bedrooms. |
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| This was the jack-and-jill bath on the front of the house. See that window? It's the same one you see centered on the second floor in the exterior front view. It's deceiving as that it leads you to believe it is a foyer window, but no, it's a bathroom... |
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| Bonus room over garage. In the far left corner where you can't see... is a second staircase. It started at the side entry door in the kitchen and landed you in this bonus room. I removed it... It was more important to me to have the laundry room upstairs and a mud room at the side entry 🙌 |
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| Original view of back exterior. |
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| Back yard view. I feel like this is about half way down the yard. It is truly such a wide open green view. I love it. |
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| Side of house. The side entry is far right in the picture. The garage doors and layout will change because although you can't see it.. there were marks all over the support where cars had hit it trying to pull in and out. Needless to say, I have three kids all in carseats and drive a large SUV... and my husband would like to keep it looking nice as long as possible... so even the garage bays have changed! |
In my next post I will share progress pictures and explain some of the major changes we made. Can't wait to hear what y'all think!
-xo
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