Our Newest Project

It looks like we are buying the bank-owned condo I mentioned in an earlier post.  We have a contract, and as long as we are happy with things after doing "due diligence," we will soon own a little pied-a-terre.

The beach house is great, but we really need a small place in the city during the work week.  After two years of renting a very tiny apartment, we knew we needed something slightly larger, so we could entertain comfortably -- or something even smaller, so we wouldn't even be tempted to try to entertain!

Other criteria included an easy commute to work, a safe neighborhood, a parking space, and a pet friendly building with an elevator; and it needed to be well-priced.  This little condo met all of our criteria.

When we saw the rough shape of this condo (which explained the "too good to be true" price) we were ready to walk away -- then the realtor threw out two little words -- "boat slip".

We were hooked.

This is the slip that goes with the condo.  I wonder whose boat that is?  Maybe it comes with the slip?

House Hunting. Again.

Life is getting a little crazy at House Revivals.  You've probably noticed I'm not posting as much lately.  That will soon change, but in the mean time, thanks for bearing with me as we go through lots of changes.  The beach house renovation is going very well, but as we near the finish line, it is consuming our days.

 The beach house, before the renovation.

We have also been searching for a more permanent pied-a-terre in the city.  So, when I am here, I am often scouring the internet and running off to meet with our realtor.  On top of everything, our son just finished his master's degree and got a job in our city.  We are very happy to have one of our kiddos nearby.  And he is definitely very nearby.  So near, he's sleeping on our couch until he finds a place to buy. 

So, I am house hunting for him, also, which is how I stumbled upon this:

I found an affordably priced condo midway between my son's job, and the university where he plans to attend med school.  And it has a boat slip. And a parking space. And a storage locker. And canoe storage. And bicycle storage.  As it turns out, the building and location are not hip enough for my kiddo. 

Well, my husband and I started thinking maybe we should buy it.  We're not hip.  I'm pretty sure we've never been hip. And we really like the condo.  And my husband enjoys being able to paddle around exploring the shoreline.

We've made an offer on the property, so now we just wait and see how it all works out. We're a bit skeptical, as it's a bank-owned property, and banks aren't that easy to negotiate with, but who knows?

Tudor Revival Revisited

During our house hunting campaign, I posted about this Magnolia neighborhood house.

Although we loved the house, we ultimately bought this house.

The Magnolia Tudor sold pretty quickly (it was in a prime location), and I didn't really give it much thought after we decided it was not right for us.

Just for fun, I was poking around the CBBAIN real estate website the other day.  The Magnolia Tudor is back on the market.  It looks like this, now.

 The house has been painted, and the awning has been 

removed, and the landscape has been tidied up a bit.

All new listing photos courtesy CBBAIN website.

The formerly 10,000 square foot lot has been divided into two lots, and the the Tudor has undergone some major cleaning, and some minor renovating.

 The the view of the expansive side yard has now 
been replaced by a fence. Much needed southern 
light will now be lost, in addition to the lost view.

The Tudor is now listed for about the same price as before.  It's kind of sad that the wonderful lot has been cut in half.

Especially since the best views of the Sound were from the other half of the lot -- but I'm sure the flipper will make a tidy little profit for their efforts.

 The big yard made it a perfect place for families and pets and gardens.  

It's just so sad to see another nice neighborhood getting hacked up

-- the condos and developers and investors have pretty much 

eaten their way across Queen Anne Hill, and are beginning to work 

their way across Magnolia -- they're like Stephen King's Langoliers....

I'm really not opposed to flippers and investors coming and in a fixing up a house to make a profit.  That's just capitalism, and capitalism is what makes the world go 'round.  It just makes me sad that great family neighborhoods are getting being hacked up and sacrificed in the process.  I guess I should just be grateful that the little Tudor wasn't scraped....

image source: Denver Demolition Inc.

On a brighter note, the little Tudor cleaned up really nicely inside. Remember these pictures of the postage-stamp sized  kitchen?

Well, it's still postage-stamp sized, but new appliances, back splash, counter tops, and a wide angle lens have gone a long way toward making it look (if not function) much, much better.

The living room just needed to be cleaned up and painted.

The vanity and tub were replaced in the main level bathroom, and tile was added half-way up the wall. New sconces were also added.

I'm always amazed by the square feet a wide angle 

lens adds to a space! I've really got to get 

one -- it's much less expensive than adding on.

I'm glad the flippers left the cool medicine cabinets in place.  

I'm not crazy about the pedestal sink -- it's very attractive, but 

doesn't offer much storage for the house's only main level 

bathroom.  Pedestal sinks are great for powder rooms, or when 

there is an alternative landing area and alternative storage, 

but the eventual buyers of this home will find that 

their pretty new sink doesn't function very well when 

they're trying to get ready for work in the morning (or trying 

to put away some clean towels). Pedestal sinks are a favorite 

of builders and flippers, because they pack a lot of 

visual punch, but typically cost less than buying a separate 

sink, vanity, and counter top. It's not about creating the best 

space for beauty and function when you're flipping a house.  It's 

about creating the least expensive space that still looks great.

Over all, I think the flippers did a great job on both the interior and the exterior of the home.  They left most of the really cool original details in place.  I might have painted out the exterior window frames in a darker color, for better curb appeal, and wouldn't have done the pedestal sink in the bathroom, but over all they gave the house just what it needed -- a good scrubbing and a coat of paint.  The kitchen is still only marginally functional, but it's better than it was. I'm sad that they split the lot, but at least they didn't build a high rise on it!

You can see the original post about this Tudor Revival house here.

S is for house by the Seashore

We are still house hunting.  We did find a house in a little beach community that we felt had potential.  It was destined for the wrecking ball, but we think it's worth trying to save.  Did you know it's almost impossible to get reasonable financing for a fixer-upper?  Now, if we wanted to scrape the house and start fresh with new construction, banks would fall all over themselves to give us a loan.  Maybe that explains why so many lovely old houses get scraped?

Ah, well, we are in negotiations for the beach house fixer-upper, but the negotiations are not going smoothly.   So, we are going back to the shore this weekend to look at more houses.  But, I really liked the fixer-upper.  Not the mold growing on the ceiling where the roof leaks.  Not the rotting deck.  Definitely not the rat poo in the gutted kitchen.  I like the house's bones.  And banks of windows.  And it just seems to have heart.

If we buy it, which we very likely won't (since negotiations have stalled, because the seller seems to have forgotten that the housing bubble burst), here is what we would like to do.

We would like to raise the house one level to better take advantage of this view.

Here's another view of the back of the house.  The stairs would need to be moved to meet setback requirements.

Here's a before.

Here is a before of the front of the house...

and an after.

And another before of the front, showing the entrance...

... and here is a concept of how it would look after.

Remember the nasty kitchen?

Well, it could look like this!

I've decided to represent flagstone flooring, even though it isn't my favorite, because it is already there, and would be very expensive to replace.

This plan would leave all the fixtures in the same place, because that's less expensive to do, and it was pretty efficiently designed the first time around.  We would add a small island, however, because there is plenty of room for one!

Okay, I'll only share this one last space...

I'll spare you the rant about how dangerous step up tubs are, and how most building codes don't allow them, because too many people have broken their hips and chipped their teeth trying to climb into these things.

You can see why this is my dream home!

Who wouldn't want this nasty, stained moldy shower?

 Or this ripped out wall?

Seriously, though, without moving any major plumbing, but by thoughtfully planning the existing space, this bathroom could look like this.

Notice that there is NO chandelier over the bathtub.

I'll save that rant for another day, but I will say that I get REALLY tired of wanna be designers placing chandeliers over tubs.  It violates most electrical codes to do this, and can be very dangerous.

Well, there you have it.  The beach house. Could be my dream house.  Could be just another frog I've kissed trying to find my dream house.  Now, I'm off to pack my bags for the seashore to do a little more frog kissing (just in case the negotiations completely fall apart on this one)!

This post is being linked to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, and House of Grace Best of 2010