Angel Poventud’s vision for an abandoned bungalow in Southwest Atlanta came to fruition as a place to host community meetings, candidates for office and couch-surfers from around the world.
“I wanted it to be a center of community. I wanted it to be a place where people can come and have conversations,” Poventud said.
Credit: Text by Lori Johnston/Photos by Reynolds Rogers
Credit: Text by Lori Johnston/Photos by Reynolds Rogers
He bought the home as a foreclosure for $13,800 in 2011 and followed that with 20 months of renovations. Cabinets built by Poventud and his mother, cased openings that serve as shelves for coins left behind as “thank yous” from guests, and furniture either found or handed down from friends make the whole house personal, he said.
“I have really important pieces that mean a lot to me,” he said.
Snapshot
Resident: Angel Poventud, a freight train engineer and conductor for CSX and a community activist
Location: Adair Park, Atlanta
Size: 1,200 square feet, two bedrooms, two baths
Year built/bought: 1921/2011
Architectural style: Bungalow
Favorite architectural elements: "I love all the windows. There are 21 windows in the house," he said.
Renovations: The home had been empty for 10 years and was missing walls, windows and part of the roof, among other issues. "There was really just a shell that was about to fall in on itself," he said. Poventud took it down to the studs and added windows that had been removed by a prior owner. He moved into the renovated home in June 2013 and recently installed solar panels.
Cost of renovations: $150,000. He raised $11,500 with a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGogo.com. He qualified for a $41,000 state income tax credit, over 10 years, for a rehabilitated historic property, he said.
Design consultants: Hagan Architects and Kip Pye with Green Gate Renovations
Interior design style: Simple and hand-me-down, as Poventud describes.
Favorite interior design elements: He and his mom, Josephine Poventud, who also lives in metro Atlanta, built the red oak cabinets for the kitchen, bathrooms and mudroom. The cabinets are "hyper custom" as a result, he said, and he said a neighbor in Adair Park provided the staining at his cabinet studio.
Favorite outdoor elements: The location on the Beltline — its Westside Trail opened behind the home in summer 2017 — and using his backyard as a community "food forest" with cherry bushes, Japanese Persimmon trees, and paw paw, plum and blueberry bushes, he said.
Decor tip: If you're renovating an older house, think about what wall colors you prefer and try to find their match for the time period of the home. Poventud, who said he tends to gravitate toward vibrant hues, used the Sherwin-Williams Historic Collection for his interior paint color palette. "I took what has been my style and allow the house to have a say about it. I let the house have some input," he said.
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