6429 Santa Cruz Trail, Charlotte

purchased 6429 Santa Cruz Trail, in May 1994 and was it a mess. Dogs ruined the carpeting so I took it up and walked on plywood until I decided what I wanted to have for flooring. I chose parquet, 12X12. The glue was nasty to work with, but not as nasty as the carpeting.

The kitchen and foyer had linoleum which I tore up and put down ceramic tile 12X12, after laying down underlayment. I pulled wallpaper off the walls and initially painted all the walls yellow. Right now they are Wal-Mart’s Antique White, throughout the whole house. The ceilings are painted with Wal-Mart’s Bright White. I took down some cabinets to open up the kitchen with the eating area to brighten things up. I hung Halogen lights from the ceiling. The cabinets had a laquer coating which I removed, they were yellowed, and stained them with a clear coat of Minwax. I took the particle board out of the pantry, which still had the original primer coat that the builder used, never painted, and added ventilated shelving. The clothes closet also got ventilated shelving as well as the rest of the house.

The bi-fold door seen in the foyer is the half bath. I also put bi-fold doors on the clothes closet and pantry, because opening doors impeded traffic flow. The original kitchen stove was a drop-in so I cut away the counter top and added an electric stove with Coram top and put sheet rock on the ends of the cabinets and tiled the floor under the stove. I put Coram tile on the counters with a tile back splash.

I purchased the house on an assumable mortgage, because I started a new business and did not have a credit history. The exterior of the house was stained brown with blue trim and it had cheap glass in the windows, so I installed insulated tilt windows and primed the house, before I painted it. Two summers ago I re-painted the house. The house sits down off of Santa Cruz Trail, so I used 4X4 timbers to make individual raised flower beds because I did not want the rain water to come gushing down the hill, during a hurricane. I changed the landscaping around the house spending many a weekend hauling soil and since my background is landscape architecture I planted many perennials and woody plants throughout.

The laundry room is on the second floor, which I like because no hauling laundry baskets up and down the stairs. The biggest challenge was with the master bathroom and closet. The bathroom was divided by a wall and door, separating the toilet and tub from the wash sink, and there was no ventilation for the tub/shower, so I removed the door and wall and where the light fixture was I installed a fan to circulate the moisture when I took a shower. I removed the old sink cabinet and installed a pedestal and new toilet and put down a tile floor after removing the linoleum flooring. The clothes closet was a stumbling block since the previous owners draped a curtain over the “doorway.” The smallest bi-fold door wouldn’t fit so I had to cut the railings down and built out the wall. I found a cabinet maker who manufactured hotel cabinets to cut the railings down to fit the opening. I also took the door off that separates the bedroom from the bathroom and installed another bi-fold. It is tougher painting the lovers, but I have a sprayer so it makes it easier. There are two other bedrooms upstairs, two closets with ventilated shelving, one I use for an office, and another full bath

When I bought the house the first thing that I thought would go was the fireplace insert, which is cast iron, and the ugliest thing I saw, but relented and was certainly glad I did, when the ice storms hit Charlotte. Since the house is all electric the wood stove insert was the only thing that kept the house warm and I even cooked on it, nothing fancy, but food none the less.

The last time I re-financed the mortgage I went to Charlotte Metro Credit Union because they had good rates and I was tired of dealing with brokers never knowing who the loan would eventually be sold off to or serviced by. Anyone resident of Mecklenburg County can belong, just by opening a $25 account.

There is room for 3 cars in the driveway, I stack firewood for the fireplace that takes up two spaces. The vegetable garden is setup, to the right. Raised beds. The walkway to the backyard was just a graveled slope, left over from the driveway expansion, when I bought the house so I decided I wanted something better. It took many weekends to build the raised beds and set the steps so now going to the back isn’t so ugly. Just wide enough to get the lawnmower down to cut the grass in back.

I enjoy sitting at the kitchen table and looking out through the bay window at the backyard. For ten years there had been a hawk sit on a branch on the dogwood tree looking around during the winter. Last summer a barn owl alighted on the same branch. A few summers ago a Heron would come in the summer and try to catch food in the stream and I remember one night, I went out to the compost pile and didn’t know the Heron was there and I am not certain who was frightened the most, but because Heron’s wings are large it took it a while to get out. My cat now brings in fish, the size of large sardines, that he catches in the stream. Had raccoons some years ago trying to get into my compost pile so I stopped dumping corn husks and that seemed to make them vanish, however I recently noticed one comes and searches for the dry food I leave out for the cat. For living in the city, there have been instances of wildlife finding their way onto my property.

There is a stream that divides the property, run-off from the city’s storm sewer. The silt deposits after a hard rain or hurricane makes it feel like you are on a beach, but there is no swimming. A few years ago Duke came in and buried the electrical line that comes in at the back of the property. The power line was above water and I got tired of seeing it or to have some child come along and get electrocuted playing around with it. I cleared the back half of the property of brush and tress and planted some one gallon crape myrtle’s. I believe that is what the wildlife enjoys, because it’s not all overgrown. In the spring it’s great to see the cardinals and blue jays flying around and the dogwood and redbud in bloom. I actually found dogwood seedlings growing and transplanted them and today you’d never know they were only a foot tall when I spotted them..

I purchased a double lot at Lake Royale, north of Raleigh, which is where my firewood comes from, but if a person buys during the off-season it is pretty inexpensive, three years ago and plan on building a house once I sell this home readying for retirement and raising perennials for sale on e-Bay.

Two years ago I had a leak in the water line, my water bill shot up through the roof, so I had to dig up the water line to find the leak which is why looking at the left side of the front door, is newly planted mondo grass which will eventually fill in solid, about 3"-4" tall. I had to remove the plants that were there because I had to dig down to below ground level to find the leak. Pipes normally last 20-25 years.

Six years ago I replaced the roofing with 20 year shingles and also replaced the heat/air conditioner compressor which had been 20 years old. I also replaced the hot water heater and also the outside lights after re-painting the house. All the commodes and sinks had been replaced when I remodeled and the refrigerator, which comes with the house is four years old.