Brick + Beam Detroit

Resurget Rehab

House, 3,001-5,000 Square feet

Part of our story is adapted from our “We really want to buy your house and we aren’t investors letter.” We sent a version of this to four sellers and only one cared, or at least we think. We looked at homes in Detroit for over 9 months; AT LEAST 33 houses, 4 offers, 3 rejections (or they might as well have been) and 1 acceptance that will change our lives forever. We are Danny Gough and Jean Ingersoll and we want our 1926 Tudor Revival to be our forever home. We aren’t investors or landlords, we are two people who love the city, its people, its architecture, and storied past. To be clear, we don’t just love downtown, we love the ENTIRE city: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We aren’t lovers of ruin porn because we aren’t into exploiting stereotypes. We choose to see beauty in all things. There are stories to be had around every corner and have only met wonderfully gracious people in Detroit. Danny lived on the east side of Detroit until he was eight years old. He moved to East Lansing to attend Michigan State University and lived in the Lansing area ever since. He always wanted to move back to Detroit. No matter how long he lived anywhere else, he has always considered himself a Detroiter. I was born and raised in a 1900s home in downtown Lansing. After meeting Danny we spent many days and nights travelling to Detroit and quickly grew to love everything about the city. We were married at the Belle Isle Casino in July 2016 because it’s a breathtaking and magnificent piece of local history. I know that I got my love for old things because my mom deals in antiques; I’ve been restoring furniture since I was about eight years old. I have a favorite brand of paint stripper (story coming soon) and one summer I helped my dad restore part of his 1937 Oldsmobile. So, if you want to see “open floor plan” on our scope of work, you won’t. We are preservationists and we will do everything in our power to keep as much of the history of the home intact. Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times, we hope you enjoy the ride! Danny and Jean

Projects

We removed a bathroom, a hot tub, paneling and rotten floor joists in the 1960s family room addition. The bathroom pipes burst, the joists were failing, there was turf grass on the floor - it was terrible. We have new joists, drywall, electrical, fireplace and also added antique leaded and beveled glass doors and exposed the brick on the exterior of the house.

It took: 2 months

Cost: $10,001-25,000

Recorded: October 2019

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