3454 Perrysville Avenue
Home of Jeremiah Brooks and Rebecca Howe. History: Built in the 1920’s, this house was purchased by the current owners in July of 2007. They have been renovating it ever since. The current owners purchased the home right out of college when moving to Pittsburgh for the first time. According to them, “it’s been a great experience for a young architect to renovate his first home.” “When we purchased the home the roof was covered entirely by a blue tarp due to the roof deterioration. We learned that many of the neighbors referred the home as the “tarp house”. The pizza guy was shocked to learn someone had purchased it and loved to tease us about the lack of kitchen (obviously, we saw him a lot). The home was without a kitchen for almost a year, and was worth the wait. The house has come a long way from the original tarp house conditions and still has a lot yet to be completed, which we are looking forward to. We love looking over the park each day and the easy commute around town from this area.”
Renovations: At one time house was converted to two apartments, and it is currently being renovated to restore it to the original single family home status. This is a complete renovation, including Kitchen expansion, Bathroom expansion, remodeling of all bedrooms, etc. The owners are planning to repaint the exterior with a historical color palate in spring/summer of 2009.
The Details: Pocket doors, refinishing previously painted entry & staircase, four fire places, hardwood floors throughout, yet to be refinished. Renovations to the living room included removal of partition (apartment separation), restoration of pocket doors. Exposing fireplace. In the dining room, renovations included removal of wall between kitchen and dining room, exposing fireplace, as well as accent windows. They built a new mantel, restored pocked doors to living room, moved bathroom door to mud room, and installed overhead lighting. This room was previously the bedroom for the downstairs apartment. The owners moved kitchen from pantry area to previous apartment living room. All new cabinetry, appliances, countertops, and island have been added. They expanded the room into stairwell/basement landing area to create a larger space. The kitchen features recessed lighting as well as art glass pendant fixtures and professional stainless steel appliances. The island is on casters for easy movement in the kitchen to adapt to cooking/entertaining needs. The kitchen also includes butcher block countertops and fully tiled backsplash. They exposed the brick chimney in the corner for accent. They also removed a wall to open it into the dining room. Access to large back pantry/mud room area is an excellent feature. The master bedroom was suffering from severe water damage. The carpeting was removed to expose wood floor. An exposed brick fireplace was uncovered, as well as two small windows. Doorway to closet pushed back and closet walls removed and redone. A walk-in closet with new hardwood floors that’s sure to hold a LOT of shoes was added. The room features original crown molding, new matching ceiling fans and window coverings in all bedrooms. The back bedroom was a kitchen for the upstairs apartment when the house was purchased. The linoleum floor was removed, as well as the original kitchen cabinetry. The bathroom was expanded into this room. Large bi-fold custom closet added. Now it’s cozy and quiet. The third bedroom features a restored fireplace and includes a new custom built mantel. New closets flank either side of fireplace. Room originally featured one 10in deep closet. Large windows overlook the park. There is also an upstairs small sitting room with bay windows that overlooks the park. The attic currently features two bedrooms yet to be remodeled. There is a sun porch downstairs, as well as a front porch and back patio area. The proposed back patio will feature flagstone and rebuilt retaining walls.