this old house

Hi!

We’re Jay and Annie

And this

is our Old House

Our house is small

ok it’s really small…tiny even, but we love it.

Our house has survived 2 very major hurricanes and still has a lot of the original features. But those features are hiding... We

found beautiful wood floors (the boards run the length of the entire house) under layers of laminate flooring, after hours of sanding and refinishing we were able to return them to their original glory.

We love it’s history, it’s details and lets not forgot the location:

Did I mention that we live one house up from the water?

Pretty nice to wake up to this every morning

Our plans are to turn our little

home into…

This!

Ok, it’s still pretty small, but we wouldn’t want it any other way.

We’ll be adding a full second floor with a full bath, a master bedroom and guest

room/office.

and completely opening up the first floor by moving the staircase and taking down most of the walls.

Old Stairs

New Stairs

We are also going to replace the boiler and hot water heater with a super efficient combined unit and make sure that the house is sealed and insulated to really save on heating and cooling costs. We’ll also install a central air conditioning system.

On the exterior, we’ll be tearing up the concrete path and putting in a new one using Boston Pavers - we’ll also be building a deck on the back of the house.

But lets back up. Our home was built in the 1920’s in Barrington, Rhode Island as a summer cottage.

The town of Barrington is nine miles southeast of Providence and

no point in town is more than two miles from salt water.

In April 2011, Barrington was named fourth in the nation for "Best Schools for Your Real Estate Buck” by Forbes magazine and the GreatSchools organization and a few years back CNN/Money Magazine named Barrington, RI, as the sixth

best place to live in the United States.

More interior shots - our kitchen in various stages of construction

We purchased this as our first home in November of 2009 and being young and on a budget we have been taking on most (all) of the home improvement projects on our own (with help from family members and friends along the way). We have learned quite a few new skills along the way and our selection of tools is quickly growing.

But adding a full second floor is a big project, and we need some help. We are going to hire builders, but will do a lot of

the finish work on our own (don’t worry, we work quickly) and anticipate the total project (including heating system) will

come in at around $80,000.

Now, a little more about us…

Annie Everson

Age: 27

Marketing Manager at the Newport CVB

Grew up in Rhode Island

Been watching This Old House since the age of 6

Favorite DIY projects: building and refinishing furniture

Loves: gardening, traveling, skiing and cooking & baking

Jay Everson

Age: 27

Grew up on Cape Cod

Mate at Tidewater Marine

Has been watching this Old House since the age of 5

Favorite DIY projects: framing, demo, plumbing

Loves: sailing, fishing, road biking, skiing

So why should you pick our house?

• We’re lifetime This Old House viewers, we represent the generation who grew up watching the show with their parents and now watch it for help with their own homes today.

• We have an average size budget. Our project is not unattainable for the average viewer - they will be able to relate to this project house.

• Small houses are cool. Americans are embracing the idea of less is more when it comes to square footage.

• And…more importantly, we already have a tagline for you: “The smallest project house yet, in the smallest state in the US!” Catchy, don’t you think?

Thanks for watching.

Hopefully we’ll see you next time

at our Old House!