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LIFE
Susan Legge draws on experience to double living area at her home
One of Susan Legge's favorite aspects of her home is the pool area in the backyard. The pool and lounge area were installed during the last year and feature a small waterfall, accent lighting and stained concrete. Legge also utilized underwater lighting to give the pool an added visual element.
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MILTON -- Susan Legge is not only a remake artist but a nationally-accredited one.
Through her business, New Day Properties, she renovates houses and resells them. She also stages homes that are on the market. She has become an accredited staging professional that specializes in higher-end makeovers.
What was once a hobby has now become her profession.
"It use to be friends would ask me what they needed to do to sell their homes, and I would help them," she said.
The time came when she needed to leave the homefront and return to work, so she capitalized on her interests and skills. Now a successful businessowner, she has put her know-how to work.
She has doubled the living space in her own home by renovating a lower level to include a master suite, a guest room and a huge family room.
Of particular interest is the area under the stairs that she has converted to a fashionable built-in doghouse.
"One of my talents is that I think outside the box," she said. "Everyone has spare room under their steps, why not put it to use?"
Legge recently had a pool installed, and her goal was for it to exemplify a holiday resort.
"I wanted people to think every time they went to my pool they were on a mini-vacation," she said.
She has readily achieved her goal with an in-pool waterfall, designer concrete surrounding the water, lounge chairs dressing the pool deck and spacious steps leading from the porch to the pool. She was wise enough to make it a carefree operation so that she also enjoys it.
"The pool is completely automated. It is all digital ,and all I have to do is check the readings," she said.
Legge is frugal in her renovations and home upkeep.
"It doesn't take a million dollars to get the look," Legge said. "I am a veteran shopper, queen of the budget and a do-it-yourselfer."
Most of her furnishings she maintains cost less than $1,000 per item because she got them on sale. When remodeling, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work. She points out that her tiled showers and heated floors are the results of her labor. Legge didn't overlook the daily operation of her home when budgeting either. For example, when she renovated, she had a smart lighting system installed to save on the electricity.
Her house boasts five bedrooms and is 5,200-square feet. It is set up so that there is room for the adult world upstairs and the younger generation downstairs. That was a necessity because Legge has a lively family (children Jessica and Cody) that often entertains friends and relatives.
"This is two houses. I'm up here, and the kids are downstairs," she said. "I want friends to feel like they can watch a ball game or just sit down and enjoy each other."
Legge has allowed her professional expertise to guide her in the decoration of her own home.
"When I walk into a house, I can see the changes in my head before it happens," she said. "I knew what I could do with this house."
The casual elegance she has achieved in the friendly open spaciousness of her home is a lovely result of that vision.
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