I think its an appropriate name - Changing Gears. I've been posting about the house and the fix up and the move. That's all important but today I want to talk about something else.
In my desire to live a more self reliant I am learning a great deal of things in these woods on this hill.
I'm becoming a bit anxious. At first I figured it was the winter blues. I usually get bummed when winter is coming and have a variety of ways of dealing with that. UV lights was one way I used to deal with it. Exercising outdoors was another but things are different now.
I still spend a lot of time outside now. I check my chickens and rabbits and bees frequently but I am getting nervous about them and the impending winter. It's like bringing home your first child. You've read the books and talked to gobs of people about how it will be. You made it through pregnancy and the baby is coming home. Will she survive and will I know what to do to keep her safe. (that was my experience) Having these animals is, ok not quite the same but there are similarities. Winter and these animals is a new experience for me and I'm not entirely confident that I can keep them safe. Water freezes so they need fresh water many times a day. Bees need to be wrapped up so the hive doesn't freeze. Bunnies need to be sheltered from the wind and snow so they are comfortable. I've read and read many suggestions online and think I have a plan for them. I've made many adjustments to transition from 70 degrees to 0 degrees. I hope they survive. I will take it day by day as is the only way I can.
I don't exercise any more, except for an occasional bike ride on the single tracks nearby. I used to be an avid skater. Each morning after the kids would get on the bus I would take off through my neighborhood and skate for a hour or more. I would easily get 10-12 miles in each morning. It felt good. If there was snow, as often there is in Northern Illinois I would snow shoe and occasionally run if my knees would let me. But here skating isn't an option any more. I could pack them up and go to my old neighborhood or a nearby, flat, park but I haven't done that yet. Running is out because my knees are getting worse. So I hike though my woods but there are so many other things to do that I don't always make the time. I do miss skating though.
I haven't mentioned before the driveway. Its formidable. 3/10th of a mile long up a hill and all gravel. We have a devilishly sharp turn before a steep ascent to the house. Even when it's dry my tires will spin occasionally. When we moved in we bought a work-horse 4-wheeler with a plow in the hopes that the machine would suffice in pushing the snow out of the way. But, we continue to hear that this winter might be a bad one for snow. Lots of snow is coming our way. I'm not confident that the 4-wheeler will be enough. So we are looking for a plow truck but that costs money. More money. What if we get stuck? What if there is a lot of ice? How will we get our kids to the bus stop? People have mentioned those things to us before. I has me thinking about it. But I remind myself that the previous owners lived here for 20 years. They got out. Though I think they had a plow truck.
Speaking of snow. I need to get better boots for my kids. In the old neighborhood the streets were plowed and I often snowblowed the sidewalks to the bus stop that I could see from my house. They kids could get away without wearing snowboots to the bus stop. Here we have no sidewalk only and crazy, scary, forever long and windy driveway. How will my kids walk it?
We have a wood-burning stove. I love it. It's beautiful and warm and I had no idea how much work they were. I wonder if we will have enough wood for the winter. Don't get me wrong, we have other heat in the house if I choose to use it. Feeding a wood-burner takes a lot of attention and I have no idea if I'm doing it right. Soon I won't be able to hang my clothes outside to dry either.
Leaves. Leaves are another thing I'm learning about. Of course I know trees lose their leaves in the fall. But....I have never lived where there have been so many trees. I have never lived where we needed to worry about cleaning up leaves. We have dozens of trees in front of our house. They just keep falling...and falling...I spent 2 hours the other day burning leaves. It was exhausting. We already filled my garden with leaves. There were so many more. The driveway is covered with them.
I've had to adjust many things in my life here and sometimes I wonder if its for the better. Day by day I am very happy. I look around at the trees and the woods and my "farm" animals and smile. My kids are happy playing with the chickens, the dog, the bunnies and the tire-swing and I know this was a good move for them. This is something so different than suburbia. They have friends that come over all the time. Their new friends love it here too. They can run in the woods, play on the trails we have built and be free without the watchful eyes of nosy neighbors. That's good but I still wonder if it was right.
Winter is coming. That line has become famous in recent years. Here I fear it more than I did in the flat, city plowed streets of my old neighborhood. We are facing new challenges with winter. From suburbia to the big woods we are changing gears.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
A Bit of History
I thought I would share a bit of the history that I have discovered about this home.
Firstly, it was built in 1995ish by a man whose name is all over the basement. We believe this architect was a contractor because the house is made up of so many different pieces, strange pieces. Our theory is that he used bits and pieces from job sites. And there are so many strange features to this house. Of course it is these features that made us fall in love with it. It is nothing like I have ever seen. Then again we have only lived in, as many call them, "cookie-cutter houses".
The basement, pictured above is the main tell of this theory. You can see a name on the rafters which are actually concrete forms. There is corrugated steel and commercial i-beams used here too. The door pictures is one of 2 in the basement. To me this door looks like a school house door. The entire house is made from various varieties of cinderblock, concrete and brick with cedar on the upper part of the house. It is situated high on a hill which gives the impression of hugeness. However, not including the basement the finished area adds up to roughly 2600 sq ft. Its the walk-out basement and garage and the fact that it is up on a hill that give the illusion that it is huge.
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| concrete, brick, cinderblocks and cedar |
Continuing on with the history. The man that built it designed it with his wife in mind. But he never finished it. He left it built on the outside and most of the features were done but the inside was not livable. We found out recently that he and his wife ended badly during the build and so he abandoned the house.
It sat for a short while before the next owners came along. They were lotto winners! $5m. They purchased this home and finished the main floor and upstairs. They added their own features and flare and lived here for 20+ years. Unfortunately, they had a hard time maintaining the house and loving it the way it needed to be loved. I don't know much more but it was foreclosed on which is the reason we are here now.
The First Walk-Through, the Basement
We walked down the first part of the stairs and decided to take the back, skinny, stairway. To the left was...my....future office and to the right the kitchen, but before that another door. This was the door to the basement. By the way, I don't think I mentioned the doors yet. All the doors were solid oak doors. Again, this is not something I ever had. I always had hallow, white panel doors. The doors were heavy and nice but they had old brass handles. Ok, not that big of a deal but...
As we walked down to the basement another smell began to fill my nose. It was a musty smell and something else.....urine. It smelled like urine.
The stairs were bare wood and there was a shelf/nook to my right. These walls, going down the stairs, were painted the same color as the shiny green and purple carpet bedroom. That was strange. Nothing else in the entire house was painted anything but flat white.
Ok, at this point I'm going to just show you the pictures. The basement was like a maze. It wasn't finished and it was leaking and the insulation was full of holes and evidence of mice in it. The bank had put out air fresheners and mouse traps in every corner and there are 74 corners in this basement. Take a moment and think about a basement. How many corners does a basement have? My old house had 18 corners, my parents house (finished with 5 rooms) 35 corners, maybe. (I'm exaggerating on the mouse traps but not the corners.) This basement had so many nooks and crannies and strange rooms, holes in the cinderblock walls (literally) and narrow doors, and broken windows and 2 giant sliding glass doors and 3 steps that go further down into another room and rooms that jet out from another room and...... an amazing fireplace made of stone and granite with tie-rods sticking out of it where a mantle should be and holes in the stone where heated air would flow out and lastly many of the cinderblocks were painted kelly green...... while others were painted grey, there were 2 very tall sliding glass doors that exited to the side yard (walk-out)....and there was a boiler. No furnace. A boiler, with pipes and gauges and big blue cylindrical things I had never seen before.
Ok. Here are the pictures.
This room (the opening on the left and the following pictures) we think may have been intended to be a sauna and steam room. It is one of 2 spaces in this basement that has finished ceilings. They are finished with steel i-beams and cinderblocks.
Our realtor mentioned that these are baffles for the heating system and boiler. Like I said, this house doesn't have a furnace. We saw no vents anywhere. It has hydronic radiant heating. She told us that was a very expensive type of heating..... I had to research it. If you don't know what it is; it's water warmed by the boiler, pushed though the house with pumps to heat the house. Each floor has water pipes running through it and cement layered on top of them to protect them and radiate the heat.
The room on the right and below is a small room full of shelves and an old utility sink with a mirror and a sewage pipe. Why is it pink? All pink. Even the shelves are pink.
So now we have seen it all.
There is so much that needs to be done and so much money that needs to be spent and it was over our budget. Too bad. But it was so cool! But it had only 3, real, bedrooms. The list of things that needed to be done was long and included:
a bedroom
new carpet & floors everywhere but the kitchen
new paint
2 new windows
new appliances
moving the cooktop
extermination
major cleaning
a door on the master bathroom
a new deck on the master bedroom
a new pool? or get rid of the pool? or can it be salvaged?
how was the roof
new lighting in many areas
repair the rutted driveway
disassemble the existing rundown chicken coop or clean it
new door hardware
new faucet in the kitchen (current one was broken)
more cleaning
ceiling repairs in the kitchen
ceiling repairs about the fireplaces
repair and clean the stains on the brick of the fireplace
repair the screened-in porch
gutters?
a garage door opener
and much more.........
I would keep looking until that day with friends and the price dropped.
As we walked down to the basement another smell began to fill my nose. It was a musty smell and something else.....urine. It smelled like urine.
The stairs were bare wood and there was a shelf/nook to my right. These walls, going down the stairs, were painted the same color as the shiny green and purple carpet bedroom. That was strange. Nothing else in the entire house was painted anything but flat white.
Ok, at this point I'm going to just show you the pictures. The basement was like a maze. It wasn't finished and it was leaking and the insulation was full of holes and evidence of mice in it. The bank had put out air fresheners and mouse traps in every corner and there are 74 corners in this basement. Take a moment and think about a basement. How many corners does a basement have? My old house had 18 corners, my parents house (finished with 5 rooms) 35 corners, maybe. (I'm exaggerating on the mouse traps but not the corners.) This basement had so many nooks and crannies and strange rooms, holes in the cinderblock walls (literally) and narrow doors, and broken windows and 2 giant sliding glass doors and 3 steps that go further down into another room and rooms that jet out from another room and...... an amazing fireplace made of stone and granite with tie-rods sticking out of it where a mantle should be and holes in the stone where heated air would flow out and lastly many of the cinderblocks were painted kelly green...... while others were painted grey, there were 2 very tall sliding glass doors that exited to the side yard (walk-out)....and there was a boiler. No furnace. A boiler, with pipes and gauges and big blue cylindrical things I had never seen before.
Ok. Here are the pictures.
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| This is my husband on the walk through. That stuff hanging is insulation that was saturated with mouse urine and poo and a carcass or 2. |
Through the handless door is the staircase. The other entryway was a weird, small dark room with a toilet that was not installed correctly and leaking sewage, a chimney cleanup, that strange nook in the cinderblock made no sense to us and behind the wall they had jimmied a pump with a bucket and electric wire to run the fountain upstairs. It was the strangest room.  |
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 This could be my studio! |
| They left a desk with a door and a firesafe filing cabinet without the key.... |
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| The shelf to the left of the filing cabinet is an aluminum something that they built into the wall behind the stairs.  |
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| See the hole in the top right corner. We were told that is for the fireplace. What is that strange nook with the bar across it? Why are there mirrors and carpet on the wall. What was this used for? |
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Those are shelves with a shelf on it. Could this be the 4th bedroom? Our realtor told us she thinks the bank called the office the 4th bedroom. As I mentioned though it had glass doors. How would that work as a bedroom? Maybe for us this room could be a bedroom? It has a closet....kind of ....and a window. hmmm That sounds expensive. But when I was a teen I lived in the basement of my parents place. I love it! My parents let me graffiti the walls and I put glow-in-the-dark everywhere. The room was my special place!  |
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| No idea what those were. |
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| This is the view of the basement from the opening of the potential bedroom. |
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| We call this the Pepto Bismol room. I have no idea why it is pink. |
The room on the right and below is a small room full of shelves and an old utility sink with a mirror and a sewage pipe. Why is it pink? All pink. Even the shelves are pink.
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This is another space with shelves. Don't know what we can do here.
So now we have seen it all.
There is so much that needs to be done and so much money that needs to be spent and it was over our budget. Too bad. But it was so cool! But it had only 3, real, bedrooms. The list of things that needed to be done was long and included:
a bedroom
new carpet & floors everywhere but the kitchen
new paint
2 new windows
new appliances
moving the cooktop
extermination
major cleaning
a door on the master bathroom
a new deck on the master bedroom
a new pool? or get rid of the pool? or can it be salvaged?
how was the roof
new lighting in many areas
repair the rutted driveway
disassemble the existing rundown chicken coop or clean it
new door hardware
new faucet in the kitchen (current one was broken)
more cleaning
ceiling repairs in the kitchen
ceiling repairs about the fireplaces
repair and clean the stains on the brick of the fireplace
repair the screened-in porch
gutters?
a garage door opener
and much more.........
I would keep looking until that day with friends and the price dropped.
The First Walk-Through, the Second Floor
This house has many unique features and I want to take time to show you want we saw. The pictures don't do it justice but its important to show you because of the changes we have made.
Next we ventured upstairs.
I don't have any pictures of the stairs from our first walk through but here is what they look like. The stairs are normal but have a split off the platform to a tiny short staircase in the back by my office. This was interesting. But the carpet was old and I don't think the previous owners took their shoes off ever. The cream colored carpet was grey and stained with spilled drinks and worn out.
At the top of the stairs to the right we saw a open lofted area that overlooked the dining space and the front foyer and front door. It had hardwood floors in a squared pattern and backed up to the back of the fireplace chimney. In this space the ceiling was black from soot and the brick at the top of the chimney was stained from roof leaks. 
As we looked toward the front door across the wooden beam we observed another bright window and where one would expect to see a grand chandelier, in this beautiful foyer, was a small, strange light fixture. That didn't make sense to me. Did the previous owners take the chandelier or is this what they installed? But I thought this room would make a nice study area for the kids and our roll-top desk would fit perfectly.
Behind us were the bedrooms. 1...2...3...4 doors and one was a bathroom.....hmmmm. I thought to myself, aren't there were 4 bedrooms. We walked into the bedroom on the right, the door was closed and wouldn't stay open. Whoosh! We were, once again overcome with smells. This room smelled a lot of smoke, pets, and stale air. The carpet was PURPLE, dark purple and stained white,
from what I can only presume is pet urine! GROSS! It was also coming up by the door and fraying in many spots. But the room had a huge window seat and great pitched ceilings. This was the only room in the house painted. It was a glossy mint green, painted on only a portion of the room....to compliment the purple carpet???
The next bedroom was bright and didn't smell as bad but the walls were a mess and the carpet was gross. This room was blue, dark, dark blue stained with pet urine again. It had large walk in closet too.
Another thing I was really liking about this house at this point was all the wood. Thick wood baseboard, thick wood used on the stairs and around the doors, wood around the windows...and the windows are canopy windows. They open from the bottom and hinge out. I loved this because one of my favorite things to do is open windows. In our last several houses the windows went up and down and in the rain we had to close them.
Back in the hallway we looked in to the bathroom. Its a unique bathroom as you can see from the picture.
To the left is the granite countertop and sink with a mirror. They installed a big ball light above the mirror....like something you would see in a closet. The cabinet and drawer you can see in the picture open only as far as the trim on the broken pocket door. On the right is a giant linen/storage cabinet. And if you look deep beyond the pocket door you will see the bathtub. Look closely... that tub is recessed into the floor. That was something I had never seen before. Next to the bathtub is the laundry shoot. 
2 more things about this bathroom that were interesting was the skylight where the shower/tub is and they actually cut a window into the wall above the pocket door so the dressing area gets natural light too. Lastly was across from the shower head was this: We wondered about a door in the purple and green room that had a jimmy-rigged florescent light. Here is the reason!
OH MY! I wanted this house then. A boulder in a gigantic shower?? Remember I said we had just redid our master bathroom? Well it still wasn't as nice as this. It was nice and cost us big bucks but....... I thought, so what about a single sink when we can fit both of us in this shower and sit on a boulder too! But that wasn't everything still. Under that picture window that overlooked many trees and the horizon was a 2 person jacuzzi with a water heater! Yep! Good! When can we move in?
At this point I really wanted the house. I could tell Matt was loving it too but we knew there was so much to do and repair and so much $$$ that would be needed to fix it up and we still hadn't found a 4th bedroom. Could it be in the basement?
Next we ventured upstairs.
I don't have any pictures of the stairs from our first walk through but here is what they look like. The stairs are normal but have a split off the platform to a tiny short staircase in the back by my office. This was interesting. But the carpet was old and I don't think the previous owners took their shoes off ever. The cream colored carpet was grey and stained with spilled drinks and worn out. 
At the top of the stairs to the right we saw a open lofted area that overlooked the dining space and the front foyer and front door. It had hardwood floors in a squared pattern and backed up to the back of the fireplace chimney. In this space the ceiling was black from soot and the brick at the top of the chimney was stained from roof leaks. 
As we looked toward the front door across the wooden beam we observed another bright window and where one would expect to see a grand chandelier, in this beautiful foyer, was a small, strange light fixture. That didn't make sense to me. Did the previous owners take the chandelier or is this what they installed? But I thought this room would make a nice study area for the kids and our roll-top desk would fit perfectly. 
Behind us were the bedrooms. 1...2...3...4 doors and one was a bathroom.....hmmmm. I thought to myself, aren't there were 4 bedrooms. We walked into the bedroom on the right, the door was closed and wouldn't stay open. Whoosh! We were, once again overcome with smells. This room smelled a lot of smoke, pets, and stale air. The carpet was PURPLE, dark purple and stained white,
The next bedroom was bright and didn't smell as bad but the walls were a mess and the carpet was gross. This room was blue, dark, dark blue stained with pet urine again. It had large walk in closet too.
Another thing I was really liking about this house at this point was all the wood. Thick wood baseboard, thick wood used on the stairs and around the doors, wood around the windows...and the windows are canopy windows. They open from the bottom and hinge out. I loved this because one of my favorite things to do is open windows. In our last several houses the windows went up and down and in the rain we had to close them.
Back in the hallway we looked in to the bathroom. Its a unique bathroom as you can see from the picture.
To the left is the granite countertop and sink with a mirror. They installed a big ball light above the mirror....like something you would see in a closet. The cabinet and drawer you can see in the picture open only as far as the trim on the broken pocket door. On the right is a giant linen/storage cabinet. And if you look deep beyond the pocket door you will see the bathtub. Look closely... that tub is recessed into the floor. That was something I had never seen before. Next to the bathtub is the laundry shoot. 
2 more things about this bathroom that were interesting was the skylight where the shower/tub is and they actually cut a window into the wall above the pocket door so the dressing area gets natural light too. Lastly was across from the shower head was this: We wondered about a door in the purple and green room that had a jimmy-rigged florescent light. Here is the reason!
Finally we come to the last bedroom on this floor. We are still looking for that 4th bedroom.....
The master bedroom. The room seemed small as we walk in and down a step into the room. To the right was a doorless bathroom..... and ahead of us was the spot where the bed would go. They had theirs there too. Evidence by the massive stains on the carpet. 
The ceilings in this room are very angular with the ugliest lightbulb lights. Some were just a single lightbulb, like you would see in the attic or basement and others were rusted white directional 3 ways. What is with the lights???? The ceiling being so low in the corner and the strange lights are what I think makes the room look small. But this room has a door to the left. And trough that door is a balcony! A balcony off the master bedroom????? WHOA! We stepped out and, squish! Yes there was snow but something did not feel right under our feet. Rotten! The deck was not safe, it was rotten.
The ceilings in this room are very angular with the ugliest lightbulb lights. Some were just a single lightbulb, like you would see in the attic or basement and others were rusted white directional 3 ways. What is with the lights???? The ceiling being so low in the corner and the strange lights are what I think makes the room look small. But this room has a door to the left. And trough that door is a balcony! A balcony off the master bedroom????? WHOA! We stepped out and, squish! Yes there was snow but something did not feel right under our feet. Rotten! The deck was not safe, it was rotten.
To the right is the closet. Its a good size closet! It has a skylight. Bonus! And at the other end of the closet is a door.....is that the 4th bedroom? We opened it tentatively and entered.....the red room of pain!! Just kidding. It's a HUGE attic! Lots of storage behind the back wall of the bedroom. Not a 4th bedroom. But why not extend the master or..... I don't know what. But, storage is great! And not having to climb a ladder and squeeze through a small hole in the ceiling would be very convenient!
Back out in the main room is that doorless bathroom.....Now I don't know about you but I like a bit of privacy when I pee..... The toilet was in plain view from where the bed would go. A door would be needed here. So this bathroom... Wow, I have never in my life seen features as the ones in the master bathroom. Firstly, it only had one sink, and it was crusty with hard water, in fact all the plumbing I had seen, I realized, was crusty with hard water. $$$ Water softener needed ...
Back to the bathroom. Ok, I hate sharing sinks with my husband, he gets toothpaste everywhere but who could focus on that when out of the corner of my eye I saw something strange. Wait for it.......
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Yes! A BOULDER! And granite floors and counter and shelves and tub surrounding. It also featured a giant shower with many shower heads; floor to ceiling slate tiles! There was also another picture window and a high window in the shower!
At this point I really wanted the house. I could tell Matt was loving it too but we knew there was so much to do and repair and so much $$$ that would be needed to fix it up and we still hadn't found a 4th bedroom. Could it be in the basement?
The First Walk-Through - the Main Floor
The more I think about why I am doing this blog it is becoming more obvious to me that I am writing it less for the people that have asked me to, and all the things I mentioned in my first post, but more for myself and my children. You see I have the WORST memory. It is embarrassing how bad it is. I fear that this experience, like so many others in my life will be lost if it is not documented in some form. We will see how long I keep this up. I tend to forget many things that I have started because life gets in the way. ;) I'm sure you can relate to that.
I left you last with some pictures of our new/old home.
This home had most everything. It was listed as follows:
We looked to the right and were immediately struck by the wood details in a very large room with huge windows and a double door that exited to the deck. Unfortunately we had to keep out shoes on because the carpet in that room was black with dirt and stains.
As we walked through that room we saw a beautiful fireplace
with brick and custom made doors and you had to step down to enter and the walls were stained yellow with smoke and handprints, one of the windows was broken and missing a pane, and the fireplace was cracked and had a leak from the roof which dripped down the wood and the tannins from the wood started staining the beautiful brick.....
We walked through the opening on the right of the fireplace and entered the dining area with ceramic tile floors and a sky-light! It too had picture windows that overlooked a very dilapidated iced-over swimming pool.
There was a sliding glass door to the outside screened in porch that was full of old wasp nest and holes in the screens. It was missing railing and had a door to the deck hanging on one hinge. But, in spite of all the disrepair it was beautiful!
On the back side of the fireplace and fountain was an empty space where it looked like a wood-burning stove once stood.
Standing in the kitchen looking over where we just came from was bright with sun light and in spite of the smells and dirt I was loving it.
As I turned from this view and looked into the kitchen I observed the unique cabinets. They were knotty and grainy but beautiful, except for the wooden knobs. The countertops were granite (I never had granite countertops) and there was a brick feature where the old double oven stood. The kitchen sink had another picture window above it with a small area to put my herbs that over-looked the back woods and lazy-susan cabinets in every corner. And up in ceiling near the sky-light was a gaping black hole that had clearly been there for years. What does that
The refrigerator was missing and the existing appliances were very old and rusty but otherwise a lovely kitchen with under cabinet lighting, a great walk-in pantry and an island with a breakfast bar!
Irrespective of the dirty bricks stained by smoke from food burning in the over or the rotten wood under the sink with mouse poo everywhere or the spaghetti noodles remnants on the ceiling by the cooktop or the cooktop....wait, the cooktop is in a hole in the wall, literally, and the top of that hole is 58' from the floor lined with brick and....wait....I'm 5'9 1/2". Yes I had to check. I moved in to pretend I was cooking over that cooktop. BAM! I bumped my head on that brick. Well, that won't work!!......let's move on. Because, honestly, at this point....Oh! At this point I'm in love. What's next?
We leave the kitchen after looking in the pantry and there it is! With double glass doors, my future office with ANOTHER picture window overlooking the front yard and porch and a mantle and a closet! (and more dirty carpet and smelly walls)
We head down the hallway toward the garage. There is it. Another "must-have". A mudroom/laundry room with an exit to the outside and outside there is a clothesline!!! Yippee. There was also a laundry shoot and a large storage nook behind the wall of the future washer and dryer. There were cabinets in this mudroom and a double work sink!
Next to that was a powder room with medicine cabinet and window and granite countertop.
The door on the left side -> leads to the garage. I'll talk about that later.
So far, so good! Next I'll talk about the upstairs.
I left you last with some pictures of our new/old home.
Lets digress a bit to our first walk through and our first impression of this house.
When we were looking for a house I wanted a very functional house. My conditions, and Matt agreed, were 4 bedrooms, 2-3 bathrooms, a main family area, good size kitchen with a breakfast bar and eating area, a main floor office, 3 car garage, and a mud/laundry room. I also hoped for a wood-burning stove and fireplace. I did not want a formal dining room or living room. Our last house has small version of both and I found that we rarely used either. In fact in our last home we turned our "formal dining" room into a study area for the kids. That never got used either. It was wasted space to us and I was looking for something more functional. I also hoped for an open concept home with high ceilings and lots of natural light. Lastly, as I mentioned, land was a must to play on, and park our camper. We also desired lower taxes than 7.95% and I wanted space to raise animals; chickens, rabbits...... I'll get to that later.This home had most everything. It was listed as follows:
This is a Fannie Mae Property! Situation on 15.75 acre wooded lot, you'll find this secluded 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home. Built in 1994 and featuring over 2,600 square feet of living space, you'll love the decks over-looking the yard, above ground pool, two fireplaces and granite counter tops in the kitchen.
FACTS
- Baths: 2 full, 1 half
- Lot: 15 acres
- Single Family
- Built in 1994
- All time views: 6,503
- Cooling: Other
- Heating: Other, Radiant
- Last sold: Mar 2001 for $270,000
FEATURES
- Attic
- Fireplace
- Garden
- Lawn
- Parking: 2 spaces
- Partial basement
- Patio
- Pool
- Porch
- RV Parking
- View: Water
- Wired
APPLIANCES INCLUDED
- Dishwasher
- Garbage disposal
ROOM TYPES
- Dining room
- Family room
- Mud room
- Pantry
- Walk-in closet
- Workshop
CONSTRUCTION
- Exterior material: Brick, Cement concrete, Other, Wood
- Roof type: Asphalt
- Room count: 16
- Stories: 2
- Structure type: Modern
I stated before that prior to the price drop Matt and I viewed the home with our realtor. At that point the price was at the top of our budget and we were hopeful, that in spite of the fact that this was a foreclosure, that it would be in good shape and not need a lot of work. As we drove up the long gravel driveway folllwing our realtor we looked over to the right and we were in awe as we looked up the hill and saw the house. We parked our cars on the concrete slab in front of the 2-door large garage and looked around. Trees were everywhere! The weather was warm that day and the sky was clear. My heart was singing.
We noticed landscaping railroad ties on the side of the garage, a wrap-around porch to the front door and a wonderful looking deck overlooking it all. Behind us was a old rundown shed that looked to be used as a chicken coop and a lean-to aluminum structure next to that. There was a large kids' clubhouse down the hill and no neighboring houses could be seen. Regardless that there were no leaves on the trees the property was breath-taking. We walked up to the house with with thoughts running through our minds. What is wrong with this house? Why is the price low? Though the price was at the top of our budget it was hard to understand why this house was listed as low as it was. With 16 acres and brick and cedar and a deck and first impression it had to be more. If my gut was right the inside was probably a mess. And if the inside needed a lot of work then there was no way we could have it because we couldn't afford the price & rehab and we would be disappointed. (side note....the house that we lost the year before was a mile from this one, larger in square footage, had out-buildings, and only 5 acres. It was priced $30k higher than this one.)
As we approached the house we observed wear and tear to the exterior. The cedar looked as though it had not been re-stained in years, there was a broken window, and the driveway was a wreck, but it was winter, and we were only shopping at the time. We walked around the porch to enter the front door and were immediately overwhelmed by the stench. Yuck, smoke, musty air, dust and dirty carpets.
But there in front of us was, what looked to be, a stone fountain (not functional) in the foyer.
We noticed landscaping railroad ties on the side of the garage, a wrap-around porch to the front door and a wonderful looking deck overlooking it all. Behind us was a old rundown shed that looked to be used as a chicken coop and a lean-to aluminum structure next to that. There was a large kids' clubhouse down the hill and no neighboring houses could be seen. Regardless that there were no leaves on the trees the property was breath-taking. We walked up to the house with with thoughts running through our minds. What is wrong with this house? Why is the price low? Though the price was at the top of our budget it was hard to understand why this house was listed as low as it was. With 16 acres and brick and cedar and a deck and first impression it had to be more. If my gut was right the inside was probably a mess. And if the inside needed a lot of work then there was no way we could have it because we couldn't afford the price & rehab and we would be disappointed. (side note....the house that we lost the year before was a mile from this one, larger in square footage, had out-buildings, and only 5 acres. It was priced $30k higher than this one.)
But there in front of us was, what looked to be, a stone fountain (not functional) in the foyer.
We looked to the right and were immediately struck by the wood details in a very large room with huge windows and a double door that exited to the deck. Unfortunately we had to keep out shoes on because the carpet in that room was black with dirt and stains.
 |
| At one point these carpets were white but years of use and shoes left on turned it grey and black. :( |
As we walked through that room we saw a beautiful fireplace
with brick and custom made doors and you had to step down to enter and the walls were stained yellow with smoke and handprints, one of the windows was broken and missing a pane, and the fireplace was cracked and had a leak from the roof which dripped down the wood and the tannins from the wood started staining the beautiful brick.....
We walked through the opening on the right of the fireplace and entered the dining area with ceramic tile floors and a sky-light! It too had picture windows that overlooked a very dilapidated iced-over swimming pool. |
| This is the screened porch. Most of the screen was full of holes and the railing missing in some areas. |
There was a sliding glass door to the outside screened in porch that was full of old wasp nest and holes in the screens. It was missing railing and had a door to the deck hanging on one hinge. But, in spite of all the disrepair it was beautiful! On the back side of the fireplace and fountain was an empty space where it looked like a wood-burning stove once stood.
Standing in the kitchen looking over where we just came from was bright with sun light and in spite of the smells and dirt I was loving it. 
As I turned from this view and looked into the kitchen I observed the unique cabinets. They were knotty and grainy but beautiful, except for the wooden knobs. The countertops were granite (I never had granite countertops) and there was a brick feature where the old double oven stood. The kitchen sink had another picture window above it with a small area to put my herbs that over-looked the back woods and lazy-susan cabinets in every corner. And up in ceiling near the sky-light was a gaping black hole that had clearly been there for years. What does that
The refrigerator was missing and the existing appliances were very old and rusty but otherwise a lovely kitchen with under cabinet lighting, a great walk-in pantry and an island with a breakfast bar!
Irrespective of the dirty bricks stained by smoke from food burning in the over or the rotten wood under the sink with mouse poo everywhere or the spaghetti noodles remnants on the ceiling by the cooktop or the cooktop....wait, the cooktop is in a hole in the wall, literally, and the top of that hole is 58' from the floor lined with brick and....wait....I'm 5'9 1/2". Yes I had to check. I moved in to pretend I was cooking over that cooktop. BAM! I bumped my head on that brick. Well, that won't work!!......let's move on. Because, honestly, at this point....Oh! At this point I'm in love. What's next?
We leave the kitchen after looking in the pantry and there it is! With double glass doors, my future office with ANOTHER picture window overlooking the front yard and porch and a mantle and a closet! (and more dirty carpet and smelly walls)
We head down the hallway toward the garage. There is it. Another "must-have". A mudroom/laundry room with an exit to the outside and outside there is a clothesline!!! Yippee. There was also a laundry shoot and a large storage nook behind the wall of the future washer and dryer. There were cabinets in this mudroom and a double work sink!Next to that was a powder room with medicine cabinet and window and granite countertop.
The door on the left side -> leads to the garage. I'll talk about that later.
So far, so good! Next I'll talk about the upstairs.
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