The Harvard Ranch - An Introduction

It's been awhile since I wrote about a house renovation. January 2018 was the last time we worked on a house - The Chalet. But essentially, we didn't renovate any houses in 2018 and that was frustrating at first, because I love having a project to immerse myself in. But then I got into staging houses and actually spent my vacation time on vacation instead of using it to work my other job. So maybe 2018 was the year of recharging. But now I'm ready to don the gloves, the workboots, the glasses.

Just before Christmas we closed on a new renovation house. I didn't have a chance to see it before the closing so when my dad and I pulled up in front of it I was a bit scared by how small it looks from the outside. I think my exact words were, "Oh god, Dad, it's so small."

The town this house is located in is in the top twenty school systems in Massachusetts, so I imagine that either a family trying to get into a good school system that can't afford a million-dollar home will want this house, or a couple looking to downsize and have a house the grandkids will want to visit (hello heated pool).

The thing about this house is that while it's not huge, it has a lot of character and gets great light all day. But as it was, it felt very small and closed off. (Sidenote, this is our first house with built-ins! And look at that fireplace!)

The way the kitchen was laid out, it felt really crowded. The fridge was in a location blocking off access to some of the cabinets and someone had painted and then tried to make the cabinets look antique. Instead of looking antique though, they just looked cheaply done.

At some point, the previous owners did an addition of this room off the kitchen. This room is my favorite. It has windows on three sides, a vaulted ceiling, and gets so much light overlooking the backyard. 

The basement was thankfully already finished, including a bathroom. There's a laundry room, an office, and a huge family room with an unfinished fireplace. The basement walks out to the backyard and the pool. And unlike our previous houses, there previous tenant took all belongings with them. So unlike the last house, where we spent a week just removing all the furniture and kitsch leftover from the previous owners, this house we were able to get started with demo on day one.

We are now a month into this renovation, have finished demo (including knocking down two walls and a set of stairs), and are ready to start tiling and installing the cabinets. I can't wait to see the kitchen once it's complete and see how much bigger it looks compared to where it was a few weeks ago.

This house might not be huge, but I think it's going to be so cozy and classic when it's complete. I can't wait to share it with you.

~ Stephanie