The last hurrah in America…
After renovating and attempting to sale 3107 Beech at the beginning of the pandemic, I was a bit nervous to attempt the process again. I did not know if it was a good time to buy another property. 3107 Beech I put my soul into and it was difficult to finish. I ended up waiting a few months before I went into 2538 Dawn. I probably went to see the home 15 times before I determined that I should make an offer. The home was in such disrepair … but with all my homes, I fell in love with the space. I had to see the final vision complete.
This home was vacant for at least 3 years from what I was told by the neighbors. The neighbor purchased their home three years prior to me purchasing Dawn. The previous owner of 2538 Dawn attempted to rent the home out. I can find this information off of the Georgia multiple listing service as the listing expired January 1st, 2013. It does not appear the home ever became rented. Sadly, sometime during the rental listing the owner must have lost it to bankruptcy. I purchased the home on August 17th, 2020 from an investor that purchased the home at a tax auction. That’s roughly eight years of the home being unoccupied. Over the years vandals had broken in and destroyed the property. This on top of the overgrown lot and tree roots that had completely taken over the main sewer line made the home hazardous. You could not see the entire home from the street.
Before the bankruptcy and vandals destroying the property, I could tell the family attempted to do a renovation and open up the main supporting wall. Whomever did this work caused more damage to the home than vandals ever could. By opening up the central supporting wall to create an open floor plan, ‘they’ (whomever they is) ended up causing the roof to not be supported. It was held up by one 2×4 (on each side) over twenty feet apart ( That’s over 6 meters for my metric measurement followers) on either end of the support wall. This caused the entire roof line to drop in the center of the home over a foot. Imagine placing a rope between two trees and pulling it tight. The rope is straight. Now put a weight in the middle of the rope. The rope dips in the middle creating a ‘U’ shape. That is what happened to the roof. Each end of the roof line popped up from the house’s frame ultimately creating a U shape in the roof line. All it took was a strong hit to the 2×4’s to cause the entire roof to collapse in on itself.
When I purchased this home I had no idea how unsafe the roof structure was. I found this during the demolition after removing all the sheetrock from the home and exposing the wooden support structure. The first thing that was fixed was the roof. It took my contractor and a small team to build a support structure in the center of the home. Once the support braces were built they added the permanent supporting beams. The home took two 30 foot (over 9 meters) central supporting beams in the roof line that was then supported by eight 2×4 beams (four on each side) to hold the weight of the roof up. It was this, or rebuild the central supporting wall and I was not going to lose my open concept floor plan that I fell in love with!
Once the structure was stabilized and the temporary support structure that was built taken back out. I could safely go in the home and start making my vision come to life!
The part of the home I was debating about was deciding to make it a 4 bedroom or a 3 bedroom. To create a 4 bedroom I was going to have to enclose the carport. The challenge of doing this was the very steep driveway. Also one of the reasons I loved the home. It sat on top of a hill that overlooked the entire neighborhood. (This is also why I put in as many windows as possible for the home.) I ultimately decided having parking at the top of the hill was more important than the fourth bedroom, so 3 bedrooms was the decision.
From there I took measurements of the space and went back to my desk to design the floorplan. I used the free version of Floorplanner to layout the entire design. These are not professional plans but it gave my contractor the idea of where I wanted the guts of the home: plumbing, HVAC, and electrical. I wanted to stay focused on the end details and if he was in the general area – my layout was going to be perfect.
Before & After
I remember having a lot of issues with subcontractors on this home. My plumber abandoned the job for months after requesting payment up front. My electrician flat out lied to me and dared me to not pay him. Of course I took that challenge. Thank the gods for American Express because the moment I became over their shady business practices I went directly to american express and disputed their charge. After spending months… literal months… trying to contact them via email, phone calls, and text messages to get the sub contractors to work – the moment my dispute hit their account – they were all of a sudden calling me. lol
I heard every excuse known to man… “My wife left me“, “I have been busy“, “my personal life has been difficult“, “I don’t like your primary contractor“… Like bitch, you had every chance to talk to me and get to work over a three month period. Now, I dont care whats going on. Do not take a job you cannot finish. Your wife and your personal life is not my concern. They eventually finished the job and finished it to my liking so I released the dispute. Do not play with my money…
You run into a lot of very shady people dealing with flipping/renovating homes. I can honestly say, every home I have renovated has had at least one of these contractors cause issues. The saying of “you get what you pay for” is ALWAYS true… When it is your primary home and you do not want the stress of shady contractors – Go with a recommended company. When your income is based off of cutting costs to renovate a home you deal with the shady people and just force them to get a job done and done correctly. I will always haggle over a subcontractors fee just like sellers always wanted me to discount my commission as an agent. Though, I will never compromise on my design. Sometimes I win. Sometimes I just pay more… but the design will come to life!
Once all the drama came to an end and the 3 month long rough permit was passed by the county – I finally started putting the home back together. I was designing a modern mid-century style home. I wanted to see wood slat walls, open spaces, lots of white marble and of course I had to save as much of the original hardwood floors as possible.
Only one section of the original 1950’s wood was unsalvageable. The front entryway, where there was a brick ‘in-door’ planter built in, the roof above this area had collapsed and leaked in rain for years. The fact that any of the floor was salvageable was a huge surprise… but it was! and I did (save it of course)!
The design
With this home I tried to blend old and new. I stripped and sanded the floors to refinished them with a color by Varathane named “provincial”. This color was dark enough to hide any old stains but transparent enough to show the wood grain. If I would have chosen a lighter color on the wood you would have been able to see where the old and new wood was blended together.
If you watched the first walk-through video of the home before it was renovated, you can see from the picture above, I removed the old indoor planter box at the front door where the roof had collapsed. By doing this I needed to create a separation between the entryway and dining room. This is where the wood slat wall was created. This wall allowed separation but also gave me that open feeling I wanted to maintain.
I chose to contrast the dark wood floors with white cabinets and walls. I like white in most renovations as it gives a blank slate for new homeowners to envision themselves in the home. Some investors like gray or beige walls but to me it makes the home feel very dated and a bit to early 90’s.
I also wanted to bring the textures and surfaces together in the home. The wood slat wall and the kitchen needed to blend together as it is one open space. For this I chose to add butcher block countertops next to the range and matching floating shelves.
On the wood slat wall, butcher block countertop, and floating shelves in the kitchen, I chose a Golden Oak stain by Varathane. This is a nice contrast to the dark floors. I carried this color through to the half bathroom and guest bathrooms by staining the trim around the mirrors and the butcher block countertops.
For the kitchen backsplash I chose white marble tiles and the island had a white quartz countertop that resembles the marble tile. The pair blended together magically. Quartz is not only less expensive than marble, It is also less porous so it does not stain as easy. I personally think it is much better as a cooking surface.
For the master bathroom renovation I needed to blend the elegance in the kitchen to the master suit. I pulled the marble tile on the kitchen backsplash and used it for the shower. The kitchen island countertop I used for the master bathroom vanity. As you can see above, I painted the brick fireplace in the home a matte black. This pushed me towards black as the accent color to stay with the modern theme. I selected black bathroom accessories and light fixtures for the home. I also chose black framed circular mirrors to break up the rectangular space. By the way, Everything is from amazon!
My vision came together perfectly! I kept that midcentury ‘modern’ vibe I wanted to maintain in this home and maintained a balance of textures and finishes to make the home feel like one cohesive space.
Take a look at the finished design below and let me know your thoughts!
