Author David Giffels Shares Home Restoration Journey

A man dreaming of living in a beautiful Akron Tudor home took the complicated route – rebuilding ruins.

This man, David Giffels, described his complicated journey to repairing an almost 100-year-old house to an intimate audience at the Wednesday night. At his talk on his book All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling Down House, he gave content teasers by describing parts of his housing adventure.

“We were scared to death but there’s something fun about that when you are young and kind of stupid,” Giffels said about the purchase of the dilapidated home in 1997.

He explained an early encounter with a neighbor that resulted in his leg shooting through the rotted floor during their first exchange. He also ventured into his encounter with a raccoon.

“I refuse to die a cartoon character’s death,” he read from an excerpt of his book about the ring-tailed attic guest. His refusal to fall off the ladder led to an interesting battle to clear his attic of the raccoon.

The, the 2010 Cleveland Arts Prize mid-career literature winner opened up the session for questions.

Most focused on the 4,000-square-foot house and his struggle to create a home. One answer explained his wife’s and his goal to revive the original style of its beginning.

His housing adventure reached the ears of Brecksville resident, Julie Dierker, on Diane Rehm’s NPR segment. She remembers her and her ex-husband’s feelings relating to the Giffels for their own Akron home-buying experience.

“When we were newly married, we sort of had the same ‘OK, let’s start to grow up and build a home’ idea,” she said.

Librarian Annette Jones and colleagues knew people would come to see Giffels because they could relate.

“We know people are interested in local history," she said. "And we thought he did a great job."

Giffels is the author of two other books. He has also worked as a journalist at newspapers including The Akron Beacon Journal and as a teacher at the University of Akron. Beavis and Butt-head script-writing is also under his belt. Another novel, which he's calling the "Rustbelt Memoir," is in the works and could be completed by fall.

To buy his book or learn more about him, visit his website.