This is the story of a traditional Charleston row house that meets a modern builder and the two fall in love to create a house that merges the two styles…and here’s the kicker- there is no second act, they live happily ever after.

If you tuned into PBS’s This Old House Charleston, or flipped through Charleston Home + Design’s Spring 2018 issue (Find us on pages 41, 145 & 200!), you are going to love our newest completed project. Located in the up & coming Westside neighborhood, in the heart of the peninsula and walking distance to trendy new upper King Street restaurants such as Leon’s Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop, Little Jack’s Tavern, and Melfi’s, this Charleston single got a much-needed make-over. Built in 1910, this house is considered a category 4 structure by the city and it maintains the historic integrity of the neighborhood. Part of the renovation process was restoring the original architectural features of this old house while also modernizing the livability of the home.

Our team ran into wood rot, termite damage, uneven floors, fire damage and everything else you would expect from a hundred-year-old house. They demolished all of the damage away and added crucial structural supports back to the house. Our team built out a two-story addition in the back for the living room and master suite. This was where the design challenge came into play: How to modernize the interior while still honoring the historic architecture of the exterior?

We decided to highlight certain historic features of the house like exposing the brick fireplaces, rebuilding the second-floor piazza, custom turning the porch newel posts to match the existing posts, adding exterior hurricane shutters and installing 5-panel doors through-out the interior. We then added modern touches through-out the interior like in the kitchen with the dark base cabinets and gold accents and in the master suite with the black and white tile design and the freestanding tub to complement the modern living floor plan. We added a large laundry room upstairs as well as a large master suite piazza that overlooks the private back yard and the one-hundred-year-old magnolia tree.

Take a look at these amazing before and after pictures of the incredible transformation of this historic Westside Charleston Row House. We enjoyed working on this project over the last few months and are excited to see homes all around Charleston being restored like this one.