Do you ever watch that show on HGTV? I love it. And I felt like I was in an episode recently. There's a house that's been for sale for a while that I drive by quite often. I noticed "Must See Inside" and "Great Buy" on the sign about three weeks ago. On a whim, I called the realtor's number. He didn't answer, but he did call me back... and boy did he talk and carry on (while I was up in the Krogers trying to buy my groceries!). We ended the conversation with an appointment for two days later.
Rosario went with me (more on her later) and since Bud and his friend were at my office when the appointment time came, I asked them to come along as well. The location wasn't super great, but it wasn't bad either. There's an apartment complext close by that I was a little concerned about, but there was also a park, so--the first trade-off. I entered the front door and was welcomed by a large living room with GREAT hardwood floors, a fire place with a couple of built-ins. The dining room was also really nice, with the same hardwoods.
The kitchen... well, it was a kitchen--and the appliances stayed with the house! It had the orginal 1957 vent hood. If the stove wasn't original, it was definitely true to the time period... as were the white metal cabinets. Now, these things in and of themselves aren't necessarily turn offs, mind you. The huge white cast iron sink was actually pretty cool, but needed resurfacing; it had a few large rust spots. This kitchen was just all wrong for me. A stackable washer/dryer? No thank you. I'm living with one of those jewels right now.
The house was choppy, but boy did it have storage!! LOTS and LOTS of storage! The space, the yard and the storage were definitely the bright spots in the house. And the hardwoods. The original bedrooms had the original glass door knobs that were really cool, too.
The room at the back of the house was an addition, probably in the 70s. Yukky wood paneling, a newer tile floor (that sweat so bad--the floor was very slippery and dangerous). BUT... it had great storage also. The previous owners had used it as a family room, but it could be considered a bedroom because of the closets. However, to get to it, you had to go through another bedroom. That was weird.
There was a nice little space to the side of the dining room that I would have used for my office. It had a door leading to the patio area. Previous owners had used it for a nursery since the master bath and bed were next to it.
Master--another addition, but hard to tell when. Maybe the 80s? BLACK tub, shower and toilet. In my opinion? Weird. I think the thought must have been that it looked elegant, but that just doesn't work for me. I'm too practical. Soap scum and water spots would show ALL the time.
Bedroom was two steps down and again, a tile floor. The floor looked like a bathroom. Nice size room, but it just felt weird. Closet was nice though.
The house actually has two front doors. The first one you come to from the driveway is simply an entryway room. Really non-functioning for anything. The garage door has been sealed shut and the room turned into another bedroom (probably in the 70s in my guess). Yuk. But--great storage!
The front yard was nice; the back yard was really big and fenced. Storage shed, patio... lots of space for a dog to run. And, there was an outbuilding that had AWESOME potential... if it wasn't caving in.
All in all, I knew this house was first, out of my price range. Second, even if the price was $100,000 less, there's still WAY too much work for me to deal with. Big Joz and I remodeled an entire house in 2003, but this would have been too much for us to tackle. Given that he's not on my "team" anymore, a huge remodel just doesn't sound appealing... I'm not a huge DIYer myself.
So, I thanked the realtor for allowing me to see it. He understood that it wasn't for me, but... he had another one he'd like to show me. So, off we headed downtown.
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