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!

Possible Face Lift, House Colors

This is one version of what our house may look like after some new paint, decorative framework, and new transoms. The upstairs window would be recessed to the master bedroom so that we could screen in a private sleeping porch in the front gable. I'm not sure what exactly we'll end up doing with the transoms, maybe stained glass or leaded mullions. Have to take a look around the area to see what was appropriate at the time our house was built. S.L.C. has loads of restored homes in their downtown, hopefully some of them are from the same time frame. Keep in mind that the wooden baluster fence around the entire yard will be the light green color of the framework and trim.

More Pictures #1

There's probably going to be a lot of waiting for the next few weeks, what with the short sale and all. So in lieu of elevator music, here are more pictures of the house. I'll do these in installments to keep things going. I may also post some rough plans, and more color pics. Our interior choices for most of the house are pretty solid now. Enjoy!

This is upper bedroom No. 1. Note the lovely peach color and unfinished closets. We'll probably turn this into the master bedroom, with some tweaking.

The upstairs bathroom screams 80's, but at least it's a good size for a future master bath.

the No. 2 bedroom, in the front gable, has the weirdest paint scheme b/c of the color switches. Ideally, we'll be turning this into a sleeping porch and screening it in. Then we can re-use the gorgeous window on our master bedroom.

The loft area is currently a kitchenette, all that's going bye-bye. Not sure yet what to do about the furnace chimney enclosure, this area is kind of open for ideas.
The loft dormer overlooks the rear yard, and I can't think of a better place for a deep windowseat. I might add some built-in shelves as well. Looks like the perfect place to curl up with a good book.