So… you guessed it! We finally bought a home in Savannah, Georgia! I couldn’t wait to share the details with you; however, I couldn’t post any images or information because the house wasn’t actually on the market. Our realtor, Kristy Valdez with Cora Bett Thomas Realty, ended up finding out about the house through a friend. Because pictures of the interior of the home weren’t online and public, I didn’t want to publish anything that would impact the owner and the buying process. But, we just closed on the home and we’re now the official owners! Right now I only have pictures of the exterior to share but I’ll be posting more about the home in the coming weeks and months! In the meantime, I put together a few FAQs from my family and friends that I thought you may want to know, too!

Where is your new house located?
We looked at a few areas in Savannah, including Ardsley Park (a neighborhood built in the 1900s that’s within city limits) but we decided that we wanted to live in the historic part of downtown. So this home is perfect for us because of the location and neighborhood vibe. It happened to be on one of my favorite streets in Savannah (great find, Kristy!). It’s not located on any city tour bus stops and our road has little traffic. I won’t share the exact street name for confidentially purposes but we’re close to Forsyth Park, the largest park in Savannah and I’m looking forward to a lot of mornings dog-watching.

When was the house built?
It was really important for us to find a home that was filled with that old historic Savannah charm. The home was built in 1842 and has a good bit of the original elements, such as the wide plank hardwood floors, a set of frosted glass interior french doors, molding, coal fireplaces and carriage house. The wrought iron gate and brick fencing on the sidewalk are also original which is pretty cool. We found a couple of mounting blocks that were used to assist men and women from dismounting from a horse. We have one right outside of the main home next to the street and another next to the carriage house. The carriage house, which is an unattached building that was once used for a single horse-drawn carriage also has the original brick, wood beams, gates and fireplace. It has since been converted to a two-bedroom carriage house with a galley kitchen, living room and bathroom.  It’s crazy to think that our new home is almost 200 years old. Let’s just hope that it’s not haunted.

Can you give us a quick overview of the floor plan?
When you first walk into the home you’re greeted with a staircase and a large light-filled entry. The nice thing about our home is that we have windows all along the right side of the building which lets in a lot of light. Most homes downtown are town or row homes so you only have windows typically on the front or back unless it’s an end unit. The main living space has a double parlor (two adjacent living rooms), separate dining room, kitchen, study and powder room. The third level has three guest bedrooms, one guest bath and a master bedroom with an in-suite master bathroom. The garden level will eventually be converted to a living room, large kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. We’re also lucky that the side gate leads to a storage unit perfect for housing bikes, tools and other items.

Are you going to renovate?
We’re planning to do a bit of renovations (nothing extensive like our St. Simon’s home) but we’re looking at updating the master bedroom and bath, kitchen, guest bathroom, powder room, laundry room and carriage house. We’re not sure which projects we’re going to do first — it all depends on the estimates that we get from the contractors and our overall reno budget. We’re definitely going to paint the interior and exterior shutters and front doors. I also want to work with a custom builder on a new front door. All of the exterior doors — the main door, garden level door and the door on the balcony (hiding behind the shutters) are all painted red. Red isn’t really my favorite color — so I’m sure that a shade a blue will pop up here and there. The garden level has not been updated so we’ll eventually convert this into a mother-in-law suite for guests or tenants. It also has the original exposed brick, wood floors and two very large fireplaces.

What do you love most about the house?
I really love the location, untouched floor plan, original wood floors and the small front yard for the dogs. Living in the city, I was worried that if I opened the front doors the dogs would run out on a busy street but now I don’t have to worry about that because the area is fenced in. It also has a large courtyard in the back between the carriage house and the main house. I love that the floor plan is original (though there have been some additions) but the original foot print wasn’t modified. A lot of the homes that we looked at had very open floor plans but it just didn’t match the house. I understand the need for an open floor plan but a lot of original character and detail can be lost if not done properly. We may knock down one small non-load bearing wall to make the kitchen a bit bigger but we want to make sure that it doesn’t change the overall feel of the historic home.

Well that covers most of it! I’ll be sharing more updates along the way. Thanks for reading!

Tamara Gibson Photography