KATI (31, DAUGHTER) & DANA (62, MOTHER)

Home: 1936 Cottage Tudor

Layout: 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms

Square Footage: 3,000 square feet

Approximate Budget: $60,000    

RESTORATION NEEDS

1. Kitchen

2. Office

3. 2nd Floor Bathroom

Mother, Dana, was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago and so her best friend and daughter Kati moved home to help and care for her. They owned a home that they were living in during the time in the Brighton area of Detroit, however, Kati’s work and Dana’s cancer treatments were nearly an hour and half away. Kati found a small, but picturesque historical home closer to where they were spending the majority of their time, so they bought it thinking that they could do the majority of the work themselves. Dana had a difficult time while going through chemotherapy, while holding down her job, while owning two homes. She even got her real estate license and sold her Brighton home herself. Both and Kati and Dana were fearless and even though the historical home they purchased needed work, they felt like they could do it themselves.

The previous owner kept everything (and yes, we mean everything from an entire lifetime) and was in very bad health. Massive, ceiling high piles of junk mixed with nicotine stains made the home look like a disaster zone. Dana and Katie were able to clear out the majority of the debris and were able to do an attic renovation themselves, but that’s the extent of the work that they have been able to do on their own. Unfortunately, the rest of the projects have proved to be out of the scope of their DIY know-how. 

The previous owner kept everything (and yes, we mean everything from an entire lifetime) and was in very bad health. Massive, ceiling high piles of junk mixed with nicotine stains made the home look like a disaster zone. Dana and Katie were able to clear out the majority of the debris and were able to do an attic renovation themselves, but that’s the extent of the work that they have been able to do on their own. Unfortunately, the rest of the projects have proved to be out of the scope of their DIY know-how.

The Kitchen: Unfortunately, the kitchen has major issues. Just recently a family of mice have literally moved into their stove! So, when they are not clearing out vermin, Kati and Dana are doing their best to make what improvements they can. They’ve tried putting on handles and updating cabinets, but they’ve done the work themselves incorrectly so many times that they have become defeated and have given up. Peeling paint, old cabinets and poor flooring make the kitchen space less than inviting. They’re having a difficult time cooking and getting the kitchen to be the hosting haven that they had always imagined it would be! 

The Office: Because of the COVD pandemic, Katie’s job has indefinitely asked her to work from home. Dana has already been working from home as she is starting her own business. That means that both mother and daughter need a working office area so that they can live and work comfortably in. However, the lower level is nowhere near an ideal space to conduct business. There’s plaster falling off the walls, there’s terrible lighting, there’s slanted flooring not to mention an unusable and horrific, “toilet room.” They can’t even call it a bathroom since it’s literally a room with a toilet inside! Kati and Dana want to restore the toilet room into a usable downstairs bathroom so that they and co-workers and clients can come over and use the restroom.

2nd Floor Bathroom: There is only one functioning bathroom in the entire home and for two women living together they absolutely need to have separate bathroom. It was always their intention to take on the restoration of the upstairs bathroom space themselves. So, they demoed what was meant to be a half-bathroom on the second floor and were surprised to find another 12 feet of space hiding behind a wall! The idea of restoring and renovating that space into a bathroom is way beyond their skillset and knowledge! The space looks like a construction zone. There’s plaster, exposed concrete, holes in the walls and zero-lighting. It would be the perfect bathroom for Katie to use, since she lives on the second floor but neither Kati nor Dana can take on a project of this size by themselves.

Katie and Dana’s dream of living together is far from their vision of tackling projects and hosting friends and family. They are instead feeling like they are a slave to a never-ending project list. They feel defeated without an end in sight or a real strategy to get the work accomplished. The energy and enthusiasm they had when they had first bought the house has vanished. They’re afraid the projects will never get done and are therefore afraid that they are going to lose money by never finishing their restorations. Not only has it been a major headache and time-waste, it’s been a big blow to the quality of their lives. Instead of a fun, “project” the house has proven to be way more than either have anticipated. They are ready for some real help!