Real Estate Monday: Convert a Church

Convert a person

Save a person

Convert a church

Save a building?

Ok, I know I'm no good at bumper sticker-esque jokes, but in the spirit of redesigning, let's look at a couple of churches for sale for Real Estate Monday. 

First stop: 1023-1033 Talbot Avenue, Braddock, Pa 15104

I have no idea where the website went where I fist saw pictures of this church. It was months ago, my apologies, but the inside looked pretty awesome. Huge, cathedral ceilings, an alter, very typical church. Yes, it's in Braddock, but I'm a big proponent of moving in urban areas and reclaiming them! I met a man named Mark Harvey (he probably doesn't even remember me) that wrote a book specifically about this and he specializes in realty in these areas. You can check out his website here. Anyways, here's the one picture I could find. I did do a drive by, but completely forgot to get a picture of my own. It's on the flat part of Braddock, close to the river. A little Lord of the Rings down there, but still fun to look at. 

$78,000!!!

And if you're not into doing the converting yourself, just up the hill in Swissvale is an old church that has already been split into condos. I believe there's one left and you can see it here. This 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath condo is for sale for $85,000. 

Love the architectural windows. 

Here are two more links for two other already-converted church listings I found, if you're interested. 314 Hill St. and 1 Pius St.

The Great Gatsby's Bedroom

In preparation for The Great Gatsby last weekend, I dug out my old copy from high school and reread it. For some reason, I loathed reading in high school (sorry high school English teachers). I even had my mom help me with some of the reading. I know, I know, gasp, shock, awe. I blame it on my eyes. I got glasses somewhere around my senior year, and finally in college, I learned to LOVE reading. That said, I never really got into the full swing of Gatsby (pun intended). But I've always liked period pieces and the roaring 20's, so this time around it was much more exciting. My mom was telling me about a book called The Paris Wife, that I can't wait to pick up next.
My husband and I made a date of it last Friday, and let me tell you, the movie did not disappoint! It was pretty close to the original text-I hate when movies take liberty to add different plot twists just for the sake of drama- even one of my favorite quotes was in there. And boy was it LAVISH! The colors, the music, the cars, and yes, the decor! I was glued. Did you see Gatsby's bed? In the center of his room? If my room were big enough, I'd totally throw our platform bed smack-dab in the middle. These pictures I snatched off Architectural Digest don't even do it justice...just do yourself a favor and go see the movie!

Real Estate Monday: Aspinwall

I found this cute, little house in Aspinwall for today's Real Estate Monday. It was built in 1987, which is basically a baby in the Pittsburgh market. It has 3 bedrooms. plus what looks like a den, and 1 and a half bathrooms. I'd repaint the 80's oak kitchen cabinets something lush/ redo countertops & appliances, but other than that it's pretty clean and fresh on its own. The nice thing about Aspinwall is the Fox Chapel school district without the price tag of a Fox Chapel house!
Take a look here, or click on the zillow link for more info.

This reminds me of San Fran even though I've never been there.

Plenty of space in this eat in kitchen.

Two car attached garage.

Large living room. 

Real Estate Monday: Wilkinsburg

Just another manic Monday, whoa-ooh. 

This weekend I toured a house that my husband and I seriously considered buying. If the timing were right (i.e. our house now was already sold) we probably would have. It's in the almost Regent Square area of Wilkinsburg. 411 Rebecca Ave.  Listed at $78,000. I'm not going to lie- it needs a lot of work, but there are a lot of positives about the house that don't need touched. It's not listed by a realtor yet, so if you'd like the owner's information send me an email at shopredesignation@gmail.com.

Selling Features:  

• The hardwood floors throughout the house are in really good shape. I wouldn't touch them. 
• The original wood paneling on the staircase and banisters are still in tact, and gorgeous-something extremely rare in a house that was previously stripped and sold in a sheriff sale. 
• The original front door is in tact. 
• Newer windows were installed in the house 9 yrs. ago, as well as a furnace, new toilet stack, and water pipes to the road. 
• It's walking distance to Frick Park.
• The bathrooms are a decent size (for me) as to not require knocking out walls to expand. 

Needed Renovations:

• I personally would want the converted sunroom in the front to be turned back into an outdoor porch ( see pictures below).
• The kitchen. Hello dropped ceiling and porcelain Italian tile on every wall. The 70's called and wants its kitchen back. This would be the most expensive part of the house to renovate. 
• Both bathrooms on the second and third floor need updated. I wouldn't touch the one in the basement, only to shut off the water and never go down again. Who wants to shower in a cellar anyways? 
• The whole place could use a fresh coat of paint, maybe some new plaster in areas where there was previous water damage. 

With a $78,000 price tag, I'm confident if you did a lot of the grunt work yourself you could get away with spending $30k on a reno, and have a beautiful house to show for it, in an up-and-coming area. Here are the pics- I took a lot this time:

Front door

Kitchen

Looking at back door in kitchen

Kitchen

I'd make this the living room, and take out the wall to the left to make it open to the kitchen. 

Outdoor sun room/ originally the porch

Sun room

Dining Room w/ two sets of french doors.

2nd floor Master Bedroom

 (was originally two rooms, but someone took a wall down).

2nd floor bedroom #2

2nd floor. Bedroom #3 

2nd floor bathroom

Hallway

3rd floor bathroom

3rd floor bathroom

3rd floor bedroom #4 walk in closet

bedroom #4

3rd floor. Bedroom #5 

Back, there is a 2 car garage as well.

The neighbor's fixed up backyard 

Simple Reupholstering Tips

I'm no good at real upholstery jobs. And by real I mean anything having to do with sewing. When something requires a stitch I either leave it alone, use iron-on hem tape, or take it to a professional (usually I leave it alone). BUT, there are simple jobs, like dining room chairs (without piping) that are really easy to do and I have a few tricks to help encourage you to try.
I replaced a screen door on our kitchen island with fabric. It's not a chair, but it's the same concept. Here's my first tip: Fabric is expensive, especially heavy, durable fabric, so I've found that using 100% cotton shower curtains are an inexpensive alternative. You can cover at least four dining chairs with one shower curtain. Just make sure it's not polyester- the extra stretch isn't good when you're trying to pull something taut. To redo a chair's upholstery, you'd just unscrew the chair pad from the base. You can rip off the old fabric, or if it isn't gross and it's neutral in color, you can just leave it on. Here's a picture of the screen door I popped out to replace. I've been using a manual stapler I bought off Amazon, although I'm sure you can find the same one at Home Depot. When you first start out, I find that it works best to pop a staple in the middle of every side. I lay the fabric out, then pull it up over the lip of the frame and staple on the back side- first putting one staple in each spot marked by the x on the picture.

Next, I pick one side and work out from the middle, as shown by the arrows. I go all the way over to the right, pulling tight with my thumb and finger on my left hand, while stapling with my right hand. Staples are pretty close together. When I get to the corners, I leave about a half inch, and address this later. 

 After doing one side (minus the corner), I jump across to the opposite side. This is where you're going to have to pull the hardest to make sure there are no wrinkles. Once I'm finished with that, I start again with the adjacent side, working my way from the middle to the edge. Now, when I'm finished with all the stapling on the sides, I pinch the corners up into a triangle, pull it over the lip, and staple it down. It feels a lot like wrapping a present, and should look pretty smooth. Sometimes I have to cut excess fabric so that the chair pad will lay flat against the base. The corners have a habit of being bulky. Don't be afraid to snip a bit off, just be sure you have enough left so you can pull it really tight. Like everything, practice makes perfect, but I assure you it's not as hard as it looks. If you have carpal-tunnel-hands like me, be sure to take multiple breaks or your wrists will be super sore the rest of the day.
Side story: My 2 yr.old daughter found my leftover paint from this project, and was sobbing hysterically that she just had to paint something (hysteria + a wet paint roller + toddler does not usually end well). I'd been meaning to paint this island anyway, so I let her have at it, and I'm really glad I did. I love the contrast of the color against the fabric and it breaks up the monotony of our maple cabinets. Here's the before and after:

Real Estate Monday: Monroeville

Today I'm highlighting 1081 Jefferson Heights Rd.If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm drawn to the more contemporary, open floor plans. I like how this house looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright house, yet has a very reasonable price tag. It looks clean, well-kept, and well-staged. Tony and I looked at a farm house on this street three years ago that is literally across the street. I don't like that there are no sidewalks on this street, a problem I can't seem to get away from in this town. What's the deal Pittsburgh? Is it too much to ask for a girl to want to walk safely in her own neighborhood. I've turned into the 60 yr. old crossing guard in our old neighborhood who yells at cars to slow down. Stepping down off my soapbox now...here are some pictures. You can take the virtual tour here.

Real Estate Monday: HGTV Smart Home

I'm down in Jacksonville, Fl this week visiting my parents, and the HGTV Smart Home just happens to be 15 minutes away from them. We drove by Sunday morning and found out they were giving tours later that day. I was surprised by how many people were there, and I didn't get very many photos because of that. Walking through I heard the same thing come out of everyone's mouth- "This could be my new home". Someone will win it. I'd be pretty ecstatic myself, but I gotta be honest and state what I think everyone else was thinking- it was surprisingly small! I'm talking 10'x12' bedrooms. It was sufficient, sure. Each of the three (yes only three!) bedrooms had their own bathroom, which is more than my house has. But I guess I was expecting bigger for an HGTV Smart Home. Here are some pictures I snapped. I love the beachy color scheme, appropriate for its 5 minute bike ride to the beach. It's located in a neighborhood called Paradise Key that gives off a nature preserve feel. Knowing Florida that means snakes! You can see more pics online of course, but here are the few I took (and a couple I snatched off their website to show you). 

Front view 

Master Bath

Master Bath: This is seriously the size of a bedroom itself.
All the toilets in the house were these awesome computer operated,self-closing toilets. Now if they could replace the toilet paper on the roll, we'd be in business. 

Outdoor Shower: really neat concept, but it's on the garage side of the house, not in the back by the pool like you'd think. 

Outdoor kitchen

2nd Floor Hallway turned loft
They put a tv on the opposing wall, but it's hardly big enough to call it a second family room. 

Beautiful Stairwell

Guest Bedroom

Guest Shower
Beautiful, subway tile in a warm, chocolate brown. 

Dining Room
I LOVE that they put three china cabinets side by side along the wall to create a statement.
The curtains are on a track around the whole space to close off the dining area. This would make for some cozy dinners. 

Kitchen
By far my favorite room in the house. The colors are awesome. It doesn't feel like a cookie cutter kitchen at all.
In the back right corner there's another room for the pantry and the laundry room, plus a back door that leads straight to the outdoor shower, then garage. 

All in all, a beautiful house, of course. I believe there are still 39 days left to enter to win. 

Also, here are a few other pictures of some houses we saw in a new development called Rivertown. It's this adorable, little community right across from the river. They're building new craftsmen style homes from $170k-mid $200k. 

Neat idea for end tables: stained vertical stripes for a rustic modern look. 

The view across from the house. 

The view from upstairs. Look at the detailed columns in the open floor plan.

My favorite part of the kitchen. The breakfast nook with built-in cabinetry. 

Check out the mirror. We have that at Redesignation, too.

Cute little girl's room. 

Isn't it all so warm and inviting? Hope you enjoyed my real estate vacation Monday. We'll be back in the burg for more next week.