Finally...

Here are some of the latest pics from the project.  We are almost done!

Humongous New Family Space
We wanted to post some pics of what will soon be a beautiful new kitchen, living, dining space.

We have big plans for this space: refinished hardwood floors, a re imagined fireplace, a brand new "cooks" kitchen with all new stainless steel appliances, stone counter-tops (granite or marble?), a center island, a big farmers sink and so much more.

Here are a few shots of how things looked before we took down the walls - check out how bright this house is, even with the walls still intact.

old living room

tiny dining room - the wall on the left is gone

The stove and pantry wall are no longer....

Here we are today:

looking into the new kitchen from the front hall

looking into the kitchen and beyond to the new sunroom (see the garbage can).  Photo taken in the living room next to fireplace

looking into the kitchen/living/dining room - photo taken from the new sunroom

Mid Century Mod Garage Door
Check out the cool garage door:

Yes, it's totally beat up -- but I can see it's potential, how bout you?

Flexible Floor Plan
We hear over and over - "this house is so much bigger inside than it looks on the outside". 5 bedrooms and 3 baths -- wow!!

One great feature this home offers is a little private wing on the first floor that has 2 bedrooms and a full bath. This provides the opportunity for incredible flexibility in meeting a family's own unique needs.  I can imagine HIS and HER's home office's or a private space for an elderly parent to live comfortably with a family.  It would make wonderful, private guest space for who entertain lots of company.  A playroom right around the corner from the main living area affords a quick check in of the kiddies. If you break your leg skiing and can't get up the stairs -- voila, a place to lay your head for 3 months while convalescing.

I think one of the best options this kind of set up affords is peace of mind.  This house allows you the ability  to age in place. When the time comes and stairs become daunting, you won't have to make decisions you're not ready to make. With some minor adjustments, you can live very comfortably on the first floor of this home.

Here are some pics of the space pre-renovation.  We hope you won't recognize it when we're finished.

1st floor bath

1st floor bedroom

1st floor bedroom

current entrance into the wing

A new Furnace
It's kind of like putting gas in your car, necessary and super important, but not something I enjoy doing.  I'm not a plumber or a guy, so finding the beauty in a new heating system takes laser focus (not my strong suit). 

So I focused and came up with a few reasons why the new furnace is beautiful:  1) being warm is so good, 2) so are low utility bills but 3) knowing our buyer is getting a brand new and highly efficient heating system with a shiny new warranty -- that's the ticket.


I posted a couple pics -- for any furnace geeks out there.  It's really quite amazing how small and efficient these systems have become.  Someone told me the one we pulled out burned coal, but I'm going to do some fact checking and may be back to revise this post. 


Right after we bought this house (literally), the pipes burst. We bled one of the radiators upstairs and water gushed straight through the dining room chandelier. Thank goodness we had plans to rip out the ceiling for our new and humungous kitchen/dining room/living room. That was a defining incident and helped get our priorities straight.  Now we have a beautiful furnace and lots of new and well wrapped plumbing.....

The original furnace circa 1950

much better

Our grand plan for the house

We have a very long "to do" list -- but here are the biggies:

• no more pink bathroom
• new furnace with second heating zone 
• all new electrical and lighting throughout the house
• alot of new plumbing
• lots of new insulation
• brand new roof with a very long warranty
• brand new four hundred square foot master suite with private bath
• huge open concept living, dining, kitchen space w/fireplace and hardwood floors
• a brand new kitchen with stone (maybe marble?) countertops, center island, hardwood floors and all new stainless steel appliances.
• two new bathrooms (3 total)
• second floor laundry with brand new washer and dryer
• new patio and landscaping
• interior and Exterior paint
• new automatic garage door
• renovated sunroom with new hardwood floors
• renovated front entryway with carrara marble tile and a beautiful new front door

Here are a few pictures of what things looked like on day one:

breezeway (aka new sunroom)

We hope you'll follow along on the progress and let us know what you think about our design ideas.  

The history of the house

We don't know much, only what we've heard from a family member, the realtor and couple neighbors. The previous owners built the home themselves over 60 years ago. It was the heart of their family life and the place where all celebrations happened. Someone said it was the most popular house on the street. 


The family built every square inch of the house, which became obvious during the renovation process.  We were amazed at the craftmanship and the sheer strength of this house.  Everything seems to have been done above and beyond what was required. It was clearly built to last but more importantly was a labor of love. 

After her husband's passing, it became more and more difficult to manage the maintenance of the house and it slowly began to fall into a state of disrepair.  By the time we came along, it had been sitting on the market for a long time and the family had long ago moved out. It has been empty for a couple years, which almost always has negative consequences. Regardless, it didn't take us long to visualize the home's potential. We felt pretty sure we had a diamond in the rough.

So, we took the plunge, even after receiving a 70 page home inspection report.  Something about this house felt special and worth the major commitment it would require. 

Our newest renovation project is located in Woburn on 11 Washington Terrace and will be available for purchase in early spring.  Please follow along as we transform this amazing 5 bedroom, 3 bath home.

If you have questions or would like to talk to someone about the property, 

please contact us directly at stagepropertydesign@gmail.com

11 WASHINGTON TERRACE, WOBURN, MA