This project has been in  the works for a long time.  The actual construction part has been moving along swiftly, but it took us years to finally arrive at a plan that we liked and that was affordable.  Originally this was going to be a flip.  Until we made the number one error of falling for the property ourselves.  (Hard to believe looking at these initial photos!)  Once we committed to it, however, we decided to make the process a learning experience and decided to try and make this house as green as we could.  If all goes well, we hope to have the opportunity to mimic certain environmentally friendly factors for future projects.  Living in the house will give us a great chance to figure out what green amenities are worth the extra cost and which ones are not.

This is the path to the front door.  That dismal fountain in the center ended up being the home of a slew of frogs, which we found most interesting.

The frogs.

The view from the front door.

Another view of the front door.

This was one of the great mysteries of the house.  This is the living room wall, facing west.  This appears to have once been a window that was eventually sealed.  Why?  The view from that vantage point would have been beautiful. Perhaps it just got too hot in the evenings as the sun was setting.

 

Garage and exterior of the master bedroom.

The back of the house.

I just included this one because it looks like Shashi and Ronan are dancing!

This is the front door.  The first thing that we could see upon walking in was a massive stone fireplace that was in the center of the room.  “Stone fireplace” sounds nice, but…

…it was hideous.  Simply awful, with old, nasty, dark stones that made a made a small space look even smaller.

Another view of the fireplace.

What had once been the kitchen.

We believe that this was once the dining room.  This was also an add on to the house, and a poorly built one at that.

One of the bedrooms.

The view down the hallway from the bedrooms to the kitchen/dining/living room.

The master bedroom.

The garage.

Another view of the garage.