Before & After

Some of us can never resist the chance to imagine how a property would look if we just made a few changes, or maybe more than a few! Alix Myerson, one of the RealEstateHappenz partners, was a major practitioner of this amusing mental game until a few years ago when she began a renovation business. In the last several years, she's had a chance to learn first-hand just how big a gulf there is between simply imagining and an actual renovation/rehabilitation. Here's a glimpse of the renovation process of house on Capitol Hill completed a while ago.

The house was one of the first built in the Northeast quadrant of Capitol Hill. It was a simple two story frame structure, with clapboard siding. The original owners were employed in the construction trades; their descendants retained ownership for ninety years. The house was purchased in a bank auction with the express purpose of renovation and resale. At the time, it was essentially derelict although the previous owner had been living in it. Now it is one of few surviving examples of this type of construction and style remaining in the City.