I have high hopes for our 1980s styled 1950s cape cod little house. Plus, even if I completely ruin it, there is still a pool (assuming we figure out how to open it at some point).
So here's what we're working with:
3 bedrooms/1.5 bathrooms
living room
family room
big kitchen (with updates about as old as I am)
partially finished basement
1 car garage
GIGANTIC DECK
above ground (but very large) pool
I took pictures of most things the day of our final inspection, and fortunately as I write this, I have actually gotten a lot done in the last 3 weeks since closing. But if I blew it all on one post, you'd never come back, so here is most of the house in its "before" state:
You can actually spot the homeowner himself pointing at who knows what in this one (don't expect to see a lot of him in this, he got banned from painting after kicking over the paint can in the only bedroom with carpet - surprisingly he's not too broken up over this). That's our lovely agent Justin Cummings hanging out there too. Highly recommended if you are trying to buy a house in Pittsburgh. You can't tell in this picture, but there is an addition off the back of the house, which actually makes it slightly larger than most of the houses in this neighborhood (most of which are very similar, as they were built in the 1950s after the war).
The living room when you first enter the front door. Notice the really nice 80s furniture that Brian asked the sellers to leave because "it would be funny". I use them to stand on to paint currently.
View from the door.
Room on the other side of the staircase with the door out to the deck. This is going to be our record room/library. Thanks for the BEAUTIFUL desk, sellers. That was fun to shove out the door.
Same room, from the other corner. A SNEAK PEEK into the world's greatest "powder room".
What goes through a person's mind when they decide "hmmm, I think I will purchase this puke yellow sink! GREAT IDEA, SELF!"?
That's how they left us the toilet, so I figured I'd give all my readers a true look into this gorgeous bathroom.
While we are on the subject of beautiful wallpaper, let's go to the kitchen. Good news: there are A LOT of cabinets in here. Bad news: they are mauve. And made of Formica. Not pictured: the disgusting stove that was likely original to the house.
No, that's not a circus tent you see, that's the dining area! Seriously though, the idea of having a counter we can eat at is pretty great. I have a big kitchen table, but it always felt weird eating at it with just the two of us.
Let's go upstairs to the weirdest (but most exciting) room of all. Try to look past the sponge paint (it is already gone as I type this). The large thing in the middle of the room is a little space for a bed. It is hard to tell now, but this will be the Nintendo/guest room. More on this in another post.
Not the world's greatest picture, but this room is kind of small to take a proper picture of. This is "my room" to sew/sulk/escape the sounds of Xbox360 in. Clearly this used to be a baby's room.
Check out this ACCENT WALL.
Now the "master". This is one thing the 80s got right - mirrored closets. They probably aren't what I would have chosen, but their usefulness outweighs their dated look to me. Plus, they are actually really big. First time in life I've ever been able to hang up all my clothes at once.
The weird midget storm door leads to a little balcony off this bedroom. Honestly, I have not been out on it since the first time we looked at the house. I kind of want to figure out a way to enclose the top to make it some sort of cat pen. They love going outside, but cannot be trusted. Also the GIANT INTRUSIVE fan has already been removed thanks to Valerie's electrician skills.
Not pictured:
The main upstairs bathroom. It is actually nice and has been updated, but I am hemming and hawing over whether to paint it or not. Since it's not an atrocity, it's low on the priority list.
Deck/pool area. That will come after it stops looking like a swamp.
The finished part of the basement. It's just a bunch of amps and drums and probably won't ever look any different. But I am accepting suggestions on how to keep giant spiders from invading band practice.
The stairs/hallway. They have carpet, but aren't that exciting otherwise.
Stay tuned to see my attempts at home improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment