This is our second home.
Our first home was a 1943 colonial, literally combusting with character and warmth. From the original floors, the thick baseboards and crown moldings, to the custom front porch railings, it was love at first sight. It was a standard 4 square from the time period, and as such, we inevitably grew out of it. Around the same time, my husbands company needed us to move to Columbus from our previous location, 2 hours away near Cincinnati.
It was 2021, the housing market was absolute insanity. We had some friends in the area that helped us steer our search towards towns that would feel like us, with Westerville being the first suggestion everyone had. We clearly were not the only ones looking to make the idyllic town our home. What initially was, Oh, lets just look at the options and get a feel for the area, and maybe well make an offer next spring, QUICKLY became Oh my God all of these yards are so small and we have a giant dog and the neighborhoods are packed like sardines OH LOOK AT THAT ONE! Nevermind, its pending. We panicked. I know I said the market was insanity but it truly was bonkers. I was terrified we wouldn’t find something in the previously planned time frame. So when our place popped up, we pounced. Our heaven sent earth angel of a realtor was here for a walkthrough within an hour of the listing going live. She facetimed us during her tour, and to be honest, I didnt love it. Not like my first house. But it had the space, and the yard, which was proving harder and harder to find. So we went for it. The sellers were lax on their time frame, so we had some time to figure stuff out. Built in 97, a practical teenager compared to our first home, this house was as standard, builder grade as they come, I knew it was going to need character aggressively forced upon it.
In January of 2022 we moved in. The house, with its vaulted ceilings, and exposed catwalks, had lines that felt much more contemporary than I was used to, or really wanted. But it presented a new design challenge, which, while can be frustrating, is always more fun.
First on the agenda, was the fireplace. In the last house, I painstakingly stripped nearly 80 years of paint off the brick fireplace, exposing a beautiful old brick that I miss dearly. The new house, was not that. It was standard, 90’s red with no variation, brick. I hated it. Whitewashing isnt my vibe, and a schmear didnt feel like it fit with the house. So instead, I decided to stucco over the brick, giving a faux concrete vibe. I was enamored with it, and it came to dictate a lot of the design choices that came after in this house.
Photo from Zillow Listing
We ripped down the mantle literally the instant we moved in. Our movers actually helped lol. They were more than happy to take a moving break for a little demo catharsis.
Here you can see where I started at the top of the fireplace, skim coating the whole thing to fill in the mortar lines. I later went back over with color added to my stucco, mixing and texturizing the stucco to give a true stone facade.
The final product, it definitely gave this house a specific design character, that it sorely needed. It helped inform and give direction to every other project we’ve tackled. It was done on a whim, and honestly I wasn’t even sure if it would turn out like I’d hoped, but I needed to take a risk with this house, this house has played it safe 25 years, and its time to see what else it can be.