Home & Garden
BEFORE
AFTER
House flip
makes dramatic
improvement
Story and Photos By Pam Parker
[email protected]
I
f you had seen 1125 Candy Lane in 2014 and then
again in 2015, you would never have guessed it was
the same house. In 2014, shrubs had overgrown
the property and shrouded the doors and windows. The classic design of the ranch was lost in an
unruly landscape that needed a makeover. Current
homeowner Brad Gibson, who bought the property after it
was renovated, says its hard to believe the home was built in
1953 because it looks brand new inside and out, and that was
exactly what he wanted.
“A lot of homes I looked at in the Erie area needed so much
work,” he said. “This one was perfect. I even bought the
furniture.” Gibson, who works at Lord Corporation, said a
lot of executives don’t want to take the time to renovate a
property — no matter what a great deal it is. That’s when the
bug to flip properties and sell them bit him, and he’s since
bought and flipped a few homes, but Gibson agrees all the
credit for the sweet deal on Candy Lane goes to Amy Valentine. She bought the house in 2014 for $75,000 to flip it. She
saw potential inside and out. “It needed a real entrance from
the outside,” she said of the ranch that sits on .56 acre.
Inside, Valentine said the open floor plan with 2,948 square
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feet was ahead of its time. “It was almost too open, believe it
or not,” she said. “I considered adding one wall because the
rooms flowed into each other, but once we placed furniture
and staged it, we created a sense of rooms.”
The floor plan blends a living room, great room and dining
room into a trio of sections that include pillars as dividers
along with a few walls, but the overall space blends together
in appealing style. The best aspect of nearly every room,
except the dining room, is that it includes walls of windows
that look out on the property.
The kitchen is also a modern showpiece. Gray cabinetry
with glass doors, upscale lighting and appliances and large
windows brighten this room. Why gray? Valentine wanted to
stick with a trend. According to the National Kitchen + Bath
Association, gray is the second most popular choice in kitchen
colors. White is first, but gray is a new neutral.
A cozy family room with plenty of windows branches off
the back of the kitchen.
All new baths make a great use of spa designs with beautiful
tile work. The floor plan also places the master suite in its own
space at one end of the house while two additional bedrooms
are located on the opposite side of the house. LEL