Recently Atlanta Curb Appeal wrapped up another amazing whole house makeover in East Cobb, GA! Below is an interview with owner Avi Moyal about the details of the project. It’s a great story including a little bit of mystery we hope you will enjoy reading.
How did they find you?
Well this is a very interesting story…
I got a call one day, asking me to come and give a quote for some curb appeal work. As always, I ask my new clients, how did they find me? This lovely lady said she is holding a postcard I had sent her in the mail recently. I was shocked to hear that because the only time I did mass postcard marketing was exactly 3 and half years ago. I had to go and see it with my own eyes, so I got in my car and drove straight to her house. And there it was, the postcard I printed almost 4 years ago was there in her hand! No idea how that happened. A mystery maybe the USPS can solve for me!
Why did they select Atlanta Curb Appeal? Did they get other quotes?
The client got 3 quotes, one was a little lower than ours but she did not feel that he could deliver. The second quote was considerably higher than mine. She went with ours because she liked the design ideas I proposed.
A few years ago she had the front landing and stairs done and she didn’t like how it turned out at all. So we came up with a new design that included demolishing the existing one and building it from scratch, which we then covered with a beautiful natural stone all the way to the driveway.
What projects did you complete in the home?
Refinish the hardwood floors
Replace the front door
Fix the rotted cedar siding
Demolition the front porch and rebuild new rounded stairs and cover with natural stone.
Build a portico
Dramatic exterior change using new paint palette
Paint the deck and railing
Replaced all exterior lights
New custom made shutters
Why did they choose to have the hardwood floors refinished?
Actually she hadn’t decided to do it until our initial meeting. They were very scratched, basically due to common wear and tear. During my first assessment, I asked her if she would like to go ahead and refinish them while we were in there doing the renovations. It’s a simple process really since they are solid hardwoods, easily sanded and refinished to any shade one could want.
What caused the rotted cedar siding? Was this instance typical of homes of this age? Or was it due to a manufacturer problem?
Some decay is normal, part of the aging of the natural cedar siding. Overall though, the siding was in decent condition. Merely a few critical places needed to be removed and replaced.
Why did they want to add a portico? What was their inspiration?
We went over a few designs however they really liked the portico that is featured on our homepage. Actually the whole color scheme of the exterior of that house was really appealing to them so we went with the same color formulas. Gray with white and black accent and trim colors.
Was gray in color in mind from the start?
She had gray in mind from the start but not the actual shade of it. All the colors were discussed together and the red door was her special request.
Why was the front door replaced instead of painted?
The client wanted a new door and sidelites to give a reinvigorated look to the front of the house and to accentuate the attractive new portico.
Did you have to resurface the deck before painting?
No, it was in good condition, we kept the deck as is, we only pressure-washed and repainted it. Because it had been painted in the past, we couldn’t merely apply a stain over the old deck. The new deck colors were chosen to complement the new exterior, white for the railing and light gray for the floor decking. The results were amazing, way beyond our expectations!! There is such a clean and neat feeling there now.
How many days for each phase of this project?
In a perfect world:
Paint – 1 week
Floors – 3 days
Front stairs – 1 week
Portico – 5 days
but we were there for almost two months because of rainy days.
We also installed a new house numbers sign that matched the new look. When we took off the old door, the client wanted to keep these 4 digit metal numbers as a souvenir. I offered to take it home and do something artistic with it.
Did they book the bathroom remodel job after they saw and loved your work or was this always in the original plan?
Yes the bathrooms came much later in the process; we will start them in a couple of more weeks probably.
Are they happy with the finished results?
The day we finished, after I got home that evening, I got a text from them saying ” I like it all so much Avi that I’m crying I’m so happy. I just can’t believe I have a pretty house after 20 years. I wish my mother could see it now. Thank U Avi” (see above).
This filled my heart with joy knowing we made someone that happy with our work.
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Would you like to read more makeover stories? Here is an amazing backyard makeover we completed last fall.
Click here to see her review.
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