A home that shows its best side – on every side
EastBay RI | EastBay Media Group
One home upgrade in Bristol turned into a multi-year transformation – and even inspired the neighbors.
After having Marshall Building & Remodeling add vinyl siding to their home, the Alves’ had them come back to add more windows, and redo their outdated deck – leaving them with an entirely modernized home to enjoy inside and outside (on all sides).
The old adage, “Whenever you fix one thing on a car, another part breaks,” can hold true for homes as well — at least from a design perspective. When one element is modernized, it often highlights the need to update other areas, too. Of course, doing everything at once can be costly, so many homeowners tackle improvements one project at a time and over the course of several years.
Take Cathy and Mike Alves, homeowners in Bristol. Their renovation story began with what they thought would be a useful upgrade — replacing their wooden siding with a more modern vinyl, a project they began in 2022 with the help of Marshall Building & Remodeling. “As we get older, the maintenance of taking care of the cedar shingling on the house is too much. We want to sit back and enjoy the home without all the work,” Cathy said about why switching over to vinyl siding was so important to them.
The project began with decisions. Although the couple initially wanted to keep the same color scheme for the home, once they sat down with a representative from Marshall, they realized a change in color might reflect a more modern look — so they decided on gray. Cathy said, “We thought gray is just gray, but he explained as he showed us different shades that some were bluish, some pinkish. Then he showed us the two true gray colors — and the choice was made easy.”
But unbeknownst to them, this decision — and this project — was only the beginning.
Letting the light in
Once the new siding was installed and the front windows replaced — all part of the first renovation — the couple realized there was more they could do to modernize the home and make it more enjoyable. They decided to add additional windows. “The new windows in the front of the home gave the house a more modern look and let more light in — and we enjoyed that light so much that we thought maybe we should add two more windows on the sides of the home to let even more light in,” said Cathy.
So, in 2023, Marshall came back, removed the new siding on the sides of the home, and added two new windows before replacing the siding. They installed Harvey classic windows with colonial grids between the glass and double low-E glazing — so the windows not only offered a more modernized look, they offered improved energy efficiency too — and more light, of course. “It completely changed the feel of the house,” Cathy said. “Then we added another window in the bedroom — we just kept going … it’s amazing how the sunlight now brightens the whole room, the whole house.”
The renovations didn’t end with the windows, though — Marshall came back in 2024 for another update.
The domino effect of the deck
In 2024, they invited Marshall back to redo their outdated wooden deck in the back. “The deck had been on the list for a long time,” Cathy said. “We always said, ‘maybe next year,’ but finally we just went for it.” This upgrade had to be done in coordination with the crew installing the patio below the deck, ensuring both projects complemented each other.
Neighbors quickly noticed the upgraded deck and patio. “People would stop by and ask who was doing the work,” Cathy said. One day, she walked by a neighbor’s home undergoing renovations and saw a Marshall Building & Remodeling sign in the yard. Not only did their own home renovation turn into a domino effect of more projects for them — it also inspired upgrades throughout the neighborhood.
After the upgrades — siding, windows, doors, gutters, and trim details — the home’s exterior now looks fresh, contemporary, and is very low-maintenance for the homeowners.