Exciting news!  On February 4th, the renovation of my Morningside townhouse became the Large Category winner ($50,000 or more) of the 2012 Renovation Inspiration Contest which the Post Gazette sponsors together with the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh each year.  You can read the details in the March 10th article Morningside Home Makeover Light and Bright on the Post Gazette website.

An almost-brand-new Arts and Crafts house!

What an experience this has been.  Lots of tired bones and sleepless nights, that's for sure...  but the results are wonderful.  I am happy to report that someone who appreciates my little townhouse as much as I do has purchased it and is taking good care of it.

Nevertheless, it's been hard to say good-bye, especially to the neighbors next door who had much patience with the noise and dust that we created during construction and who made my work days there quite pleasant.  I'm already missing chatting on the porch and petting their dog.  I'll be checking in with them from time to time to see the progress on their house.

The "after" tour - the basement

What a difference experience it is to go down to the basement:

A light, a handrail & multiple hooks mean safety and function

Freshly painted walls and floor

New steps, new furnace & ducts, new water heater...

Nice and bright combination powder room and

and laundry room.

Yet to be tackled:

That old coal cellar :-(

The "After" Tour - 2nd floor

What a difference experience it is now when you reach the second floor:

A glass transom lets light into the stairway

from the operable skylight in the hall bathroom.

Hall Bathroom

Corner toilet & compact sink provide lots of room     

Nice, large subway tiles and a brand new tub

Front Bedroom

Great window bay now totally visible

Real closets provide lots of storage space

Rear Bedroom

A south facing window lets plenty of light in

A dressing area connects to the second bathroom

Second Bathroom

  

Marble tiles and a great tub seat

A little wall for a little privacy

The "After" tour - the first floor

Over the last 6 months, family, friends and neighbors have had to put up with all my talking and rehashing about renovations ideas, decisions, results, issues...  The least I could do was to invite them over to see the results.  Having a little "after" tour seemed like the answer.  Plus, setting a date for it  gave me a good deadline to get things done.  And here's what they saw on Sunday:

The Living Room

Refinished and refreshed

Better connected to the dining room and, as a result, brighter

With some original features still in place

The Dining Room

Love that beamed ceiling!

The Kitchen

Now filled with light.

Hard to believe that it's the same place.

Decking and fencing

Making the most of the small backyard was definitely a priority.  For starters, we needed a place to have that morning coffee.  Nothing big.  Just a place for two chairs and a small table.  A 6'x6' deck with Trex decking was the perfect solution to replace the tiny rotted stoop  while a treated wood fence and privacy screen took the place of a falling-apart stockade fence (Darn, I should have taken "before" backyard photos!).

Landscaping still to come

There's nothing that I hate more than old gray treated wood.  So, I just had to stain the deck and  fence.  It turned out lighter than I had hoped but it does give it a classier look than plain old treated wood and it will make it last longer.  So it's OK...

Back at the alley, we put two 4' tall and 5' wide gates.  Enclosing the backyard in this way provides a sense of privacy yet maintains visibility (which means more security).  Plus,  whoever buys the house can use the stone parking area as a patio when not parking their car back there.

Recently planted grass seed is now sprouting - in spite of the birds' best effort at eating it before it does.  So, hopefully, soon, all that dirt will be nice and green.

A more welcoming porch

Pittsburgh porches are great.  They welcome you to one's home, protect you from the rain and snow, and allow you to sit and talk with your neighbors and friends.  The old peeling paint certainly wasn't very inviting and the missing porch elements had taken away some of the house's character.  So, it was time to bring it back to life!

First, Joe removed the aluminum coil cover from the tapered porch posts(with the neighbor's OK, of course) and restored the missing pieces. 

Then Steve's guys painted them in authentic Arts and Crafts colors.  And, before we knew it, someone had moved in!

Joe also cut down (again with the OK from the neighbors on the left) the jerry-rigged, too-tall, OSB partition (see the dark shadow from it on the brick), installed beaded paneling over it, and capped it with a proper trim.  All was covered with two coats of semi-transparent stain in a light color:

The neighbors on the left were happy:  they got more light

The neighbor on the right, let us use the same beaded paneling material on her own privacy screen, so we now have a much better view on both sides.

The floor was next.  First a good scrubbing.  Then a coat of Hammered Silver porch paint.

Voila!  A new porch!  Now we need some porch furniture and some guests...

And, to make sure that those guests find the house, those original ceramic house numbers are now set into a brand new Azek plaque:

and what was once a gas light is now rewired, repainted and lighting the way to that great Copper Red front door: