Our Story
Afterboth finishing graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2012, Lindsay and I were desperate to return home to Atlanta. We’d met in Atlanta, and it was the place we both loved more than anywhere else on earth. We were so excited to be able to come home together. We had been married only the year before, and we were excited to start our new lives in the big city.
We wanted to be as close to the center of the action as possible, but our budget wouldn’t afford us some of the more upscale neighborhoods inside the perimeter. We had a close friend who had bought a home in Summerhill just a couple of years earlier, and he was nice enough to put us up for a few months as we searched for our first home.
We quickly fell in love with Summerhill & Peoplestown. We walked to Braves games. When we didn’t have tickets, we sat on the back porch and listened to the crowd fill the night sky when our Braves hit a home run. Moreover, we were thrilled that home prices in the area were mostly within our modest budget. Our careers had yet to launch in the way they would 6 or 7 years later, so we needed to find something small and reasonable. We wanted to start a family within the next couple of years, and for that reason, we told ourselves that nothing with fewer than three bedrooms would suit us.
Throughout the house-hunting process, we made the mistake of falling in love with homes that would soon be swept off the market by all-cash investment buyers. Over and over again, we’d place our bid or submit an offer, never to be taken seriously by a seller. It happened so many times that we nearly gave up the search; we’d never be able to compete with such buyers.
Then, one day as we returned home from my mom’s house in Macon, Lindsay and I got off the interstate at exit 245. We went straight through the stop sign at the bottom of the exit ramp and onto Ormond Street SW. Just ahead on the right we saw a sign in the front yard of an adorable home: “Coming Soon from the City of Atlanta.”
We called and found out that the home had yet to be listed. We were the first to inquire. Better yet, it was part of a City of Atlanta grant initiative that sought to renovate old homes in historically low-income neighborhoods so as to revitalize the communities. As such, the price was set at a rate intended to attract young families, and that price was set in stone; i.e. it could neither go up nor be negotiated down.
We scheduled a time to see it, and it was absolute LOVE at first sight. It was gorgeous inside: the original 1920 heart pine floors, the open floor plan, the period-specific details, the historical charm. And the massive front porch spanning the entire front of the home — WOW.
We were able to secure the home before it ever went on the market. We are still, to this day, in awe of how lucky we were.
Our love for the home and the community only grew stronger as the years passed. We had children — two beautiful little girls — in 2014 and 2016. They went to daycare in the building across the street. We made fabulous, forever-friends. Our careers hit full stride, and we were determined to add to the home rather than seek a larger one elsewhere. In 2018, we made the renovation plans, and in 2019 they became a reality (particularly fortuitous timing given that Covid and the subsequent lockdown lay just around the corner!).
Downstairs, we added 12 ft to the back of the house, allowing us to expand the kitchen and create a breakfast area with an accent wall of shiplap. We added a beautiful screened porch on the back of the house, just off the kitchen. We were able to turn the stackable washer/dryer closet into a space that would accommodate full-sized units. We added a half bath off the kitchen and expanded the full bathroom off the hallway. We created what we intended to become an in-law suite with its own private entry and attached bath. And we did what we once thought impossible… a staircase leading up to a brand new second floor.
Upstairs, we created two bedrooms for our children connected by an adorable Jack and Jill bathroom. And then, our masterpiece: the master suite! A sitting area with a shiplap accent wall and gas fireplace. A massive bedroom space and custom walk-in master closet. And a master bath to die for — combined soaker tub and rain shower. To finish it off, we had a balcony built off of the master sitting area, large enough for two and overlooking the beautiful backyard where our children chased lightning bugs and where I took naps on our hammock.
All the while, we watched the neighborhood turn into a thriving community of grocery stores, coffee shops, condominiums, and amazing restaurants. It was all perfect.
We only left this house that we loved and will forever love because a better life awaited us in Canada. We now wait with a full and heavy heart to pass the home on to the next deserving family. “
Side note..All of the rooms that now have vinyl plank flooring were originally carpeted. When we purchased the house, there was very cheap carpet in the two bedrooms downstairs. It quickly began to tear at the seams. Prior to the 2019 renovations/additions, we replaced the carpet with a wood flooring that we hoped would match the pine in the downstairs hallway. Unfortunately, the result was a wood flooring that clearly showed our attempt and FAILURE to match the rest. So, when it came time for renovations, we decided we’d go with a flooring that provided a contrast and that was waterproof and scratch proof. We had pine run from the upstairs hall into the master bedroom and vinyl plank put in the kids’ bedrooms upstairs, the thinking being that we wanted something far more durable than pine in the kids’ rooms.
Walk, Bike, Skate, Scooter, or hoWever you chooSe to get around
A few blocks Northeast to the incredible Georgia Avenue retail district which is home to some of the city’s favorite chefs, restaurateurs, brewers, and more…
Little Tart Bake Shop
Southern National
Wood’s Chapel BBQ
Little Bear, Boca
Halfway Crooks
Brewery
Hero Doughnuts
Big Softie
How Crispy
Junior’s Pizza
Maepole, Aviary Spa
Maggie Murphy’s Salon
Press Shop Good Gifts
Sacred Yoga
Publix Cava and more to come!
A Few Blocks East on Ormond (and connecting streets) to…
Talat Market
Mediterranea
Grant Park Coffeehouse
The Beacon
Grant Park
Zoo Atlanta and more...
South on Hank Aaron to…
Beltline entrance on Milton Ave
Peoplestown Coffee Bar and the soon to open Peoplestown Terminal South Food Hall
