Conception

Like many projects, this one begins with a flood of ambition at the sight of a good opportunity. An idea is conceived, and then the ambition kicks in to find a way to bring this vision into the world. The idea must incubate and grow and develop and prepare for the arduous transition into reality. So it was with this project.

Normally, I like to summarize the progress of a project one week at a time. However, this inagural post for this thread will summarize several weeks of activity in order to explain what transpired to bring us to a point where we are now ready to build. It all started when I was working on a previous project near the Piedmont neighborhood. I was contacted by a real estate agent who was listing a lot several blocks to the north of where I was building. I swung by the lot to find a beautiful 50′x100′ with all kinds of beautiful plants and trees on it. I liked the location and the street. I told the agent that I was interested, and we set up a meeting with the property owner. The kind lady who owned the lot had understandable and reasonable interest in knowing what a house might look like once built on the lot next door to where she lived. She certainly didn’t want a low quality cookie cutter home propped up next to her beautiful and stately 1900s craftsman home. She wanted something with class and style and quality. Luckily for her, my interest is in building with class, style, and quality. If this were not so, then I would have no place on a blog for Rejuvenation Hardware. So, we made arrangements to meet at my last project, which she praised highly. After some negotiating, we came to terms for the purchase. My next step was to get my construction lender on board. That too took some negotiating, but eventually, all was set to close on the lot.

But alas, negotiating with sellers and lenders is not the only thing involved in acquiring a lot. I also had to deal with the city on this one. The lot previously existed as part of a larger parcel, and so the boundary lines needed to be confirmed and a new tax ID given before the purchase could take place. In order to do that, a new off-street parking facility (i.e. driveway) would need to be added to the existing house from which the lot was split off. In addition to that, a covenant needed to be established to demolish the existing garage which sat on the lot I was buying. It sounds like quite a headache, and it sort of was, but I managed to get it all done in a matter of a few weeks.

While I was working on jumping through the city’s hoops, I had my architect working on plans for the house so that I could submit plans for permitting as soon as possible after closing the sale of the lot. I had a very specific look and design in mind that I wanted to do on this lot. It was inspired by a house I had seen once when I was riding my bike through the Alameda neighborhood. This was the perfect lot to try out this new design. After a few rounds of revision with my architect we landed on this:

Front exterior of house to be built

I can’t wait to see this drawing changed into an actual structure. The idea has been conceived and the flood of ambition is propelling me forward in the process of bringing this vision into reality.

So, around the middle of May, I became the proud new owner of a beautiful lot on NE Morgan St. My plans went into the city for review shortly thereafter, and I expect to have my permits in hand any day. It will soon be time to start turning dirt and seeing this beauty take shape. Until then, I have made good on my promise to the lady who sold me the lot to tear down her old garage (which sits on the lot I purchased), and reuse the materials from that to build her a new tool shed behind her house. She is very keen to reusing and recycling anything possible, and I couldn’t be more sympathetic to that idea. So it’s an agreement that I’m more than happy to uphold.

One last thing I wanted to explain was the reasoning for naming the project “The Loveleigh House”. The legal description of the neighborhood is “Loveleigh”. It was the suggestion of the lady who I bought the lot from that we name the project after the neighborhood. This seemed like a good idea. It also appealed to me because of how the title sounds like the word “lovely” which I think is a fitting adjective for house. I’ve always appreciated a good double entendre, so the name stuck.