New Digs * New Design * Split Level Remodel

We weren't necessarily looking for a new home, but we weren't closed to it either. We love our place in NoDa, the Warp Street home, but as noted quite a few times before, we are project people. If you are a project-oriented type person you know that once a project is done it's hard to just settle in. That itch is always there, the itch to figure out floorplans, to choose tile, to walk warehouses filled with granite slabs, to plan and implement new ideas and new designs.

It's as much the thrill of the project itself as it is anything else. Living in a home, in a design you love is a huge bonus, but it is more of an afterthought for us than it is the primary goal. We just love designing and working these projects out, together. And we definitely have a difference of opinion from time to time, but that's part of the process, part of how we end up with a look and a feel that we both love and represents both of us. While we do meet "in the middle" it's a middle heavily skewed to Joey's side, he's our in-house designer and I'm the guy that ideas get run by, giving thumbs up or down. We have a system that's evolved well for us over 20+ years.

Our new place - ready for a complete facelift and update

One day after closing, walls coming down, kitchen out, demo underway

So here we are, swinging hammers and filling dumpsters, starting on a project we didn't even know we'd have three weeks ago, the day I noticed this little gem hit the market. The timing is great for us. We sold the place in Roatán in May, we sold the Company Store two years ago and the Canteen this year. We have the time and we have a bit of savings. We can stay in our current place while we renovate this one, a luxury we've not had in projects past, living in them as we fixed them up.

Living in a home while you renovate is a true test in endurance. Tearing up a room, or two, or more, is a dirty endeavor by it's nature and it's hard to feel clean in a home with everything torn up. It always takes longer than expected. Maybe not a huge deal when it's an extra bedroom or bathroom, but a really big deal if it's your kitchen and you cook all the time like we do. Being able to renovate this place, work all day then pack up and head home to a clean house, a clean functional kitchen? How wonderful! And after the heavy, hard work we had to do last year cleaning up our cabin and land in the mountains after Hurricane Helene, this all seems and feels really easy by comparison.

We don't need to move, we love the home we are in, the area and neighborhood we are in, and all the neighbors we have and know well. But Joey has had a resurgence in his creative drive and needs space for a workshop and a work room as well as a design studio. We don't have room in our home now to build any of this out. We've also been in our current place for 7 years, the longest either of us has ever lived anywhere - including growing up, we both are from families that moved a lot, so the thought of a new home is exciting. The thought of reworking and remodeling a split level is a fun challenge as well.

Lastly, but certainly on the radar, is the tax benefit. This isn't our main reason but it does drop the cherry on the top. We've built up great equity in our current place over these last years, and we can take advantage of the Primary Residence Exclusion when selling your home. Generally it allows you to keep $250,000 for one person or $500,000 if you file jointly when you sell your home...tax free. You have to have lived in your home for 2 of the past 5 years. If we sell our current home, take the profit from it and buy a new home, fix it up, we also restart our clock for this benefit. Again, not our main reason, we want to fix up a cool home then live there and enjoy it, but if we can build more equity for the future, wonderful!

New home, new design and split level remodel