Mark and April purchased this historic home walking distance from the Texas A&M campus: and it was in desperate need of some TLC! It had been through some poorly executed DIY renovations, the foundation was rotten in some areas, and the kitchen and bonus living space were closed off from the rest of the home.

They purchased this home as a rental property for their son and a roommate to live in for a few years while they attend school, but they did not want a basic, band-aid fix rental upgrade. They not only wanted to honor the history and character of the home, they also wanted a high quality renovation to enjoy the home after their son graduates. For the layout changes, we expanded the footprint of both bathrooms into the primary bedroom, opened up the garage to the original living room, removed the walls around the kitchen to open it up to the rest of the home, and reworked the laundry room to gain better workspace (you couldn’t open the washer & dryer without completely blocking the back door: it was very cramped). For the aesthetics, we worked with April and Mark to find a design that fit with the existing style of the house (ranch / craftsman), felt appropriate for two college guys to live in, but also sophisticated enough for Mark and April to use down the road. Marrying all of these desires was challenging but fun, and we’re thrilled with the results!

This was a large project, consisting of some major foundation repairs, fully converting the partially converted garage, along with all of the layout changes. They had a large wish list, but their biggest need was for us to complete it before their son and his roommate needed to move in August. We strategically only repaired the foundation beneath the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms for now. The remaining repairs would’ve added weeks to the project, which we knew we didn’t have. This was one of the ways our design-build process benefited Mark and April. We were able to plan ahead of time, taking care of the aspects of the project that we knew we could complete in the time we had, and saving the other items for a subsequent phase. Due to this pre-planning, when they do make the future repairs, they won’t have to undo any of the completed work. After the foundation repairs were completed in the Spring, we started the remaining work in early May, and were move-in ready by mid August.

It was such a pleasure to work with Mark and April. They truly cared about honoring this home and the beautiful historic neighborhood its nestled in. They cared about high quality work so they aren’t dealing with issues down the road. They trusted our judgement with timeline, budget, and aesthetics, and were so appreciative of the hard work everyone put in over the summer to make this vision a reality. We’re grateful they trusted us with this special project!