Let me say first I'm a fan of remodeling, upgrading and renovating older homes. But there is good and there is bad. (I never lived in this house by the way, so no investment in childhood memories. Just sadness at a poor renovation of a solid 1940 house with character.)
This was map shows
Mom's house and garden. Notice all the trees?Before:
And after:
Not many old pictures, mostly holidays. I think my kids and grandkids have many memories of summers and holidays spent in this house with Grammy. I sure you'll see things that now live at my house, like my great-grandmother's sofa. The living room.
Inside lots of places to read. The sunroom.
The kitchen was small and desperately needed updating. Also needed: new roof, heating/air systems and windows, re-configured floor plan and bathrooms.
The dining room.
The floor plan was roughly this.
I would have opened the dining room to the kitchen, re-sized the bath, expanded a second bath into the bedroom, and the bedroom into the garage. Upstairs: added dormers, a second bath backed up to the original, more dormers and walk in closet in the sewing room area. 4 BR, 4 baths, open kitchen. Finish the huge basement with family room and laundry (has 10' ceilings and half bath, outside entrance).
Here's the outside of the renovation. Back steps and entrance removed? No trees, no gardens. Mom had a garden developed over thirty years. No raspberries by the walk. Nothing left back by the patio.
The back patio in early summer.
On the left, no azaleas or roddies or iris remain from the corner of the house to the corner of the street. No weeping cherry.
A stuck on entry. How about a better porch and entry? The house is "down the shore" two blocks from the beach, an area made for screened porch/outdoor living. No trees left for shade. Stark. Bare. Stripped.
Every tree in the back and side, from the holly grown from seed to the forsythia hedge ... gone.
Every iris ... gone.
Every bit of garden beside the garage leading back to the patio ... gone
Boy am I glad I dug up the hydrangeas, peonies, daffs and lily bulbs. The interior was gutted. I hope the inside is better, but I'm not holding my breath. (Not that
I'll ever see it.)
Remodeling pictures by Marian and Stuart Warshauer.
