Nicole Curtis of ‘Rehab Addict’ Shares Renovation Struggles With Her Own Household

Nicole Curtis, finest regarded as the star of HGTV’s “Rehab Addict,” now has a spinoff present, “Rehab Addict: Lake Dwelling Rescue,” where she renovates her possess personalized passion venture.

The backstory: Curtis experienced bought this lake home in her hometown of Lake Orion, MI, because it was slated to be torn down.

“I saved this tiny lake cottage from demolition eight many years in the past,” she clarifies. Given her renovation chops, it seemed like a simple job.

“I considered there wasn’t any undertaking that I couldn’t deal with,” she admits. “I imagined this lake household would be a breeze.”

The difficulty? She’d created the cardinal homebuying mistake of obtaining the assets sight unseen. As soon as she laid eyes on it, it was crystal clear that this venture would not be a “breeze” at all. We doubt she’d ever make this type of impulsive conclusion at any time once again!

Still Curtis has saved chipping away at it around the many years. In the 2nd episode of this a few-section sequence, “Old Parts Are the Greatest Elements,” she shows how this lake home is at extended previous coming collectively.

Locate out how Curtis navigates what might pretty very well be the most difficult, longest renovation of her life—and find out some terrific guidelines that verify that just about anything at all can be set if you try out tricky sufficient.

Include a 2nd tale underneath

“The inside was just 700 square ft when I bought it,” claims Curtis.

The foundation was not strong adequate to hold an additional tale, so “We decided to lift it up for a new basis, convey on a new very first flooring and basement, and just take the current cottage and make it my next and third flooring,” she claims.

It wasn’t simple, but the tiny cottage now has 5 bedrooms, plenty of room for the total loved ones and then some.

Repurpose the sleeping porch

Many old homes built before air conditioning grew to become prevalent had “sleeping porches” off the bedrooms. The sleeping porches experienced windows, which could be still left open so residents could slumber easily and catch the summertime breezes at night, alternatively of getting cooped up in a stuffy bedroom.

Because the reworked lake house has air conditioning, Curtis decides to make the extended, narrow house into a attractive toilet and dressing area. It is a thing of natural beauty.

“Bunk beds seem so terrifying to me,” suggests Curtis. Is there a mom out there who hasn’t experienced nightmares about a little one slipping off the best bunk?

Curtis finds an fascinating way to make the leading bunk as protected as achievable. She purchases an outdated, leaky boat and cuts it in fifty percent, securing one particular 50 % to the wall, and placing the other 50 percent on the flooring below it.

It’s practically not possible for the kid in the top bunk to slide out, and a excellent deal of time and effort and hard work is put in on securely fastening it to the wall. The result is good!

Seem for fantastic wood beneath painted flooring

“The 3rd-ground flooring? They were being painted,” Curtis cries. It’s hard to convey to what ailment the flooring are in when they are included with a number of coats of paint. But soon after stripping a little patch, she finds that underneath all that paint, the floors are in amazing condition.

Of class, it will choose some significant stripping and sanding to get them back to their initial sheen.

Speaking about just one of her crew, she admits, “Steve’s the very least favorite thing is to strip paint off 100-calendar year-old floors, but which is exactly what we’re going to do.”

But right before operating with aged paint, be sure to check for direct, she cautions. Possibilities are superior that there is some poisonous substance in there. In this situation, the flooring are clear.

Make tailor made home windows to link previous with new

In the major bed room, there are beautiful, straightforward sq. windows—there just aren’t adequate of them. Aged shots expose that there have been the moment much more windows, but for some explanation, the preceding house owners protected them up.

Curtis decides that instead than changing and resizing all of them, she’ll build new windows that glimpse just like the previous kinds.

It is a good deal of perform, but “I truly did it with out shedding any fingers,” she states proudly.

“People do not realize a whole lot of the time, they’re like, ‘Why are you having tailor made windows manufactured?’” adds Curtis. “Now you’re heading to see why. It tends to make all the difference in the planet.”

How is this lake property seeking by the episode’s conclusion?

“Everything I ever imagined when I initially set foot in below eight yrs ago is now listed here,” announces Curtis by the episode’s stop. “It has been so much enjoyable transforming all these primary spaces of the 1904 cottage into residing areas for my spouse and children nowadays.”

But she’s not very done yet—the new downstairs is even now essentially just studs. We’ll come across out up coming 7 days how Curtis carries this 8-calendar year challenge throughout the finish line.