Trent’s Many Projects:
Blood, Sweat, & Pigs Ears

This run-down home had been abandoned by the family that owned it and although it had great potential, many had opted not to buy it. Because no one else wanted it, The Cottage was the perfect project for me. After I bought it, I got right to work; I moved every interior door, every window, relocated and rebuilt the stairs, demoed the old front porch and built new ones (at relocated front and back doors), expanded the second floor, added a half bathroom, moved the kitchen, moved all the interior walls (except one that was critical structurally), and lowered the floor downstairs to establish 8’ high ceilings (in lieu of the 6’ 4” headroom I’d inherited).

In 2008, I bought a Pig’s Ear to renovate in Charleston, SC that we call The Bungalow. Although this 50 year old house had not been condemned, it should have been. The roof leaked, the heated and cooling system had been abandoned, there were plumbing leaks, the electrical system was a mess, floors were caving in, there were serious structural issues, and without question it was the ugliest and worst home on the street.

The brightest thing I saw on the Fire House when I found it was the prominent red tag on the front door declaring that the home had been ‘CONDEMNED.’ It was vacant and run-down and pulling down the property values of everything surrounding it. It was an eye sore and a Pig’s Ear and twelve months after starting, it had been transformed into the most valuable house on the street. Not only was the Fire House no longer a neighborhood liability, but several of my new neighbors credited me with making their homes more valuable. I’m no home appraiser, but I sure agree that the neighborhood was better than when I started because the ugliest house on a highly-visible corner had been fixed up. The outside was clean and bright and the driveway, sidewalk, and landscaping were all more distinct and well defined.

For more details on these projects and more about Trent’s great work, go to : Blood, Sweat, & Pigs Ears.