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| Some painter's tape, fire brick caulk, locks, and a furnace filter. |
Friday, May 31, 2013
Kitchen time.
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| And so it begins |
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| Found these behind some cupboards |
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| Amber's first house project...ever. |
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| Wall paper backsplash gone. |
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| Time to take down that dropped ceiling |
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| The nook is already looking better. |
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| A little water damage from the bathroom up above |
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| More water damage |
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| Paint color under the paneling, not the original, but the second color, probably from the 1940s. |
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| Ceiling down |
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| Must be where the original phone was. You can see the original salmon color from the 1920s. |
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| Second little surprise. Dropped drywall ceiling at side entry. |
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| The liquid nails used for the paneling was a pain, but it came off easy once I had a sharp scraper. |
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| Nice little present behind the fridge. |
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| More of the water damage. |
Let's rock?
First order of business...get this record player working? One of two things we asked for with the house, a really ugly 1960's couch and an early 1980s generic record console, 8 track and all. I don't think the player itself had ever been used, only the radio. A little dusting, some turbine oil, and elbow grease it's as good as new. Lucky for me I was able to find a copy of "Strange Negotiations" by David Bazan that was not packed away with everything else.
Monday, May 20, 2013
The befores
Here is the original listing for the house along with the photos. These will be some good before photos.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2219-Maryland-Ave-Superior-WI-54880/79391625_zpid/
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2219-Maryland-Ave-Superior-WI-54880/79391625_zpid/
For the love of a foursquare
First off, introductions. We're Matt and Amber, we've been together since our late teens/early twenties, so about 14 years now, and we're just about to celebrate 7 years of marriage. We first met at a place called The Crack House, it wasn't a real crack house mind you, but a terribly maintained Sears foursquare rental with 6 people living in it, me being one of them. It was your typical college house, it had a party attic, a living room that doubled as a bedroom, and a front porch covered with cigarette butts. It wasn't pretty, but having lived there for a summer I fell in love with it. The early memories of our relationship revolved heavily around that house, we both loved that place for the memories alone. This is where our love for the American foursquare is rooted.
In June of 2012, after years of renting, we decided to start looking for our first home. We went through the process, found a great realtor, someone who understood that we wanted a house that exuded character. It didn't have to be in the best of shape, but as long as it was a classic, we didn't care. Our price range was pretty low, $50,000 - $80,000, so we knew going in that there would be work to be done.
The first of the houses was a small foursquare, corner lot, just off of a big city park. From the outside it looked well maintained, the walk through was good, it was our first, so we had nothing to compare it to, but then we got to the basement. It was a disaster, we knew right away that the kind of work this house needed was a little beyond our means.
The second house was the craftsman, this was #1 on our list, we had basically made up our mind that this was going to be our house. Upon arrival we noticed that the house hadn't been very well maintained, peeling paint, porch falling apart, but nothing too bad, then we walked in the front door. The current owners had taken down much of the original lathe and plaster, leaving bare studs and exposed wires. Again, nothing that couldn't be fixed, but odd. Then we notice the elephant in the room, a ill placed gas fireplace in the middle of the main room, not along a wall, but smack dab in great room. They took out original built-ins and moldings to make it fit, it looked like they just settled for the worst spot in the house for a fireplace. Again, we could take that out, redo the woodwork, a lot of work, but not too bad. Then we got upstairs, and with our realtor's keen eye, noticed knob and tube wiring with celulose insulation in the walls, now this was a big problem and a deal breaker. Our hopes for the house were quickly dashed by the fear of a house fire, and the shear idiocy of the current owners and their lack of vision and safety when it came to the care of this house.
The third house that day was another foursquare, this one being much grander than the first. It had a larger footprint, oak flooring and built ins rather than maple, a fireplace, and walk up attic. Lots of things we didn't think we wanted, but having seen those details, now we wanted them. The house had the same owner for 60 years, the same carpet for at least 40, and the same furnace for 70, it needed work, but it was beautiful. We did the walk through, saw its potential, then we got to the basement, where upon inspection noticed the north walls were heaving in a good foot or two at the base. This was a concern, but our realtor assured us it was something we could get taken care of when we purchased the house. We decided it was more trouble than it was worth.
So that was our first day looking at houses, it was exciting/disappointing. It began what would be a 4 month process of looking at an average of 4 houses a week, usually crammed into one day, and more often than not skipping over houses because we were running late. In the end we moved our price range up from $60,000 - $80.000 to $80,000 - $110,000. This helped our chances of finding a home that best suited us, as well as opened us up to neighborhoods that we hadn't previously thought about.
Our final decision. We were getting desperate, none of the houses we had looked at in the previous four months really spoke to us, either they had way too many problems, or they were just a bit out of our price range. Winter was just around the corner, we had to find something soon. This brings us to what would turn out to be the last day we'd look at houses. Not having seen anything we really loved, we decided to cram 8 houses into one day. Having so many to look at we knew we had to be quick, so time was not really on our side.
The first three houses went pretty quick, we either noticed water damage, crumbling walls, all the signs of bad things to come. Then we looked at a house just across the street from the local college. It was in a cute neighborhood, had a great feel, heck it even had a breakfast nook. This, out of all the houses we looked at in the past 4 months, became our #1.
Then off to the next place, again we walked in, loved it right off the bat, then saw what they were asking for it, way out of our price range, so that was a no go. As we were walking out the back door our realtor showed us the next house we'd be viewing, we had driven by this house a couple times, Amber didn't like it from the outside, but I thought it was too cute not to look at. So after a little back and forth, deciding if it was worth our time to take a look, we headed out to the neighborhood of Billings Park.
Like I said, we were on a time crunch, we had two more houses to look at after this one, but only an hour to get to all of them, so we had to do a really quick walk through. We walked up to a big white foursquare on a quiet corner in Billings Park, an area in Superior I never thought I would live in, being that all the "rich kids" came from the park. We walked in the place, everything was covered in 1960s wood paneling, stained tan carpeting, and that distinct smell of grandma. We only had a couple of minutes, so I quickly ran upstairs, noticing right away that the stairs didn't squeak as I hurried up them, for some reason that stuck in my brain. Then down to the basement, I wanted to check and see if there were any cracks or leaks, unfortunately I couldn't find the light switch, so I just ran my hand around the perimeter, not feeling much of anything, just cold basement walls and a lady's shower cap. Walked outside to see a cute playhouse, it looked like it had been there for 40 years or so, plus it had a doggy door, just perfect for our 8 year old border collie Bart. We liked this house, it had nearly the same layout as the one we looked at by the college earlier in the day, it even had a fireplace. It needed a lot of updates, but it had all the hard stuff already done, new roof, newer windows, and the furnace was only 6 years old. It was a solid house.
Our final house of the day. This house we had already looked at a few weeks earlier, but during the walkthrough, what we thought was a renter, sat on the couch while his dog barked at us. We liked the house, but didn't feel very comfortable the first time looking at it, so we asked the listing agent to make sure it was empty when we looked at it this time. After a bit of an issue with the keys we finally got it. It was a grand house, a foyer with high ceiling, grand entrances to all the rooms, even a bar in the basement, it needed a little work, but not a ton. I think the hardest thing was going to get the cat pee smell out of basement. I could see myself living in the house, plus it was in the neighborhood I grew up in, just a couple blocks from Hammond Park.
So in our final day we saw three houses we were happy with. We had dinner to discuss our options and quickly realized we'd be happy with any three of them, Amber having the house in Billings Park as her first, and me the one in my old neighborhood, and the one by the college being a very close third for both of us. We went back and forth, talking about what was good and bad about each one. By the end of dinner our favorites had swapped, me loving the Billings Park house and Amber loving the grander one in my old neighborhood. By the next morning our favorites had switched again. So we called our realtor, asked her if she'd take a look at all three, give us the run down of what she thought. We wanted which ever house was the best deal, not necessarily the cheapest, but the most bang for our buck. She got back to us the next day, she liked the one in Billings Park the best. It had new windows, new roof, and a newer furnace, and being conservative about it we came up with a cost of $25,000 in repairs in just the last 6 years, and not small repairs, updates that were going to last at least 25 years or so. So Billing Park it was, and the best part, it was a foursquare!!!
Fast forward a month later, we negotiated a price, had an inspection, did the final walk through, even met the children of the lady who had previously owned it. They greeted us with hugs and I think a few tears the morning of the walk through, one even saying how happy she was that we were a young couple wanting to start a family. They were a great family, we felt an instant connection with them, even inviting them to stop by anytime they were in the neighborhood. Unfortunately they all live far out of town, Washington, Iowa, and Massachusetts, while the house is in northern Wisconsin, so we haven't seen them since the closing, but hope to show them that we've started making new memories in their homestead.
So that's the introduction to us and our home. We will be updating this blog as we do things around the house, fixing things up, finding whatever in the walls, all the quirks that make this house so special. We love our home and it's only been a couple months. We never thought we could fall in love with a structure, but we have. We even find ourselves wondering if the house likes what we're doing to it, does it like the new color in the kitchen, what about the dropped ceiling, will it like that it will be gone soon, will the house be able to breathe better? Lots of weird things you think about when you buy an old home and fall head over heals in love with it.
So this is our journey. Stay tuned and enjoy.
Matt and Amber
In June of 2012, after years of renting, we decided to start looking for our first home. We went through the process, found a great realtor, someone who understood that we wanted a house that exuded character. It didn't have to be in the best of shape, but as long as it was a classic, we didn't care. Our price range was pretty low, $50,000 - $80,000, so we knew going in that there would be work to be done.
The first of the houses was a small foursquare, corner lot, just off of a big city park. From the outside it looked well maintained, the walk through was good, it was our first, so we had nothing to compare it to, but then we got to the basement. It was a disaster, we knew right away that the kind of work this house needed was a little beyond our means.
The second house was the craftsman, this was #1 on our list, we had basically made up our mind that this was going to be our house. Upon arrival we noticed that the house hadn't been very well maintained, peeling paint, porch falling apart, but nothing too bad, then we walked in the front door. The current owners had taken down much of the original lathe and plaster, leaving bare studs and exposed wires. Again, nothing that couldn't be fixed, but odd. Then we notice the elephant in the room, a ill placed gas fireplace in the middle of the main room, not along a wall, but smack dab in great room. They took out original built-ins and moldings to make it fit, it looked like they just settled for the worst spot in the house for a fireplace. Again, we could take that out, redo the woodwork, a lot of work, but not too bad. Then we got upstairs, and with our realtor's keen eye, noticed knob and tube wiring with celulose insulation in the walls, now this was a big problem and a deal breaker. Our hopes for the house were quickly dashed by the fear of a house fire, and the shear idiocy of the current owners and their lack of vision and safety when it came to the care of this house.
The third house that day was another foursquare, this one being much grander than the first. It had a larger footprint, oak flooring and built ins rather than maple, a fireplace, and walk up attic. Lots of things we didn't think we wanted, but having seen those details, now we wanted them. The house had the same owner for 60 years, the same carpet for at least 40, and the same furnace for 70, it needed work, but it was beautiful. We did the walk through, saw its potential, then we got to the basement, where upon inspection noticed the north walls were heaving in a good foot or two at the base. This was a concern, but our realtor assured us it was something we could get taken care of when we purchased the house. We decided it was more trouble than it was worth.
So that was our first day looking at houses, it was exciting/disappointing. It began what would be a 4 month process of looking at an average of 4 houses a week, usually crammed into one day, and more often than not skipping over houses because we were running late. In the end we moved our price range up from $60,000 - $80.000 to $80,000 - $110,000. This helped our chances of finding a home that best suited us, as well as opened us up to neighborhoods that we hadn't previously thought about.
Our final decision. We were getting desperate, none of the houses we had looked at in the previous four months really spoke to us, either they had way too many problems, or they were just a bit out of our price range. Winter was just around the corner, we had to find something soon. This brings us to what would turn out to be the last day we'd look at houses. Not having seen anything we really loved, we decided to cram 8 houses into one day. Having so many to look at we knew we had to be quick, so time was not really on our side.
The first three houses went pretty quick, we either noticed water damage, crumbling walls, all the signs of bad things to come. Then we looked at a house just across the street from the local college. It was in a cute neighborhood, had a great feel, heck it even had a breakfast nook. This, out of all the houses we looked at in the past 4 months, became our #1.
Then off to the next place, again we walked in, loved it right off the bat, then saw what they were asking for it, way out of our price range, so that was a no go. As we were walking out the back door our realtor showed us the next house we'd be viewing, we had driven by this house a couple times, Amber didn't like it from the outside, but I thought it was too cute not to look at. So after a little back and forth, deciding if it was worth our time to take a look, we headed out to the neighborhood of Billings Park.
Like I said, we were on a time crunch, we had two more houses to look at after this one, but only an hour to get to all of them, so we had to do a really quick walk through. We walked up to a big white foursquare on a quiet corner in Billings Park, an area in Superior I never thought I would live in, being that all the "rich kids" came from the park. We walked in the place, everything was covered in 1960s wood paneling, stained tan carpeting, and that distinct smell of grandma. We only had a couple of minutes, so I quickly ran upstairs, noticing right away that the stairs didn't squeak as I hurried up them, for some reason that stuck in my brain. Then down to the basement, I wanted to check and see if there were any cracks or leaks, unfortunately I couldn't find the light switch, so I just ran my hand around the perimeter, not feeling much of anything, just cold basement walls and a lady's shower cap. Walked outside to see a cute playhouse, it looked like it had been there for 40 years or so, plus it had a doggy door, just perfect for our 8 year old border collie Bart. We liked this house, it had nearly the same layout as the one we looked at by the college earlier in the day, it even had a fireplace. It needed a lot of updates, but it had all the hard stuff already done, new roof, newer windows, and the furnace was only 6 years old. It was a solid house.
Our final house of the day. This house we had already looked at a few weeks earlier, but during the walkthrough, what we thought was a renter, sat on the couch while his dog barked at us. We liked the house, but didn't feel very comfortable the first time looking at it, so we asked the listing agent to make sure it was empty when we looked at it this time. After a bit of an issue with the keys we finally got it. It was a grand house, a foyer with high ceiling, grand entrances to all the rooms, even a bar in the basement, it needed a little work, but not a ton. I think the hardest thing was going to get the cat pee smell out of basement. I could see myself living in the house, plus it was in the neighborhood I grew up in, just a couple blocks from Hammond Park.
So in our final day we saw three houses we were happy with. We had dinner to discuss our options and quickly realized we'd be happy with any three of them, Amber having the house in Billings Park as her first, and me the one in my old neighborhood, and the one by the college being a very close third for both of us. We went back and forth, talking about what was good and bad about each one. By the end of dinner our favorites had swapped, me loving the Billings Park house and Amber loving the grander one in my old neighborhood. By the next morning our favorites had switched again. So we called our realtor, asked her if she'd take a look at all three, give us the run down of what she thought. We wanted which ever house was the best deal, not necessarily the cheapest, but the most bang for our buck. She got back to us the next day, she liked the one in Billings Park the best. It had new windows, new roof, and a newer furnace, and being conservative about it we came up with a cost of $25,000 in repairs in just the last 6 years, and not small repairs, updates that were going to last at least 25 years or so. So Billing Park it was, and the best part, it was a foursquare!!!
Fast forward a month later, we negotiated a price, had an inspection, did the final walk through, even met the children of the lady who had previously owned it. They greeted us with hugs and I think a few tears the morning of the walk through, one even saying how happy she was that we were a young couple wanting to start a family. They were a great family, we felt an instant connection with them, even inviting them to stop by anytime they were in the neighborhood. Unfortunately they all live far out of town, Washington, Iowa, and Massachusetts, while the house is in northern Wisconsin, so we haven't seen them since the closing, but hope to show them that we've started making new memories in their homestead.
So that's the introduction to us and our home. We will be updating this blog as we do things around the house, fixing things up, finding whatever in the walls, all the quirks that make this house so special. We love our home and it's only been a couple months. We never thought we could fall in love with a structure, but we have. We even find ourselves wondering if the house likes what we're doing to it, does it like the new color in the kitchen, what about the dropped ceiling, will it like that it will be gone soon, will the house be able to breathe better? Lots of weird things you think about when you buy an old home and fall head over heals in love with it.
So this is our journey. Stay tuned and enjoy.
Matt and Amber
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