Drum Roll, Please
I think I’m ready for the drum sander tomorrow. I’ve never used one before so, this should be fun. I spent most of the day cleaning up around the house. It really needed a good reaming. It is a bad habit of mine to not clean up after a job. The house is so big I can just move to a new room rather than clean the one I was working in. It is kind of like selling a car when the ash tray is full. Well, I officially ran out of rooms to work in, so it was time to clean. This was not a real cleaning, but more of just Pick-up-tools-and-sweep-up-sawdust sort of cleaning.
I went to an open house today. It was listed as a 1900 Victorian, but it was obviously older. I would guess 1870s. It was about 8 blocks from my house. It was a gut remodel but they did a pretty good job. Some of them are really poorly done. Just slap it together and sell it. They put in real wood floors and had high end appliances. It looked nice.
Also today, I found some cabinet doors for the yet to be built cabinets, that will go over the yet to be built counter, that will sit on top of the yet to be built cabinets that will house the sink and dishwasher. These are two cabinet doors that measure 23X46 inches. They each have 2 raised panels that are similr to the dumb waiter style door that I built eons ago. I had contimplated trying to make doors like this myself, but I found these and they are a perfect size. They are redwood and covered in many layers of paint. I would guess they are about 100 years old.
In the last months issue of Restore & Preserve they showcased a stunning 1884 Italinate Victorian. The house is located at 10 W. Clark and I used to own the house right across the street at 25 W. Clark, so I know this house well. Even though the house is cut-up in to units, it still retains many of the original elemenst including the original 1884 kitchen cabinets! They are very cool looking. I’m going to use them has a insparation for my cabinets. The doors I found should work very well.
I walked by it today so I snapped a few shots. Click to enlarge.
10 W. Clark - Could Be Yours For $500,000
My First House Right Across The Street
It is 1875, and I sold it about 3 years ago
It was a dump when I bought it
Open House I Went To
Right across the street from the open house are a pair of matching cottages. I tried to buy the one on the left 3 years ago. All of the houses in this neighborhood where bought up by CalTrans (Ca. Transporation Authority). All of the houses were to be bulldozed and a freeway was going to be put in. These were dozens and dozens of old Victorians that were just going to be leveled. The freeway would have cut the city in 2.
This was in the late 60s. By the 70s there was a lot of opposition to it and CalTrans dropped the idea. The trouble was they now owned all the houses and they were now the largest landlord in the city. In the 90s they started auctioning off all the house. The boarded up cottage is the last one still owned by CalTrans. They wouldn't sell it to me. I called and called and called and got no place. And there it sits, boarded up.
6 comments:
Must have been in the air today- we went to the open house next door to us (those new condos)and they still are not done yet. The trimwork in there is kind of an odd scale, but they put gorgeous marble floors in all the bathrooms.
We also got to check out our building from their 2nd floor and see some brick that needs to be replaced. sigh!
Those last houses are so cute- small but very cute. Thanks for the photos- looks like it was a great day there- here in Chicago it was in the 90's and humid....again.
I'm surprised that the house at 10 W. Clark is selling for half million. I thought tiny bungalows sold in California for that much. That's a lot of house in a nice location for that kind of money.
Jocelyn: For those brief few hours when the fog moved off shore it was very pleasant. Then the fog moved back in and the sweater went back on. Was the trim work narrow and small. I hope, at least, it was real wood.
Patricia: Those pictures don't really do that place justice. It is on a double lot with formal gardens and a nice carriage house. I think there are 5 units. $500K is a lot for this area. Five years ago if any of these old houses would have sold for more than $200K jaws would have dropped. Those astronomical housing prices were always a Bay Area and LA thing in the past. It's as if N. Ca. was in another state or on another planet. It is a nice place to live, but the economy sucks. People are coming up from the Bay Area and buying these places because few around here have that kind of money. A landmark house, The Pink Lady, just sold this week for 1.2 Million to a couple from SF.
The Pink Lady
http://www.terragalleria.com/california/picture.usca9921.html
That seems to be happening all up and down the coast. Our economy sucks too. A house that sold for 110k three years ago on our road just sold for 190k after being on the market for less than two weeks. Guess where the buyers are from?
Good luck with the drum sander. When I used one on the floor in our front room I tried to seal it off the best I could from the rest of the house but a fine layer of sawdust still got into and ont everything. Fecculent!
SD
I can see why you wanted that little cottage. It definatly qualifies for "cutest thing ever" status.
In our town, the Greene County hospital owned several houses, including the one next door to us. It was technically up for sale for ages, but the hospital couldn't get on the ball and things kept happening to stop the sale of the property. What's with these government agencies? Just let somebody have the house and take care of it!!!
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