Our #ProjectLakeLife Renovation - Where do we start?

During the real estate boom of 2021, my husband and I (now empty nesters) decided to jump on the bandwagon and make a move. We lived in a very nice planned community in the west end of Richmond for 20 years. While the community was great for raising our family with awesome schools and lots of kids running around the neighborhood, Jeff and I were ready for a change. I reached out to my realtor friend and guru, Kristin Krupp of Shaheen, Ruth, Martin & Fonville and asked her to help me find a house that was “interesting”. Our timing was perfect because a house was about the enter the market that was clearly “meant to be”. Within a matter of days, we were touring the house, made an offer and had the offer accepted. I actually felt a little guilty after reading so many tales of woe with people trying to navigate the bidding wars and low inventory of available homes. But this beauty was all ours!

And check out this mac daddy garage for our massive car collection!

We got seriously lucky though because that front image of the house was the ONLY image on Zillow when it went on the market. They were hiding the best part of the house!

The house is a funky 70s split level house and when you walked down into the main living area and kitchen, this is the view!

The house is located on Lake Cherokee which I never even knew existed just south of the James River in Richmond. It’s this hidden gem of an 18 acre stocked lake. And since moving into the house, we’ve discovered that there is a great tight knit community of lake front homeowners who we are getting to know better. These houses do not go on the market often and have been passed down between family members. The seller for our house inherited the home from her parents who were the original owners when they built it in 1976. It was very evident that this home was loved and enjoyed for generations and we wanted to be sure to honor that. So when we put in our offer, I wrote a letter to the sellers and assured them that we intended to love it and share it with our family. The house really hasn’t been renovated, with a few exceptions, since it was built. I shared my intention to renovate the house, but respect the house’s history and architecture.

Over the next year, I intend to share the journey of our renovation and all of the surprises and challenges that we encounter along the way. But just as a sneak peek at what we have planned, here’s a rendering of the planned front elevation. You’ll see that we have an addition planned for the front of the house. More on this later…

We’ve started demo on the inside projects and we’re already seeing a lot of potential. Stay tuned for our weekly check-ins and I’ll share the good, the bag and the ugly that we encounter along the way.