This One's For My Ch/Kristine Nieces

Two of my nieces share a name - my sister's daughter, Kristine Lynnette, and my older brother's daughter, Christine Marie. They share another trait, each has expressed a desire to buy and renovate houses. At one time or another they have commented about asking their cousin, my son Douglas, for advice on how to proceed, as this is something Doug knows much about. He has been building new homes and remodeling old houses for many years.
Christine and husband Dale have purchased a home in Florida with plans for some renovations. I don't know how extensive those plans are nor how far along they are.

Kristi and husband Ryan have purchased and completely remodeled their home here in Creston. In addition they bought a neat old Victorian house across the street with thoughts of remodeling it. I believe their plans have changed on that, but it would still be a gorgeous home if they did. (I did suggest to Doug that he could buy it from them and renovate it.) This is that house, front:

Just seeing the pictures again makes me wish I could see it completely renovated. Such a neat old house. It is on two full lots. This is the house on the back side:

Oh, if money were no object! Now, Kristi and Christine - the reason for my blog is to show you pictures of Doug's most recent renovation. This is the house as it looked last August when it was purchased:

The house was built in 1880. Doug said it had been vacant for twenty years. This is what it looks like now:

Everything about it is new except the gorgeous hardwood floors and the stairway. It took them about five months to renovate. The property is on the southeast edge of Redfield next to old Highway 6 and about five miles from the interstate - an easy commute to Des Moines. I'll let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves:

These were all pictures I took at their open house yesterday. Doug & his partner in this endeavor are shown above at the top of the stairs. Tim is from England where he had also renovated some properties. He said the whole procedure there was much different than in the U.S.

The following pictures are ones I took from their listing of the property:

I share my niece's desire to buy and renovate houses - it is something I had always wanted to do but never could. At least I get to live it vicariously through my son.