Meanwhile, Outside…
That was just the interior action. Outside, when the weather was right,
two huge projects unfolded back-to-back. The first was waterproofing the
basements on both sides of the house. While Dave and Evelyn were adroit
at swinging sledgehammers at walls, even their boundless energy was
insufficient to deal with the physical task of waterproofing, which required
earthmovers to dig trenches to the bottom of the home’s foundation.
The second exterior project also required outside help. The Greenes hired
Cleveland Heights landscaper Leslie Scott to design a small patio and garden
that faces Kenmore. To access the patio from the new kitchen-family room,
the Greenes installed a sliding glass door in place of an old window, thus
making the kitchen-family room-patio essentially a single open, airy space.
“While we did talk about moving somewhere else when we retire, we’ve
decided to stay and enjoy our old/new Shaker Heights home,” Evelyn says.
“The rental income will more than pay our taxes and insurance after we’re both
retired. This means we’ll retire debt-free.”
“Now that the renovation is finished, we truly enjoy living in this house.
We designed it for our current taste, our current lifestyle. This house is not
an accumulation of our past, which it was before. It now reflects our present
and future. With that, our good health, a wonderful daughter, and Dave’s new
titanium knees, who wouldn’t be optimistic?” SL
Better Productivity, More Family Time
Evelyn Greene works as an analyst for a market research company, Research Investment, Inc., in Tower East.
Shaker Life asked Evelyn for her thoughts on the benefits of working and living in Shaker, and what it has meant in her life.
I love both living and working in Shaker Heights. My company relocated to the Tower East building 17 years ago, in 1997. After
commuting downtown for 10 years, there’s no comparison. I don’t have the driving hassle or the parking fees. I can drive to work in
five minutes, take the Rapid, or walk any time the weather’s nice. I get home earlier too, and in the summer we enjoy the extra time
before dark to work in the yard or fire up the grill.
Our company’s windows on the sixth floor at Tower East overlook the intersection of Chagrin and Warrensville, with a view of
thousands of trees in Shaker Heights and the downtown Cleveland skyline in the distance. All of us are looking forward to the bird’s
eye view we’ll have of the big Van Aken redevelopment project as it takes shape below us.
Since my company relocated to Shaker, I seem to be more productive at work and have more time to spend with my family.
Working so close to home makes it easy to stop by the office any time I want to put in some extra hours. If I’m working late, my
husband will often swing by with dinner. And when I finally do head home, I’m always so glad we live just down the street.
Besides the house itself, the friends we’ve made here, and our great neighborhood, we’re optimistic about the City. The new Van
Aken development will be less than a mile’s walk from our house. We’re enthusiastic about the City’s plans to ensure that Shaker will
be an even more beautiful, thriving, and sustainable community 50 years from now. SL
SHAKER LIFE | SPRING 2014 43