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Sunday, November 08, 2009

Forever House?

I finally got a phone that takes decent pictures (and video) but do you think I have the presence of mind to actually whip it out if something noteworthy occurs? And when I eventually remember I have it, I'm always worried somebody is going to mentally or verbally accuse me of being some kind of stalker, thus no photos yesterday of Asha and Lulu frolicking with Oliver, Finn, and Marley.

Since I started this blog, we've lived in the following places:

Stirling Road House (Florida)
The Island (Florida)
The Stilt House (Florida)
The Green House (Florida)
Port Douglas (Australia)
Carr Road (Australia)
Mt. Perseverance (Australia)
Yalkula Station (Australia)
Mt. Perseverance - again
The Green House - again

There were even several other properties we got involved in as we searched for what Dy calls her Forever Home, but this time we might actually have found ours...

It's not really big enough, but who needs all that stuff anyway? And it's old and needs work, but it's got a little history and character and we're contractors. Best of all, it's one-story so I will still be able to shuffle around when I'm old and feeble, because after this I am NOT MOVING AGAIN.

The deal came together pretty easily with some creative financing from the owner. We were able to additionally secure the vacant double lot behind the house, with owner financing from a separate seller, which was the key to the deal since the house sits on a tiny lot. The house's seller also owns the twin house next door and is eager to make a deal with us on that one. It's a huge stretch, but maybe we'll end up with the nice little family compound I'd always hoped to have...

I did remember to take some pictures of the property and plan to document the renovation as it goes. For starters, here are some views of the exterior and the "Before" pictures of the main interior rooms:

The house was built by the railroad company for employees; the historical society says prior to 1910, but the style is more 30s Florida Mediterranean. The courthouse burned down in 1910 and most property records were destroyed so no one knows for sure. Many streets in the historic district are still the original brick...



The double rear lot. There used to be a house here but it was destroyed in Hurricane Charley. You can barely make out the house behind Jorge's truck. The red fence and house you can easily see on the right is the rear of the "twin" house...



West half of the front porch (11' ceilings and great light)...



Living room fireplace and bookshelves. Wood floor is in great shape and recently refinished The first big project is to remove the hideous dropped ceiling. The owner prior to our sellers also owned the local Irish pub. He apparently tried to give the house a little of that flavor when he added all the dark wood trim. This mantlepiece must go along with the trim around the doorway into the kitchen...





Window seat in the dining room...



The eat-in kitchen (which we won't be eating in -- we use our dining room table -- but will probably be adding an island of some sort.) The cabinets on the right side (in the second photo) continue up past the dropped ceiling and two other older and crummier ceilings all the way to the original plaster ceiling (another 2' or so)...





View of ye olde pub decor looking from the kitchen back toward the dining and living rooms. The vinyl floor has also got to go.



Now the fun begins. All door hardware has been changed out from super shiny fake brass to a more subdued satin nickel finish and last night Jorge began ripping out the ceilings :

First the living room...



...and then the dining room...



Stay tuned.

3 comments:

Meg_L said...

A Forever Home? I've never even considered it, but it certainly sounds like an interesting idea.

I love the new house and I envy your ability to fix it up yourselves.

la Maitresse said...

A fireplace? In Florida? Wow. Definitely. Yes. People forget that we do actually need heat in Florida sometimes!

I love it. Can't wait to see what it looks like after you've worked on it.

Carole said...

You had me at the front porch. Gotta get caught up with your blog!