Few entrepreneurs can lay claim to revitalizing as much of downtown Durham, North Carolina’s housing stock as interior designer Alicia Hylton-Daniel.

She can tick off more than 30 projects she’s completed since founding Hylton Daniel Design + Construction with her husband and business partner, Roger Daniel, in 2017. Among them: 21 client renovations, six ground-up contemporary houses, four long-term rentals, and four short-term stays. With each, they applied her interior design training and his business skills toward a shared goal of creating more affordable housing.

Their newest project is a 1925 Craftsman home in Old North Durham, now listed on Airbnb. The couple live a few houses away from it on West Trinity Avenue. During the pandemic, the previous owner left for the mountains, then sold the home to an out-of-town developer.

A month later, his broker reached out to the couple to see if they wanted to buy it. “The developer knew our work, loved it, and thought we should have it,” Alicia says. “We were able to purchase the house, which was good because his plan was to alter it and make it a two-story.”

$15,900 Construction Materials	$4,900 Foundation	$3,500 Waterproofing
$13,600 Framing Labor	$12,600 Roof	$9,000 Siding Labor
$2,200 Gutters	$18,000 Electrical	$10,700 Lighting Fixtures
$15,500 Plumbing	$9,700 Plumbing Fixtures	$17,000 HVAC
$4,500 Insulation	$15,700 Sheetrock Walls & Ceilings	$9,900 Paint
$9,000 Doors	$6,000 Flooring	$5,000 Finish Carpentry
$16,500 Windows	$3,700 Interior Doors	$25,000 Kitchen Cabinets
$7,300 Kitchen Countertop	$1,000 Kitchen Sink & Faucet	$1,000 Fireplace Quartz
$7,000 Tile Material	$9,000 Tile Labor	$5,000 Appliances
$1,800 Wallpaper	$1,000 Wallpaper Installation	$1,100 Loft Ladder
$575,000 House Purchase Price
Grand Total: $837,100

The price was $575,000, but their construction budget was only $262,100. That’s because the pair handled the design and general contracting themselves. (Design normally would have added $20,000 to the budget, and GC work would have bumped it by $50,000.) The firm paid subcontractors, artisans, and its own crew, but not Roger and Alicia.

The existing house was chopped up inside, its two-bedrooms and single bath badly deteriorated. They took it down to its studs, ripped out knob-and-tube wiring, and pulled up buckled flooring. Then they modified its layout for three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths—without adding a second floor.

“I loved the architectural integrity and saved as much as possible,” Alicia says. “We saved the front door, the fireplace, the exterior siding, and about 70 percent of the hardwood flooring.”

They also saved $18,000 by keeping the original, wavy window glass. Roger invested in a 3D printer, taught himself how to produce decorative trim, and saved $8,000 more. “We love that we introduced modern technology and the future of construction into an old home,” Alicia says.

They splurged on kitchen fixtures and finishings, and they added a walnut built-in cabinet and shelf over a new coffee bar for an updated riff on the home’s Craftsman roots. They also punched up through the kitchen ceiling to open the space to the former attic, and installed skylights in the roof. “It went from being very tiny to a place where guests can come in and have a dinner party,” she says.

The dining room’s most striking feature is a gallery of 32 photographs of local African-American leaders—current business owners, restaurateurs, artists, community activists, and educators. It’s a nod to Black Wall Street, a once-thriving, late-19th-century business district nearby that’s now gentrified except for a handful of Black businesses.

“The house is a celebration of Black Durhamites,” says Alicia. “In many ways it educates and offers diversity to what is still a predominantly all-white neighborhood.”

It's a nuanced approach to designing a short-term rental at a time when many see Airbnbs as contributing to gentrification and making neighborhoods less affordable to residents.

Not only does the project celebrate the area’s history, but it also preserves the fabric of the neighborhood, since they deliberately maintained the exterior, with no thought given to a teardown. Alicia and her husband prefer to focus on the preservation and revitalization of older homes in the urban tier of downtown. “We don’t do houses in Toll Brothers developments—we do old homes,” she says.

The couple also keep their long-term rentals below market rates. One is rented to the program director of a non-profit arts organization at $1,200 a month, when it could yield $1,600. Another’s leased by an African-American owner of a boutique gym for $1,800 when it might bring in $2,300. “We don’t have the resources to rent for almost nothing, but we are thoughtful about how to make them below market rate and not go belly up,” she says.

Thoughtful is a word that sums up their design and construction philosophy well. “We live in the community, and I’m a steward of the community,” she says.

The Curated Craftsman is available to rent on Airbnb.

More Budget Breakdown stories:

An Austin Couple Give a Century-Old Craftsman a Passive House Upgrade for $836K

Partway Through a Renovation, the Potential of This Atlanta Home Becomes Clear

A Raleigh Colonial Home Is Reinvented for $260K

Project Credits:

Designer & Builder: Alicia Hylton-Daniel, Hylton Daniel Design + Construction / @hylton_design

Project Manager: Roger Daniel

Structural Engineer: Gabriel Hauser, Hauser-Creech

Interior Design: Alicia Hylton-Daniel

Cabinetry Design/Installation: Kith Kitchens and Builders First Choice

---

J. Michael Welton is the author of “Drawing from Practice: Architects and the Meaning of Freehand” (Routledge: 2015). His articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Metropolis, Dwell and The News & Observer in Raleigh. He is editor and publisher of the digital design magazine www.architectsandartisans.com.