By Caresse Equileor
When artist author, entrepreneur, and rehab reality show addict Kimberly Powers got word from her father that her tenants had moved out of her house on 11th Street West in Lehigh, she felt the usual anxiety associated with having to restore her house and find a new tenant. But this time, with the real estate market improving, her dread quickly turned to possibility.
As a single mom with one son away in college and another getting ready to enter college, she realized she was given a blessing rather then bad news. Kimberly’s father, Doug Garton, a builder and developer in Lehigh, had built the house for her in 2003 as an investment. Giving her one of his best lots, he introduced her to Lehigh and his vision of the pure potential Lehigh held. Over the years, she, like others, weathered the down turn of the economy. But it was her father’s belief in the community that helped her hold on knowing that her investment would one day turn around. This was the day.
Garton developed a strip plaza called Town Plaza on Lee Boulevard, as well as many other residential and commercial properties in Lehigh. His meticulous care of his buildings reflects his passion for the area and belief that quality, care, and personal attention always withstand the test of time and circumstances. With his vision and her arsenal of thousands of hours of home improvement shows, Powers decided that just flipping the house was not the direction she was going to go.
“Most people who flip houses get in there and figure out how cheaply they can do the job, but my dad built this house for me. I wanted to put the same love into the house he put into it for me and pass that onto the new owners ,” says Powers.
Instead of just putting cheep tile down and slapping granite in the kitchen, the father-daughter team went to work on the bones of the 1,230 square foot house, restoring it to like-new condition. All the way through the project, Powers held the insight she gathered from watching shows like Property Brothers on HGTV, and Rehab Addict, now popular on DIY networks. Being the daughter of a builder, she followed his sage advice, “Do it right, make it beautiful, and enjoy the process.”
Powers did just that. “I decided that I wanted to create a feeling that this house is something special by using elements I wanted to have in my own home. I knew the exact tile I wanted to put in the house from the beginning. Yes, it cost a lot more money, but the results are exactly what I wanted.” Powers picked a dark wood plank tilelook as the foundation of her design. “Everything else extended from that look,” says Powers.
Powers’ artistic background shines through details such as the industrial look she created for the window treatments saving her money for the more costly renovations and creating a now popular cool, modern look complementing the flooring. Her steady hand painting and her father’s multifaceted knowledge of building also came in handy in saving money. “The only outside contractor we opted to hire was the tile layer, deciding that that job was best left to someone who was an expert and had better knees,” laughs Powers.
Although Powers recently got her real estate license she opted to leave the sale of the house in the hands of an agent. After discussing her plans with several agents in the area who believed she should just list it in “as is” condition to sell it quick. rather than putting the time, money and energy into the house. She knew she needed someone else. She also realized she knew just who to call to help her bring her vision to market. William Eilf of RE/MAX Trend, had worked with her father during the boom time of construction and real estate. Eilf had prompted Garton to extend his two home models, the Quentin and the Nathan, named after Powers’ sons to a third model, the McDonald. Eilf was right, it was exactly what the market wanted and Garton built and sold dozens the McDonald including the one for his daughter.
Elf, who was raised in the area and worked in real estate since the early eighties, instantly understood Powers’ vision of the home and her passion of carrying on her father’s legacy. Together they researched the comparable recent sales and what was currently on the market giving Powers the insight of what need to be done. “The market is alive and strong and, with recent sales in the area I knew whatever Kimberly put into the house would be returned. It feels good to list a house that you know is built with quality and treated with such care. Its good for Lehigh” said Eilf.