First Glances, First Impressions

Hello Cosmos!

I am going to take you on a trip through the long renovation process of my home on Adams street!

Each post I will try and use documentation and my thought process to show you through the many milestones we achieve. Please comment with suggestions, ideas and LOTS OF COMPLIMENTS. :-)

To preface my entries, this was my checklist for must haves when searching for and purchasing a home. In hind sight, this was one of the most important things I have done. I looked at so many beautiful homes that could have been "perfect" but without this list always the back of my mind I could have made a mistake simply by being too impulsive. 

1. Older home LOTS of character- Craftsmen bungalow- Fixer Upper

2. At least 2 bedrooms (3 is best- or large work space)

3. Off street parking- Garage or some form of workshop for my tools 

4. Back yard

Happy reading! 

This is my home! I took this photo the day we went to tour the house. Homes in the neighborhood I was looking in FLEW off the market with in hours. This home was for sale by owner, so the process of touring the home and making an offer was different than  I had expected. The day the home went on the market my Mother, Realtor Dale and myself went to tour it. When Dale had scheduled the tour he asked the owner Leslie what her favorite thing was about the house. She said, "Definitely all the original wood work." My eyes lit up, LETS DO IT! 

LEFT: This is the first thing I saw when I entered the house  A door, no big deal right? This door is the original front door to the home. From 1925. It is amazing, solid hardwood (probably oak.) It has the original door hardware and skeleton key plate, beautiful condition. 

RIGHT: Layout of the house so you can follow along the tour.

This is a view through the living room of the dining room. Decor and finishes were pretty outdated, but visually the home was is good condition. First thing I did notice was the beautiful wood molding and window seat to the right. For some strange reason though, the ceilings were VERY short... they must have been lowered... also... cat smell... lots of cat smell... 

Better view of the beautiful window seat.

Here is the reverse view back to the front door, this is the living room. The two rooms are separated by beautiful original built in Pony walls. See how short the ceilings are? Look above the front door. that is a 7.5' door... yikes... 

This is the kitchen. These are the only photos I took from the doorway. Very outdated but for a bungalow this kitchen is enormous! 2 nice windows and a back door in the rear that leads to a sun porch and entry to the basement. 

 LEFT: Here is a shot of the main hallway that connects all the bedrooms and bathroom. 
RIGHT: This is the front bedroom this was all I documented here... there were lots of litter boxes and cat toys in this room... BUT WAIT... these floors are hardwood? 

LEFT: Middle 2nd bedroom large bank of windows in the middle it had very nice light. More hardwood floors! 
RIGHT: The only bathroom in the whole house... this made me go back to my MUST HAVE list. No where did I say I had to have 2 bathrooms... After seeing how small this bathroom is, maybe I should rethink that... 

Back 3rd bedroom pretty bland but a nice size 2 big windows. More hardwood floors. I am seeing a trend here. By this bedroom I asked Leslie about the floors and she says that there are hardwood floors throughout but she had the whole thing carpeted many years ago. Hardwood floors? BINGO.

This is my favorite part of the house, huge 2 car garage and driveway. There is a decent sized backyard to the right of the garage and a large back deck that was built that summer. You can also see on the foundation of the house huge basement windows! The basement has a laundry area and 2 old coal shoot rooms that were used before the furnace was installed. Through the dining room, there is a full staircase that leads up to an enormous attic space, huge vaulted ceilings that run the length of the house. 

As we were touring the home 2 more potential buyers came through and were chatting Leslie up about the property. Dale, Mom and I said our goodbyes and went to a coffee shop down the street to discuss the home. I told them all my wants and needs were met, the location was perfect, and I loved all the historical charm of the house. Besides cosmetic choices and the unfortunate cat smell, I loved the home. After only my Mom, Dale and I seeing the home plus the fact we were the first ones to tour plus the fact it had come on the market that day,  I decided to make an aggressive offer. My boyfriend Chris (Who will be living there and renovating with me) had only got to see the home through cellphone photos, panicking I called him for advice. Chris told me if I loved it, and it met all our needs to stop being scared and DO IT! 

2 days later, my offer was accepted and I was on the road to owning the Adams home.  

Thanks for taking a tour with me and joining me on this adventure. More posts to come!