The plan: Install a new bathtub. The result: A six-month, $300,000 renovation.

By: Scott Sowers

James and Jamie Coss spent nine months looking for a home that was close to work, a grocery store and a gym.

In December 2015, they bought a three-level condo on the third floor of a vintage 1895 townhouse near Logan Circle for $1,289,000 that checked all of the boxes. A desire to change a bathtub in the master bathroom started a chain reaction that would eventually make being near a gym irrelevant.

The couple had been renting an apartment at CityCenterDC in Northwest Washington for a year, and they were ready for something larger and more permanent. James Coss, 35, is a tax attorney for a large accounting firm with offices in the District. He used proximity to a grocery store as a real-estate compass to guide them to their new home.

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