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I’m torn between “Sweet Jesus!” and “Dear God!”

Whoever mentioned Home Depot and Lowes hit the nail on the head. Several of the original windows were too far gone and have been replaced with cheap-looking Jeld-Wen.

She’s still not done with the reno but went ahead with the open house, complete with handwritten sign that essentially said “open house from 1 to 3, no, make that 4″ as there was a tentative “3″ overwritten with a “4″.

We arrived at a slow period, so we got the royal personalized tour with her description of what she thought she might do to finish it out. I mean, she’s renovating on the fly here. Stuff like, (in the parlor where the fireplace used to be) “I was going to put travertine here, but a friend told me to put something dark, so what do you think about some of that black gran-ite? [The electric fireplace replacement that is much too small for the space] is so short, maybe I could get some of that tall metal stuff to set it up on. What do you think?”

She told us several times that she’s taking her time but could be finished in a week and a half (!) if she had a buyer. I’m thinking it would take that long just to clean up all the sloppy paint smears from the windows and cover up the floor and trim stain that got on the walls. Forget about trying to finish the kitchen in that time — she mentioned sort of vent that’s still on order.

I totally appreciate the amount of work that has to go into bringing a 100-year-old house up to code (wiring, plumbing) and to modern standards of living (central AC), but why would you use cheap finishings, mishmash old and new styles in the same room, and not even have a plan or a vision while doing so?

At least Cody should be feeling some relief from the Prius Patrol. I think I know where they’ve been.

I just visited San Antonio, where every other building dated back to the 1800s or early 1900s. Alot of them had been reno’d over and over again, at least on the inside. Some had kept alot of period detail; some hadn’t. This made them alive, much in the same way that the English language lives by constantly changeing. One of my tour guides had been born in a hospital building on the riverwalk. The place had long ago been converted to an office building with tchochke shops in front, but the guide was proud that the building was still standing after being the birthplace of a century of San Antonians. If we in Houston make our buildings stay vital, useful, desireable and, most of all, sound, they will live on and make Houston a place we’ll be happy to show to our grandkids.

Overall, I think the flipper mentality has done more harm than good when it comes to properties worth saving.

I agree with Cody – everyone talked about doing something with this house for years. Finally someone steps up and actually does something. Interior surfaces and cabinetry can always be changed. The important thing is she did not alter the exterior or the major interior parts of the house. I think she did well in preparing the house for a new owner.

When the LBJ house went up, there was a story in the Chron, and I looked at the pictures and drove by and realized there was a TON of work involved. I knew it wasn’t for me, but I hoped someone would buy it and lovingly restore it and upgrade it.

If you don’t recall the story from the Chron, the previous owner and resident was a 90-something-year-old woman who was a cousin of LBJ, and the house had been in her family since she was a girl. Their family was only the second owner.

So here’s a 100-year-old house that has had very few upgrades — it had electricity and indoor plumbing and somewhere along the line someone added window units. And you could tell that it had been owned and lived in by a little old lady who had little or no maintenance done on it. The foundation looked like it belonged on a circus funhouse.

The asking price started at something ridiculous for the condition, and eventually made its way down to lot value, and the sale went through for less than lot value.

I had high hopes for the redo when I researched the permitting and saw that the current flipper had tried to do things by the book and got permits for foundation work, electrical, A/C, plumbing, etc…. lots of permits.

But then I saw the new pictures for the redo, and drove/walked by several times. Cheap materials, inappropriate interiors for the period, and omg what a sloppy exterior paint job! I’m saddened and disgusted. It could have been a jewel, and still could be, but no one is going to pay $619K for a property that basically needs to be totally redone.