Before I started renovations, the house interior was pretty basic. The house had been rented for many years, so the house was serviceable. The family had made an effort to get the house ready for sale, and wanted the house to be in good shape for whoever bought it.
I decided that I want to live in the house, and to be a place that I want to live in, I needed to update the interior. I want to open up the floorplan by opening up the wall between the kitchen and the family room. I am going to create a second bathroom, and redo the original bathroom. When I bought the house, there were 8' drop ceilings and wall-to-wall carpet throughout.
The house has had an interesting history. It's located in a traditionally African-American neighborhood and the property had been in the same family since 1918. The original patriarch had 10 kids, who now range in age from 50 to 85. He was a pillar of the community and was well known and liked in both the black and white communities of Chapel Hill.Elsewhere in the neighborhood, aunts and uncles and cousins used to live. Over the years, most of the family has moved to other parts of town or left town altogether.
