red fin lust

It all started one day in October of 2010, that my boyfriend and I started lusting for a house.  Me for projects to work on, and he to shut me up about projects to work on.  We started looking at duplexes with some friends of ours but those plans fell through (quite literally, the duplex we bid on was about to fall straight through the foundation and in shaky earthquake prone Seattle that is just not acceptable).

We put the search off for a few weeks while we enjoyed the Christmas holidays and Snowboarding up near Stephen's pass, and start fresh in January.  We dabbled until then going to a few open houses and thinking about what we wanted out of a house and settled on a few criteria: enough space for ourselves and a kid, something that needed just a little TLC, enough yard to have a small 'urban farm' and something that just felt good, in terms of a community.  We looked in the outlaying downtown Seattle areas of the Central District, Capitol Hill, Madison Park, Ballard, Greenwood, Ravenna and for some reason saved Beacon Hill for last. Neither of us really new much about Beacon Hill but what we soon found and would continue to find was pretty great.

Didn't take long for our obsession to grab hold on a house. We first saw the house on Red Fin on Jan 1st, drove by it Jan 2nd, made an offer on it Jan 3rd, and had an accepted offer by Jan 7th!  It was a whirlwind of days.  We had been looking at small craftsman homes mostly, and then we stumbled on this rambling beauty.  I grew up in a brick ranch style home in Virginia and remembered how great it was to live in.  The outside sold us and the inside pretty much sealed the deal, although whomever staged the house for sell lacked a touch of appropriateness for the house, (but I guess it did work!).

the living room! great start to our house tour, but the hydrangeas seem a bit out of place, ha. 

We closed on the house by the 7th of February and had a few back breaking days of moving, but luckily we had some great movers that we use to move fine furniture at work( more on my work another day).

The future "Rec Room".  I immediately wanted to paint that fireplace white and make it look like a Kelly Wearstler take on the Viceroy or Jonathan Adler's Parker Hotel (see below)

viceroy, palm springs

parker, palm springs. God I love this eclecticism. You have to check out his book

                              

eclectic spaces design

  

This shot above I originally saw in one of the very first Domino Magazines and I always have gone back to this shot in my head over and over! Also, since I am a first time blogger and no nothing about web-design, I do not know how to make this one picture line up with the rest.  This will bug me to no end, but I will just let this one be floating over to the left until I have time to go back and fix it! Ha.

The kitchen on the otherhand, was not very mid-century at all.  Looks like the last owner ripped the old kitchen out (I wonder if it was really cool?) and put in a brand new Ikea kitchen.  Good thing is, this is exactly the working kitchen I would have put in!  Bad thing is, this is exactly the wrong look for all of the finishings for the house and for the look I want!  I couldn't stand the very dreary Seattle colors chosen.

View from the dining room.  Awesome layout to cook!

Oh yeah! A bar, and my own built in "appliance garage" to the left.  The perfect place to put everything a kitchen needs but out of sight!  I really have to change these $10 hardware store lights.  They look like gigantic marblized breasts from a Greek ruin.

Alas, there are some details that are original left to build on.  In the dining room pic above you will see a bamboo curtain in a fir lined box on the ceiling.  Imagine the olden days when the ladies would be retired to the living room fireplace for cocktails and ciggies and the men would smoke their stogies in the dining room while trading war stories or playing cards. Hmmmm, very Mad Men indeed. Also left behind was this....................

the green and pink lady lav. 

This bathroom is pristine! The tiles are beautifully laid, they are straight, the grout is clean white, it smells like fresh bleach.........ahhh.  Really awesome.  The wood work needs a fresh coat of oil or something, and the vanity lights need a redo, but this bathroom is Gorgina(sorry, this is a word picked up from my old boss meaning 'feminine beauty').  I wish it was a big wider so two people could easily navigate, but one plus is that the hand rails are already up for when we are old and gray and I need a nice Epsom Salt Bath!

Master Bedroom.  This is the biggest bedroom I have ever had in my life!  I feel like a grown-up finally.  The other two bedrooms are a little smaller, but they are perfect.  One will be the guest room and the other is perfect for the future bambino.  Not sure if I should paint the room blue or pink yet, so neutral white will have to do.

Last but not least, one of the old other qualifications on the list not addressed yet.  Urban Garden. Here is the Garden of Eden,.......not!

Side yard acting like a back yard.  Pavement is not my first choice for a garden, but there is always dirt underneath or clever solutions above.  Lots of work ahead in order to have any chickens in this space!

So I didn't plan on having a cracked concrete yard.  Not even good enough for a basketball court for a game of horse! I already have plans on this little space.  Gotta love the starburst cement blocks.  If anything about this yard screams mid-century it is this super fence!  I hope I can borrow a cup of sugar from the neighbors over this fence.  Right now, the wall is a bit mossy and aged, but I think a good power washing will clean that right up, or maybe one day a coat of white paint to go a bit more glam Palm Springs.  Hmmmmm.  Time will tell and suggestions are always appreciated.