Saying goodby to the garbage man and other stories.

I secretly hope you do it, but understand not.

I had been thinking of the pod thing.

On the thick surfaced walls, I wonder...
back in northern california, I had a bathroom that was covered with old redwood tongue and groove, which was laden with several coats of peeling paint. It stayed that way during my tenure, as I was fixing a lot of other stuff and that was essentially the laundry room. I think it was a cousin of mine who told me you can use a small sandblaster to clear all that off (yaaaack!, trying to picture doing that) - it being hard to get paint out of the bead lines with paint remover goop.

So, I'm thinking, would something like that work to tame the waves of the too too coated wall? Or, hmmm, a further smoother coat of plaster? (that sounds easier, if it would work).

I guess I don't understand the price creep up..... how that can happen.

Didn't you say somewhere that houses in your market sell in a matter of hours? You could probably corral the kids for that long.

Yes, the people across the street sold their house in two hours. The house on the corner sold in one day.

But they had everything out of it. We can't have everything out of ours if we're still living in it. We would need some kind of in between times storage solution. Those PODS might address that.

Osso, we had a wall like that in our kitchen. A total mess it was. That is why we now have "the monkey wall". I stretched fabric over the top half and put wainscotting over the bottom, added a chair rail and instant repair!

I've been looking up info on plastering and don't know whether I would be up for such a monumental task. Part of the problem right now, I think, is that they have it painted all high gloss white which really accentuates the plastering. Putting up a flat finish paint in a richer tone might help correct the problem visually without a lot of immediate reconstruction. I'm hoping anyway.

I'm not really sure how the creep happened either. When they accepted our offer and said they wanted to make a counter offer everyone was scratching their heads but apparently there is nothing that prevents them from doing so.

The house is owned by a family trust so they can be as weird as they want to be, it seems.

It looks like it's actually going to happen.

Mr. B called this morning to say we needed to be over there at 10 AM tomorrow morning. I thought he might want to look at some other houses so I looked on the RMLS and guess what -- there is not a single house for sale in that neighborhood for any price. Turns out we're just going to acquaint ourselves with the neighborhood a bit better to help Mo get used to it so we can have a little delay.

We're getting estimates on roofs and windows for both houses, hoping for a volume discount (and to squeeze every extra penny out of this house that we can). The house also needs a new furnace. Luckily we won't need that for many months.

Scary the amount of work it needs.

I wish the old windows in it were salvagable but they just really aren't. Sad.

I'm really nervous about it but also excited.

I am just catching up now with this thread, and it is delightful to hear
all the stories, and your great news, boomer. The house is fantastic,
I'd take it in a heartbeat - I love old houses! It has so much charm and
looks so inviting.

Now you get a chance to remodel the house just the way YOU like it,
how exciting!

And yes, it's always sad to say good bye to the old neighborhood, neighbors and friends, but you're still close enough to visit.

I've moved many times, one transatlantic, one cross country move
and numerous times within the city here. Everywhere I moved to I made
friends and kept them throughout the years, so I was always looking forward to a new neighborhood and new friends. For me, moving always has been a pleasant and successful change for the better.

I am looking forward to lots of progress reports, boomer.

That's a shame. I love old wood windows. If you can afford it, they make replacement wood windows that look really good. We had some put in our house in PA -- about $450 per window including installation. But they were so beautiful and well made. I think they were Pella. The cool thing about them is that they don't have to do a tear out. They make them to fit inside the frame of your existing windows. That was important to us because we didn't want to change the look of the house of the amount of light.

Also, I think it's reasonable to put the house up while you're in it. In fact, it could work out better. Get the POD, put all the excess stuff in there and any extra bits of furniture that might make the place look cramped, clean it up a bit, cut the grass, and go somewhere for a weekend while your realtor does an open house. I bet it will sell that weekend.

Mo is the one who is worried about making new friends and that just seems so funny because he makes friends really fast. I think the neighborhood kids have been planting ideas in his head.

I would love to do Pella windows. I'm afraid we just couldn't afford it. All the doors and windows have been painted shut from the inside and have some kind of putty/tar/something patching up the outside. And there are just so many windows -- huge windows. The living room alone has three doors and two door sized windows.

Well... I'll show you.... we spent the morning over there today so I took photos. I'll need to get them all transferred over blahblahblah so it could take a while.

Pictures!

<clapping>

(I think the worry about new friends is extremely common btw, no idea-planting by neighborhood kids necessary. It was huge for sozlet, though of course it's different that we moved so far away so visits were impossible rather than just inconvenient. She makes friends at the drop of a hat but she was still really concerned about that.)

Wondering if the windows are rotted, or fixable...

I love pictures.....

Okay! A partial tour:

This was taken directly in front of the house, standing in the middle of the street. Straight ahead where the car is going by is where the school is:



The courtyard:



The backyard:

That's not just a median - that's more like an esplanade!

Fabulous.

That backyard has serious potential ... room for a boy and his dog/s ...

So cool!

The living room, looking towards the backyard:



Looking towards the front yard:



Looking towards the dining room:



The master bedroom (nobody can quite figure out this little stage thing. We assume it was added to turn the windows into doors but there isn't anything but thin air on the other side. The stage is solid concrete. We will have to bring in a concrete saw to remove it.) There are identical door/windows on either side of the fireplace:



Another part of the master bedroom. The cove looks tiny but the apex is really about 7 feet high:



Mo's room, there is a little (what I think they call) a Juliet balcony on the other side of the door:




The stairway landing -- I really like all the windows here so I thought I would include it to conclude our tour:

I see what you are saying about the walls... All the walls are like this?

The yard is great! And the house has a nice "space" about it.

Looks like a nice place to live.

I like it a lot, boomer. The walls wouldn't bother me, but the carpet.
Hm, that little stage in front of the fireplace could be incorporated in
the decor (huge pots with plants).

The windows look nice from a distance, and the back yard does have
great potential. For starters, I'd put grass down and renew the fence.

What's the kitchen like?

I suggest you buy the property then burn the house to the ground because, rumour has it that, Gus is willing to part with his swamp shed he calls home. As it is only 8 x 12 feet it should be easy to move to the then vacant lot you will have.
Just trying to help, The Dys.

The walls aren't as bad as I'd remembered them. The heavy texture plaster is over the fireplaces, all over the master bedroom and in the stairwell and upper hall. The rest of the walls, while not smooth, are more traditional plaster texture.

I really think muting down the high gloss white and bringing out the trim by painting or stripping will go a long way to improve the overall look of the house.

I have a feeling the fireplaces have been diminished. The chimney is massive. I think perhaps they have reduced the size and plastered over the original. It isn't that hard to add some type of cover over the mantle area though since it doesn't have to be the same as the walls.

The original hardwoods under the carpet are in really good shape (and Mr. B knows hardwoods) so the carpet will be the first thing to go. They would be gone by the time we move in.

The windows do look good from a distance but they're not. We're kind of keen on energy efficency and these, even restored, are money to the wind. Like I said, sad.

The house needs a lot of work. Both structural and cosmetic. The kitchen is a disaster. Really. I'm trying to convince Mr. B that the best bet is to knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room to make an eat-in kitchen and forget about having a formal dining room.

The stage... I just don't know about the stage. It is the strangest thing I've ever seen. Concrete saw sounds good to me.

Although the house is a "steal" it is still quite expensive and we will have to priortize a lot of the work that needs to be done. It has a lot of potential and I have a good imagination (and a few good connections in the building trades).