Take a look at this old red brick house on the market for $249,000 in Ohio. It was built in 1898 and has four bedrooms and two baths. It’s been “completely renovated,” which sounds good. Sure. But wait until you see the “improvements” they made. I’m not sure they took things in the right direction.
Are you as puzzled by the two-story living room as I am? Besides the fact that a contemporary loft-like space just doesn’t belong in this type of house, the room itself is too small to be two stories tall. The scale is all wrong. I’d feel like I was sitting at the bottom of an elevator shaft.
Or do you think I’m being too critical? Do you like the changes they made? What do you think?
-
If You’re Hooked on Fixer Uppers:
- What 5 Changes Would You Make to This Old House?
- Stuck in the ’80s: How Would You Update This House?
- Can This Old House Be Saved?
- See All Bad MLS Posts
{ 5 trackbacks }
{ 71 comments }
I don’t think you are being too critical…what are they thinking?? Also, there is a whole lot of white going on there!!!!
I really like the house, although I think they could of been a little truer to the house..and as you said, what did they do to the kitchen…at least they didn’t paint the hardwood floors!!
the white trim is ok, but in a house like that you need color on the walls!! if they wanted white walls they should’ve left the trim natural.
the kitchen–omh–what happened?? it looks like the kitchen from ‘The Office’. And that loft is just WRONG!! clearly they didn’t appreciate the house’s historical demeanor.
Not too critical…I loved some of the redos but NOT the two story living room or that contemporary loft add on. I also do not like that modern of a kitchen, especially in a home of this vintage. : )
Iloved Allison’s *is just WRONG!* comment! SO wrong!
Love,
Sue
WHY?
We are shaking our heads……why????
Where do we start…….that hole in the wall is just that – a hole in the wall, it makes no sense….the kitchen – why bother (we’ll be fair and say that we really don’t know what it looked like before), and taking out a room and the ceiling out – will the ever recoup the money from that project, and if we had to have railing – why that railing – why not wood – at least it would look truer to the period of the home……there are too many why’s!
It’s just too bad – it had so much potential the first few pictures!!
It looks to me like they didn’t go the distance in their vision. Or they had no vision? I dunno, it just looks like it’s two different houses in different areas.
Julia!!
Where do I start? Are you too critical? Not critical enough!!!
This is such a mumbo-jumbo of a mess, it isn’t even funny. I’m stunned that anyone could do this to a house.
Good luck selling it!!
Jan
This makes me really sad — to remove the bones of an old house like this and make it so needlessly wacky. And the renovations couldn’t have been cheap. I think one of the hard things to understand is that every house can’t be all things. Old houses often have small rooms, and if you want a house with the two-foot foyer and great room, you probably need to buy in a new neighborhood. But it truly breaks my heart to see an old house turned into this mishmash; someone with a real appreciation for what older houses are could have made something very beautiful out of renovating this place.
when I saw that remodel, My soul cried.
Noooo! That remodel is so wrong.
I kept reading the age of the house at 1998 and couldn’t understand the “vintage” part LOL I get it now – 1898.
It looks like someone decided that the house needed to be something else entirely – I hate two story living rooms. I think it is such a waste – unless you have a to-die-for-view that only a wall of windows can fully capture. This house needs a makeover, again.
I just finished flipping a house – Its a tough job but getting the vision right is step one.
You’re not being too critical, I think they completely ruined the charm of this house. If they intended to stay forever I guess I’d say to each his own but….people looking for this type of architecture usually want it to be pretty true to the period.
Somebody will probably come along & just love it.
Heh heh. I just re-read the posts. I meant “two-story foyer.” I’m not sure what a “two-foot foyer” would be.
A.T.–
Ha! I didn’t even notice. Reminds me of “Spinal Tap” when Stonehenge comes out and is only 2 feet tall. -J
The kitchen reminds me of a trailer. Yuck!
Wow – I totally agree with you. Very, very wrong!!
This is what happens when someone with transitional to modern taste, take over an traditional home. Instead of bringing out the charm the down play it and try to hide it in the background. The fact that stair newel had been painted white was bad enough but it only got worse from there. Ending in the tragic two story living room, with a rail from a cruise ship. Don’t even get me started onm the kitchen.
That 2 story living room and that window up there looks out of place. Now the kitchen, oh please, that should be the before picture. Too much white paint in the house, I bet the bannister and the rails were a beautiful wood in the entry way. That steel railing upstairs, that does not belong in that house, it belongs in one of those big square glass homes.It really is a shame, what they did to this home.
Why do so many people buy old houses who obviously are not interested in period detail or atmosphere ? The kitchen is horrible !! Why don’t people who like modern things stick to modern houses instead of ruining lovely old properties ?
gives new meaning to fully renovated.
scary.
Uhhh…..I am speechless!!
at first I thought ‘well they made it like every other house, but it is really bland.’ But then I saw the living room/master thing, that just looks wrong.
I LOVE this house! I think the two story living room is too cool! They took an old boring house and made it current, and updated. I can’t imagine anyone not liking this! I think it’s fantastic!
Oh. Dear.
This gives “reaching new heights in design” new meaning. Sign whomever did this up for the next Design Star. (S)he will fit right in!
FIrst off, design aside, let’s talk about how much square footage bit the dust with that living room ceiling raise. I’d want that bedroom back! I’m also disturbed by the dining room “peep hole” and would probably patch that up stat, or bust out the wall more. It’s just a…well, “peep hole” in its current state.
On a positive note — I did like the bathroom a lot. Overall just not my cup of tea.
HOLA
I don’t hate the two-story living room that much. I think the camera makes it look more silo-esque than it actually is. Why do our house photos never look as good as those in decorating magazines? One wonders? Methinks it has something to do with a wide-angle camera lens. Sometimes I like a contemporary re-do of a vintage home, but it really has to be done with more confidence than this. If you put in a steel railing, you probably choose a sliding, barn-style door instead of those Frenchies.
Interesting that some of you liked it. That’s why it’s always fun to post things like this. It’s great hearing everyone’s opinions. I can rarely predict what they’re going to be! -Julia
Hi Julia
No, you are completely right on. The kitchen in that house is a disaster! It makes me so make when people remodel a house and don’t leave it historically correct. There’s a house here that I loved from the outside, but on the inside it looks like a tract home. The took out ALL the charm of owing an old home. It makes me sick, quite honestly.
rue
No not critical at all! Restoration should be the key word when doing “makeovers”…NOT MAKEOVER. This is sad!
Pat
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! What a shame. They took a perfectly good house and turned it into a hodge podge of unmatched design eras.
You must have been heartbroken looking at this house!
p.s. I have been away awhile, spending less time on blogs and more time watching Design Star. You got me hooked, never mind that I swore off reality TV two years ago!!
Hmmmm….Creative liberty???
It looks like someone other than them did that. Their furniture is so traditional for the modern tone of the remud…er…remodel .
YIKES……
Kathy
Nope, I love it a lot. I agree that the kitchen could be better, and the 2-story living room is a little odd, but I could easily live with them to get the rest of the gorgeous house.
This is they type of remodeling that was running rampant in the 1960s. The idea was modernize, modernize, modernize. Take away the character of the building/house completely. They did, however manage to leave the woodwork but covered it completely with paint.
I guess a completed process would have been to do a re-do on the outside and cover up the obvious “dated” features on the outside. That way the exterior would match the interior and no one would be the wiser. Someone dropped the ball, I think. LOL
And that living room ceiling? Good grief. Very interesting.
I would think you’d feel like you were sitting at the bottom of a hole in the living room… oh, you are!
Oh, look, Julia, they set up a chair for you and a chair for me so we can sit in that empty room and stare at that plant on the floor.
Probably a male that planned it.
HI Julia, I realized I don’t have your e-mail. I did paint those murals on my post…the good thing is I have a back log of things I can post about
Jen R
Um. Exactly. Ditto. I am sitting here with an eww expression on my face. How odd. The modern, track lighting, kitchen. Just eww!!!! Poor old house. Don’t you know it’s groaning?!
I agree with you – I am quite confused by it as well. The outside doesn’t match the inside!
At first I thought they had just neutralized it for sale and then I thought the kitchen was done in the 80s and would have to be redone and then….ugh the LR and the loft and that railing….nasty.
Janet
I can’t understand it. They’ve modernized the space, but put traditional furniture in it. What’s up? I wish people who love open floor plan homes would buy open floor plan homes and quit messing up perfectly good older homes. Generally, in a home as old as this there was an architect or builder who understood scale and proportion. And, as my realtor advised me, it’s not a good idea to reduce the number of bedrooms in a home-even if they’re small bedrooms.
There is serious disconnect between the outside and the inside of that house. And that kitchen is a disaster. All that great space totally misused and so unplanned. It just plain hurts to look at it.
It certainly doesn’t seem like the living room should be two stories high, but maybe it was like that before they renovated?? The kitchen seems to have something wrong with it. I love the colors in the other parts of the house (second floor bedroom and dining room) but the kitchen looks like it has that silver paint (that you featured on your blog one time) over existing cabinets or something. It leaves a lot to be lacking and some of the cabinets aren’t even matching (ones above the bar counter area)
Some houses just aren’t connected inside and out!
I think that this is a lot of house for not very much money and seems in really good condition. A house like that in Marrakech would sell for double.
Why oh why would the owners take away a valuable real estate space to create that ugly open area? And what is up with that kitchen???
Why oh why do people do these things ? It is just sad to see such a beautiful home ruined.
equally baffled, Julia. That kitchen is…well…almost enough to make a Christian woman swear!
Hmmm… The renovations are bad. The worst being the 2 story ceiling and loft, because I imagine it would be expensive to un-do that. The kitchen is REALLY icky. It looks like office workspace counters, ugly microwave, ugly cabinets… then there’s the floral valence.
It has an 80s early 90s vibe and I don’t like it. LOL.
But I think most of it could be fixed.
That’s not a “renovation”, it’s a “remodel” or even a “remuddle”.
So sad.
How painful to see history destroyed!
What is WRONG with people?! If you don’t like the charm of old houses then DON”T LIVE IN ONE!! UGH!
That is one of the most hideous kitchens I’ve seen, much less in an old gem.
Track lighting? LOL… it does look like an elevator shaft! They could have at LEAST used wooden balusters.
Blech.
Oh how sad – it just went from bad to worse!!
I think you were being beyond kind! That is just horrible!!!
~melody~
Did they mention that the remodel was 20 years ago?
Haha – I saw this exact house for sale! We are both perusing cincyMLS, I see!!!
But I know what you mean. While I actually love the idea of a loft space in an older home, for the surprise of it, it just doesn’t fit the room. The worst, though, is the kitchen! GAH! It’s awful and ugly.
Wrong-o!! Decorating is all wrong for selling. I don’t think the traditional and contemporary styles are meshing well. I am originally from Cincy and now am a Realtor in SC. Great blog. If you ever want to do a what you get for the money blog, count me in.
Hi, I just came across your blog, fun stuff!! I don’t think I’d ever buy that house, and boy do I agree about scale. Have you noticed how in some new homes these days, everyone is CRAZY about taller and taller ceilings… and to heck with the scale?
However, where I live, houses like this listing are a dime a dozen (so why not play around a little?) and I respect that fact that someone had a vision (20 years ago makes sense) for translating the space in a modern way…and went for it. Experimentation is risky and is what makes cutting edge architecture fun… although it doesn’t always work out!
What. the. he**? I wasn’t bothered too much till I saw that horrible kitchen and then the modern railing/loft. I can’t even wrap my mind around why they would do this? The rest of the house looks fairly traditional still. HUH??
What’s with the track lighting?? Ugh!! The outside of the house has so much charm…if I were looking to buy, I’d turn right back around and head out the door if I walked into that living room. It needs a complete restoration, not to mention a new decorator.
these people ought to be flogged, or WORSE, forced to live the rest of their lives in the monstrosity of bastardized historic architecture that they have created
What the hell was that? You know some soul is crying in the fetal position, sucking his thumb. My heart aches for that poor house.
Pick a century people~
the first pic of the living room i was like oh oh something bad is going on here. the ceiling didnt look right. then i saw the kitchen. it wasnt that bad. i didnt care for the brown cabnets. looked so cheep. so then i saw the dining room. is that another door to the back yard. then i saw the master bedroom. and thought it was a regular bedroom with perhaps a cool bathroom off it. then i saw the master bath and it looks almost identical to my own in the round mirror and color and standard bathtub. then i looked at that balconey off the master bedroom over looking the living room so modern. and i mean the railing is modern. you would think they would at least give it a more period look. but, never the less. i would bet that this house was a rental at one time. and perhaps this was the only was to reclaim it with some weirdo master bedroom. i dont care for the living room masterbedroom combo. the whole thing threw me off. but, becouse i am open minded for the moment perhaps this was a chop shop apartment home that was put back the best that they could with their own personal taste. and whould i buy it. no. the master bedroom has no privacy now that you can hear everything from the living room up stairs and vica versa. to bring true sexyness to the masterbedroom privacy is a must before mirrors or black and red……..lol
ps. i forgot the reclaimed attic. omg. people will use it as living space? hope they have a good heater in the winter and an extra fan or two in the summer. if your furnace or air conditior isnt big enough wow. you’ll know it on a nice hot summer day. looks kinda like a fire hazard to escape in case of fire.
All was good until I got to the kitchen. I also didn’t like the balastrade (is that how you spell it) on the first floor – too modern.
I didn’t like it either! When you’ve got a historic house, keep it that way! None of this ultra modern stuff!
Rachel@IdahoCheneys’s last blog post..Monday Musings
This was obviously done by someone who likes the new cookie cutter homes, but couldn’t afford the McMansion of their dreams. So, they remuddled an old historic house (which in Cincinnati, can be cheap). So sad.
All I could think was maybe the husband and wife were trying to combine both of their taste in houses and this mess is what got puked up. And the kitchen..Well my eye went straight to the refrigerator in front of the stove! What the heck was that? I know I like to back into the stove every time O open the refrigerator door.
The renos look nice but they just don’t tie into the house and it’s charm. I don’t know if i should even have left a post on this house in question. I am a strong lover of historic and early period houses, I hate seeing them tampered with , fire your decorator and get this house back to it’s useful and beautiful original bones
I lived in a house with the same plan in Raleigh NC. My roommates and I would talk endlessly of what we would do to update that jewel of a house. It was a rental and had been allowed to become a little run-down. None of our plans included loosing major square footage in the second story so we could vault our little living room. So disappointing!
I don’t agree with most of you. The contemporary remodelling of this house would look good if the FURNITURE was adequate! It is old and tired, it belongs to the local dump!
Here in Europe where I live, lots of old houses on the outside have a modern sleek line contemporary look inside. Nobody thinks you have to re-create the original aspect at all costs.
In general, I like it! While the kitchen may benefit from a professional kitchen designer, it doesn’t bother me.
While you lose square footage with a 2-story ceiling over the Living Room, you get a level of surprise and excitement you would not get otherswise. I like the mixture of contemporary and antique.
Comments on this entry are closed.