Transforming a 1930s Bungalow in Durham NC: Our Complete Renovation Journey

BEFORE our Maynard Project renovations

Do you ever get a sense of familiarity when you walk into an older home? You've never been there before, but the memories that seemed to be stored up in the walls of an older home are relatable to your own experiences.

That's how it felt when we walked into this 1930's bungalow in Durham, NC on East Maynard Avenue. The home obviously had a history of welcoming family and friends into the cozy space over the past 90 years. The hardwood floors were well worn, marking pathways from bedrooms to main living spaces. The kitchen had been expanded over the years, I imagine to make room for large gatherings and a table full of home cooked meals.

BEFORE. This was the state of our first walk through before we put in an offer. Old cast iron stove previously used to warm up the 1930s home, window units for air conditioning. The stairs led to an unpermitted attic that was used for storage but certainly not up to code to use as proper living square footage. We found later after taking down the dry wall, that the joists used in the ceiling would not be sturdy enough to support the weight of a floor for a second level. So we needed to remove the stairs and use the attic as storage only.

Some homes that we are able to walk through and pick up, are full of furniture and photos on the wall, nick knacks on the mantles. But this one had been cleared out except for an upright piano, an old couch, and an attic full of old magazines and scrap wood. The owner had passed away and the heirs had cleaned out most of it.

Still, with an almost empty house, the history could be felt.

BEFORE. The kitchen had been expanded in stages. Where you see the stove was likely previously a porch. When the engineer saw how the foundation was built under this space, we had to add additional piers to support the weight of livable square footage.

And little bungalows like this almost always take me back to spending Friday nights at my grandparents' house in Rockcastle County, Kentucky as a child. Those special memories of frying morels in a cast iron skillet, smelling bacon as you wake up, the heavy weight of handmade blankets and afghans, and playing with cousins in the creek never leave the senses.

So when we find little treasures like this, we feel a responsibility to honor the past and secure a future for these homes to house special memories for the next 100 years.

BEFORE. This was the "third" bedroom. It was likely originally as breezeway or side porch as we found an external doorway to this room after demolition. This space will become our dining area.

This home was advertised as a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom. But the 3rd bedroom was likely a side porch in its former life. As we have found in most modest homes built in the early 1900s, the closets are VERY small and storage is limited.

Our first objective when we get into a home like this is to make an assessment of what we think will need to be done.

How old is the roof? How old is the HVAC? Does it have HVAC? What does the crawl space look like and how is the foundation? The major systems are the highest ticket items on renovations like these and can take up the majority of the renovation budget. We often give VERY fat margins on these issues so that we can make sure that even in a worse case scenario, we can still make a profit.

BEFORE. The hardwoods are in decent shape. However, we aren't able to salvage them when we removed the walls and reworked the floor plan. It always hurts be to have to do that. But in the end, I think it was a good decision. And we were able to replace them with real hardwoods.

For this house on East Maynard, we knew going into it we would need to do some foundation work, rework the floor plan to allow for more storage and 2 bathrooms, update the HVAC, put on a new roof, and add a deck on the back for increasing livable space. With reworking the floor plan, we would take the opportunity to bring electrical, plumbing and building codes up to modern standards.

We knew it was a huge undertaking but these are our favorites.

BEFORE. This space will become a third bedroom. The L to this kitchen will be the back wall of the new kitchen. As you can see, the hardwoods are in bad shape here and we even had parts that were just plywood for flooring.

So we put in an offer, said a prayer for the Lord to guide and direct our steps, and waited. There were several other offers put in but somehow we were the winning bid and we were so excited to get started.

End of October 2024, we closed on the house and immediately started demolition. When you start peeling back the walls, you really get a glimpse of the full scope of work that needs to be done.

DEMOLITION. This view is standing next to the fireplace at the front of the house, looking back to where the new kitchen will be. You can see were there were old windows that were framed in and the "third" bedroom was put where there was previously a side porch. This will become the dining room.

Because the house was added on to in stages, it made for a complicated roof line and complicated engineering prescriptions for making sure the walls, foundation, and roof were secure with the changes to the floor plan. The engineer prescribed 3 LDL beams, repair of a few foundation piers and additional piers to support the weight of the LDL beams.

Already, we had busted our foundation and framing budget.

From the outside of the house, the brick below the siding was crumbling in several areas. Visually, no one likes to see this. New buyers feel uncomfortable if they don't know what they're looking at. For this house, the brick was not load bearing-- it is called a pier and curtain foundation system. In other words, there are piers of concrete and block that support the weight of the house and the brick acts like a "curtain" to fill in the space aesthetically between the piers. So in best interest of the future homeowners, we repaired the brick wall. Cha-ching.

BEFORE. Consulting with our contractors to work through details on framing and foundation wall.

We hadn't intended to replace any windows since they appeared to have been updated relatively recently (definitely not the original 1930s windows). However, our siding team contacted us one day to inform us that parts had broken off the exterior of the windows, compromising the waterproof and weatherproof seal. As a result, we needed to replace more than half of the windows. Cha-ching, cha-ching.

DEMOLITION. We looked at making this fireplace functional again. However, there were way too many leaks and repairs that needed to be made to make it functional. We didn't think our ROI would be worth it to repair it. But it can be made beautiful again-- and that's always worth it.

Prior to installing the drywall, we toured the house with our plumbing and electrical team to plan the placement of switches, outlets, the types of ceiling lights we prefer, the locations for vanity sconces, and the type and brand of plumbing we'll use, among other things. These crucial details significantly impact both the aesthetics and functionality of the home.

When drywall goes up, it really starts feeling like a house.

Drywall is up! With the front door to my back, I'm looking at the future kitchen and dining area. I can really see everything taking shape!

Time to start making final selections and purchase cabinetry, lights, tile, plumbing, countertops, hardwoods, doors, door handles, and paint.

From the first day we got to walk the house, I have been making mood boards and coming up with design ideas. But I don't make final selections on certain items to ensure that they'll be in stock when we are ready to purchase.

Design elements for this kitchen.

My design process is to come up with an overall feel for the house. Then I go room by room to make a complete vision of each product that will be needed. Once I feel comfortable with the full picture, then I'll order all of the items. Because this is a home we are renovating to sell, I'm not typically selecting items that are difficult to get. If it takes more than a week to get in, I'll usually select something different.

The design for the primary bath started with the floor tile. I have loved it for about a year and have been looking forward to using it on a project. Finally got to use it!

This is always the exciting phase as the tile is installed, the first layer of paint is applied, and the carpentry work on the trim begins, allowing you to truly see the vision come to life with all the components that transform a house into a home.

The vanity lights were really the spring board for the design of this bathroom. The tile is from The Tile Shop and I really love how it all came together in the end!

Here is the order we brought in our subcontractors once drywall went up.

1. Carpentry to install doors and trim

2. Tile installers for bathroom floors and walls

   
   

   

   OCR Solutions is our favorite tile crew. We have worked with them for years and it really makes a difference when you can dream together on a space and trust their insight.

3. Electrician to hang pendants, install outlets, switches, and LED lights

4. HVAC installed

5. Hardwoods delivered and acclimating in air conditioned space

   
   

   

   Our cabinetry design program allows us to visualize fairly accurately what our kitchen will look like! This house is just shy of 1300 square feet but this kitchen and entertaining area feels HUGE.

6. Carpentry to install cabinets in bathrooms, kitchen, trim out fireplace, build out framing for custom range hood, build out of floating shelves in dining area, and build out island. The shelves on the island cannot be made yet because flooring needs to be done first.

   
   

   

   This is the carpentry stage where cabinets are installed, range hood is framed out.

   
   

7. First coat of paint for everything except exterior doors. Lots of contractors coming in and out still and the doors usually suffer a little abuse.

8. Templating for countertops after cabinetry is in and they installed about 7 days later.

9. Tile installation of backsplash in kitchen

10. Electric sub came back to finish installing pendants, ceiling fans, outdoor lights, and door bell.

    
    

    

    I LOVE these vanity lights from Wayfair

    
    

11. Roof installation, siding installation, and decking was all installed while interior work was being done.

    
    

    

    Landscapers came in to help us out with this back yard. It was a MESS of overgrown weeds, crazy amounts of hidden brick, broken glass, and POISON IVY (Austin got a TERRIBLE case of Poison Ivy reaction after this.

12. After hardwoods were acclimated, they were installed.

13. Carpentry came in for final touches like shelves on the island, shelves in the primary bathroom, hanging mirrors, hanging towel holders and hooks, and finishing out the custom range hood

14. Final coat of paint!

15. Deep clean

16. Staging was done by Austin and myself... we normally like working with stagers but we missed the window to get them booked because of a busy spring season.

17. Photos for listing!

18. LISTED!

Comment below what you think!

To see the Zillow listing, click HERE.