Boe and I bought our first house together some two months ago. After living in a gorgeous Victorian rental for three years it was hard to make the decision to find our own place, add to that the prices in Seattle are some of the highest in the country so finding an old house with some charm left in it on a big lot was going to be difficult. Eventually with a lot of searching and some really good credit (his, not mine) we came across a smallish two bedroom built in 1924.
At first glance I was somewhat tepid. It has some good features like hardwood throughout the first floor and some interesting lintels. It has a 12' mantle with built in side cabinets, and great windows all over the place. Boe fell in love with the siding which is cedar bevel in an alternating pattern while I was impressed by the four car garage.
The detractors stacked up in my mind are that the 12' mantle, and every other peice of trim, is painted, the nice mission squares front door is painted with peeling veneer, the wonderful windows are going to need constant attention, the hardwood floor in the kitchen is modern pre-finished 3 1/4 TnG oak while the rest of the house looks like top nail (its not, luckily) 2 1/4 oak with a different stain. The biggest issue is that the kitchen, while large, is a living hell to work in. Theres no triangle , there are a ginormous pantry cabinet and the refrigerator flanking the door to the dining room and turning the workable counter space into dark little cubbyholes, the nice expensive Elkay "gourmet" prep sink is installed so the prep side is in a corner, not next to the only open counter and its crowned with a craptastic flamingo looking faucet. But the absolute worst part is that all the (tiny) cabinets (from 1967) have been painted the color of cat puke.
Well I guess all of that is changeable. I happen to work for a building supply company specifically a "Used" building material supply company. We pull antique house parts and usable materials out of houses slated for the wrecking ball. There are rare treasures and mundane bargains rolling past me every day all I have to do is pick and choose the bits to remodel (mostly Un-remodel) the entire house.
1 comment:
Kurt I was really impressed with all the work that you have done with the cabinets. I also really envy that you get a constant stream of treasures coming into your job all the time. I can't wait to see what you guys will do with the house in a year.
Cheers!!
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