A Day to Remember...

I just realized that today, April 9th, is a special day - the anniversary of the closing on my very first house – 1258 Battery Avenue in Baltimore, MD.

I loved that place…

This was the first of many renovations since. It was in 1258 that I started working with reclaimed materials. I used to frequent Mel’s in Fells Point nearly every weekend looking for architectural gems. If it were still open, I would love it just as much today. Mantles, doors, light fixtures, ironwork, windows, hardware - even the cornice on the front façade was dragged home from a salvage yard.

Looking back much of what I did in 1258, I would still love today. And believe it or not, the original owner and I are still friends – he’s a renovator too. We learned a lot from each other, and he got to help with what he didn’t fix before he sold it to me. On day one I ripped out the brick pointed fireplace he had just restored to replace it with a mantle. Some things never change… Years later we worked on 1268 together.

That experience had it’s challenges, like they all do, but it was a keeper and fun obviously… or it would have been my last.