Decisions, Decisions

Ok, folks we are down to 2 houses again! The Jefferson Historic home is out of the picture, thanks largely to the scope of work that would need to be done ASAP to get the bank to sign off. So our choices now are between the early Bungalow on Adams and the folk Victorian on Orchard, and let me tell you, this will be a close race. Both homes have so much potential, I am surprised we didn't look at them before now! Of course, we have been concentrating on other areas and more square footage. But we're wiser now, I swear!

The Orchard house is about 1680 square feet, has a .15 acre lot, and is in between Jefferson and Eccles Historic Districts. Houses all around are gorgeous and the neighborhood looks decent and well-kept. I did notice a non-conforming duplex for sale across the street, not sure what to think about that. Plus there is no basement, just crawlspace (house is from 1878 so probably typical), and the kitchen is a wee bit tight. I think it has gas heat, and although the windows are not terrible they do have aluminum frames. Bit of a disappointment as I was hoping for originals, there's no FP but all the original woodwork seems to be intact. Has 4 bedrooms and 2 large bathrooms, plus what appears to be a laundry porch and upstairs 2nd kitchen. Was probably a duplex itself at one point. There is one room where the new linoleum floor seems to be alarmingly off, diagonal to the baseboard trim, but I don't know if this is subsidance or just really bad floor leveling.

The Adams house is 1586 square feet on the first floor, plus an additional 370 square feet in the walkout basement. Not sure if more room is available down there, but the roof looks decently high for a half-story addition if we add 2 dormers on the back. I'll have to get up in the attic and look at the truss system. It has a .20 acre lot and is close to the Jefferson Historic District, and to Washington Blvd, the main drag. The house was being rented but is currently vacant, neighborhood around looks very similar to Orchard's, with big & beautiful old houses around it. I didn't see anything for sale in its immediate vicinity, but there are a handful of houses on Adams farther down for sale. The majority of the house looks to be original to its 1899 build, with the exceptions of the kitchen, bath and flooring (I suspect it's wood still underneath). All the windows are intact with 3 or 4 over 1s and stained glass details (yay!). Original hot water radiators in all but the front sunroom, and great FP with original tile hearth, no bookcases though. Kitchen is very large, probably used to have a eating nook. Exterior brick has been painted red, would probably be a headache to strip. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, plus 2 sunrooms, and the laundry/storage downstairs. Didn't see any significant problems, mostly just looks like it needs a good cleaning and some interior decor. We would really love it if the roofline could accomodate another bedroom and bath, that would make a wonderful master suite, plus with this house we'd have a much larger budget to remodel/restore.

So that's the rundown, and I'll post again with NUMEROUS pics of both to look at before deciding. Please, friends, send in your votes and make our job easier!

Zoo And D.C. Voyeurism

We took a day trip down to our nation's capital this past weekend and let the boys run around the Smithsonian's National Zoo.

Lots of fun until the crowds and 80+ heat arrived. Then we hightailed it to the nearest Safeway for picnic lunch supplies, which we noshed on in the Takoma Park Historic District.

I especially wanted to see their bungalows after reading Bungalow Nation. I did take a few pics of nice ones, on the whole I'd have to say it was pretty disappointing driving around the area. Not that many of the houses looked cared for, or even historically accurate. Afterwards it was off to Herndon, VA for the real reason we went on our trip. A 1910 solid brass full-size bed for our lucky 5-year-old! Still needs some cleaning, but overall gorgeous and HUGE. The headboard is about 5'2", and the footboard 3'4". I'll post some before and after pics once I get it polished. We loaded it up onto our roof rack, strapped it down with rubber bungees, and headed off for home. Where we happily collapsed.

It's exhausting having fun!