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Earlier this year, Matt Jones took on the restoration of a Sacramento-area home that was in such poor condition that he described the property as “a disaster.”
The modern house from the mid-1970s had been neglected for years. There was extensive wood rot, an uneven floor in the main room and a leaking roof. In addition, the house was built on a hill, making it difficult to get vehicles and materials to the job site.
He did it in stunning fashion.
Now the unique home in Fair Oaks has hit the market for $849,000.
The three-bedroom, two-bath residence spans more than 1,800 square feet on a 0.37-acre lot. The interior is an open concept design with the living room flowing seamlessly into the kitchen and dining areas. The house is spacious inside with 20-foot ceilings and plenty of windows, allowing natural light to flood in.
The 800-square-foot primary suite, which occupies the entire second floor, is Jones’ favorite feature. The open floor plan integrates the master bedroom and bathroom with a sitting area highlighted by a mid-century fireplace in perfect condition. The primary suite is located above the lower level and opens to a private west-facing redwood balcony.
“It’s a phenomenal space,” said Jones, a Coldwell Banker Realty broker and owner of Unusual projectsa home renovation company.
Described as a ‘treehouse’
The other two bedrooms and main living space all extend to an expansive wraparound redwood terrace with views above a canopy. The lawn in the backyard has a horizontal fence and a detached shed.
The property listing describes the home, at 7605 Southcliff Drive, as a “mid-century treehouse that resembles a permanent getaway in the city.” The description emphasizes the modern kitchen, which has been extended by 1.20 meters and has been expanded with modern appliances, and the Zen-like primary bathroom.
Jones characterizes the atmosphere of the house as a cabin in Lake Tahoe, especially with all the original knotty cedar on the interior walls that his workers were able to restore.
The journey from dilapidated to beautiful took about six months, Jones said. Throughout the process, he wanted to preserve the original architecture of the house.
“This one took an extreme amount of work,” he said of the makeover. “It had been neglected for years. There was a rotten subfloor. You couldn’t walk on the decks. The decks had simply deteriorated. The dry rot bill was very intense for this house. It was a disaster.”
The cost to address the dry rot alone was $270,000, Jones said, which is “the most I’ve ever seen.”
In the living room the floor had sunk 3 inches from the center to the edges.
If an average homeowner were to hire a contractor to do all the work, the sales cost of the entire renovation would be more than $400,000, Jones estimates.
Three major challenges
“There were three major challenges,” he said. “Working on the decks was very intense because we had to build scaffolding to rebuild the decks as they were because they were about six meters in the air. And then the same with painting the outside. Because the house was so far off the ground, we had to build temporary scaffolding to paint the walls of the house.
“So those were the two external challenges. And then the challenge for the interior was leveling the floor,” he added. “Because the floor was so crooked, we really had to do a lot of work. It took my carpenters more than a month to get this floor as it is.”
Uncommon Projects bought the property in March for $353,000, according to public property records. Since the house was built in 1977, there have been less than a handful of owners.
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