THE MORRIS FAMILY   

Mom: Diana

Dad: John

Daughter: Lauren

Son: Dustin

Son: Ryan

Home: 1929 French Manor

Layout: 6 Bedroom 5 Bath

Square Footage: 3,800 SQFT

Budget: 60K

RESTORATION NEEDS                   

1. Kitchen

2. Bathrooms

Diana and John Morris dedicated their lives to raising their eight children in their historic home. Yes, that’s right—eight children! They purchased their historic home twenty years ago and throughout the years have lovingly maintained the home as best they could despite the wear and tear that a family of ten brings to a house. The Morris’ haven’t been able to keep up with the house because their priority was always their children. In between soccer practice, homework and jobs they never had the time to work on the home themselves. Additionally, money that should have gone to keeping up with the house was always diverted to their children’s needs whether that was school tuition, a wedding, birthday or family vacation. Family was always first and the house always came in second.

Now that most of the children are grown (there is still one son living at home named Dustin) Diana and John are all but empty nesters. It used to be that they could rely on their children for help around the house but with the kids gone the effort falls back on them. Although papa-bear-John is handy to a point he doesn’t have the skillset to do all of the work himself. Lauren and her mother are at the end of their rope trying to find a contractor who can do the work. They’ve had horrific experiences in the past with dishonest contractors who do shoddy work. They even had to take one contractor to court! They are disillusioned that their home will never be renovated. Mom and dad have raised eight children within the walls of their home and they want to preserve this house for years to come. This is their forever home and they want it to be one day being passed down to one of the children. However, if they don’t get some help they’re unsure if it will just continue to deteriorate and the much needed work will never happen. They need Nicole’s help to preserve their house as well as to bring old, rusty, cracked and outdated spaces into this century.

Kitchen: No one in the family knows if and when the kitchen was ever really renovated. They know for certain they haven’t done any work on the kitchen in the past twenty years that they occupied the home. The cabinets are most likely original from the 1930’s and are in bad shape. Some of the cabinets don’t open and some of the cabinets are not usable because the bottoms have fallen out or are about to fall out. The flooring is old scuffed linoleum, and the wall tile is cracked and unsightly.

The galley layout is also a major issue that the family has been contending with for nearly two decades. The Morris’ are a family of eight and when the cousins, husbands, wives, and kids are all together, it’s a gathering of dozens of people. Unfortunately, a kitchen that can only fit 2-3 people comfortably at the same time is a major problem for the family who love to host and entertain. Something that they had to give up years ago because of their home. They want their home to be a gathering place for their family but at this point it isn’t in any condition to host.

Bathrooms: None of the bathrooms in the home are in good shape. From rusty old bathtubs, to inoperable showers, to sagging ceiling wallpaper, not only do none of the many bathrooms really function but none of them look like they belong in the same home or that they’re from the same decade!

2nd floor bathroom: The second floor bathroom is the most used bathroom in the house but it’s in a deplorable state. Through years of use and abuse the floor tiling reached what should have been the end of its life. However, instead of taking it out John and Diana decided to just put linoleum flooring on top of the old tile! The know it was a “band aid” solution but they didn’t know what else to do! There are cracks in the wall and plaster holes in the ceiling. The toilet is old and cracked and almost worst of all its pink! The eye-sore pink toilet matches the equally old and decrepit pink sink. The sink is next to a rusted radiator that is taking up valuable real-estate. The pink bathtub is stained and dirty. It’s the last place that anyone ever would want to take a hot shower. There is an arched ceiling but the plaster is coming down! The rest of the bathroom is enveloped in a yellow tile! Diana hates the tile so much that her family had to stop her from taking a hammer to the tile and removing it herself!

Third floor bathroom: This bathroom is totally inoperable. It’s in such disrepair that they shut the water down until they can get it to a usable place. They are starting to think of this bathroom as the money pit. At one point the children discovered that the bathroom tiles are actually made of plastic and were GLUED to the walls inside the shower! The plastic tiles started to fall off during routine showers! The bathroom has cracked tile. It’s old, dated and has cracked walls. It’s completely unusable and a waste of space in the home. What’s worse, they don’t want this room to fall into even further disrepair to the point that it becomes seriously hazardous.

Main Suite bathroom: The main suite bathroom is like stepping into a room in a completely different home! Whereas the 2nd floor bathroom had a pink, purple and yellow motif this bathroom mixes ugly green, teal, black and white elements.  The bathtub is an ancient, rusty teal tub that clashes with the bizarre green and black wall decorations. The ceiling is decorated in a white wall paper that is falling down! They can’t imagine who or why someone would wall paper the ceiling in a bathroom? Nothing in this bathroom seems to be from the same decade or seems to match. It’s a hodge-podge of minimally functioning elements and and matching mismatching styles.

1st floor bathroom: When the family first moved in there was a chair inside the main floor powder room. They were surprised to learn that wasn’t’ just a decorative chair but in fact was a working toilet! What looks like a formal dining room chair complete with a cushion is in fact a working toilet! Unfortunately, this chair/toilet is old and dirty and doesn’t match the indigo blue sink, or the dirty black hexagonal tile or the peeling pink wallpaper. This powder room is a constant embarrassment anytime a guests needs to use the toilet.