KAYRE (40) & BILL (60)

Home: 1927 Colonial 

Layout: 5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Bath

Square Footage: 3,700 sqft

Approximate Budget: $100,000

RESTORATION NEEDS

1. Kitchen 

2. Master Suite

3. The Addition

• Kayre and Bill are Michigan natives and high-school sweethearts. As young, whimsical creatives they moved to Sunny Southern California where they spent 37 years living out their dreams. However, because of the constant threat of fires and evacuation in their former hometown of Simi Valley, they decided to move back to Detroit to be closer to family.  

• Kayre is a talented “big band” singer who specializes in vintage and older songs, styles and eras. She has spent years doing shows that harken back to the earlier half of the 1900’s with her “big band.” She also has a vintage clothing company on the side! Kayre is drawn to all things vintage and historical.

• Bill is a renowned cartoonist whose work has been featured on The Simpsons, Futurama, Disney and DC Comics. He was also the Editor-In-Chief of Mad Magazine!

• Kayre and Bill are currently living in a rented home while they wait for their new house to be “inhabitable.”

• Kayre and Bill fell in love with their new (old) lake-front home. The home has an incredible lake view and it’s rumored to have once been used to run liquor during the prohibition.

• However, their dream historic home has more than its fair share of problems. A 10k boiler repair, a leaking roof, undisclosed issues from the previous owners, a non-working radiator, rotting porch columns and a porch being supported by cinder blocks. Oh, and there’s poison Ivy in the yard! Bill and Kayre are feeling overwhelmed that they’ll never be able to realize the potential of their dream home.

• Part of Kayre and Bill’s decision to buy their home was dependent on a family friend who is a trusted contractor. However, their contractor friend isn’t returning their phone calls for unknown reasons. They feel “helpless” when it comes to navigating this project without the expertise of a professional. Any misstep could come with a hefty price tag. And because they spent more money moving across the country than anticipated the padding in their budget is quickly depleting….

• Kayre and Bill are disappointed in the lack of communication and “surprise” issues from the inspector, previous owners and realtor. They found a massive safe on the second floor that they don’t know what to do with, there’s a closet they discovered major cracks in the wall of, as well as an illegal radiator! These surprises should have been disclosed and the couple is beyond frustrated and disappointed.

• The Kitchen: As the kitchen stands now, there are mismatched cabinets in the kitchen as well as mismatched flooring. Some of the drawers don’t even have bottoms inside! Kayre was also told that her dishwater was in perfect condition, however, when she opened it for the first time the smell of mold was overwhelming and she had to bring it to the dump.

• Master Bedroom: The couple’s master bedroom suite needs a massive overhaul. There is a major leak stemming from a gravity tank on the third floor that has impacted their bathroom and parts of their bedroom. Kayre speculates that the leak has been left unattended for years and has caused the cracks found in every plaster wall and ceiling.

• Their bathroom suffered a major leak that was left unattended for years. They want to have a master suite that is clean with vintage touches. 

• The Addition: Although it is a historic home, there is an addition that was built in the 1980’s. The new addition is outdated and doesn’t work with the rest of the home. It also comes with an extremely unusual feature: a koi pond! Kayre and Bill have already re-homed the Koi fish and would like to make sure the space is properly filled and flows with historical integrity of the rest of the home.

• There are plenty of other projects in need of TLC: the living room fireplace is sinking, there’s a closest with a door that opens on to the roof. Their porch is being held up with rocks and cinderblocks. The wood on the porch is rotting and some of the columns aren’t level or straight. There’s plenty to do for this couple, and they aren’t sure where to start.

• Kayre is a longtime fan of Nicole Curtis. She admires Nicole’s “gumption” and can-do attitude. When Kayre is feeling helpless she has been doing her best to channel her “inner Nicole Curtis!”

• Both Kayre and Bill have risked a happy life in Southern California and spent a major chunk of their life savings to move across the country to a dilapidated home in Detroit. (In the winter no less!) Although they’re trying to remain positive, the fact remains: they don’t know what they’re doing and they need some serious help with a very problematic historical home.