BOLD DIY RESCUE FOR A 1941 COTTAGE

“I’m a crazy person”—that’s what I kept telling myself as I painted murals and stripped stubborn paint for weeks on end!

By Guerin Piercy, Charlotte, North Carolina

“This is your diamond in the rough!” My brother sent me a picture of this house with those words in a text. The little 1941 brick vernacular was in a great part of town and listed at a rock-bottom price. My husband (Brian Groh) and I were renters in Los Angeles for many years and had had enough of big-city living and small apartments. My sister warned me against placing an offer before seeing the house in person. She and my brother flew me out on their miles. I stepped inside; the kitchen was so bad I thought, “What am I going to do?” The amount of time, work, and money that would be required to fix everything was overwhelming. So I did what any other rational person would do: I made an…

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Old House Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, January/February 2025

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