Earlier today we became owners of The Underdog. We also were happy to learn that all proceeds of the estate sale and real estate sale are going to charity. {Too bad we can’t write off the mortgage!} Nothing like buying a dumpy house to help out a good cause! As soon as the keys were handed over to us, we drove over to take before pictures of the mostly empty property. We were surprised to find that a dryer, microwave, clothing hangers {plastic and wooden}, lamp, American flag, planters o’ plenty and other miscellaneous items were left behind. Here is the highly anticipated house tour. She doesn’t look like much, but we’re already planning some pretty major renovations to bring this gal up to par with the casual, open living style that we prefer. More on all our plans later. For now, see if you can spot the potential and guess what we have in mind.
That’s the view from the road.
The house is hidden behind a front yard full of trees.
You walk from the driveway, in front of the garage and around to the front door.
You immediately enter into the living room which has a large picture window that looks out onto the front yard and a wood burning fireplace. Notice the faded, dirty walls where all of the previous homeowner’s original artwork was displayed. Nearly every wall in the house is like this. It was full of art. You can also see where the paint is peeling on the wall above the fireplace. And there’s the rusty shag carpet I was telling you about. It’s obvious that the previous furniture arrangement hadn’t changed over the last 20+ years. All of the carpet padding is worn down to the concrete slab…except in spots where large pieces of furniture once lived.
Opposite the front door is the dining room. More faded, dirty walls. You can see where the hallway to the bedrooms and bathrooms runs off to the right.
Off the dining room is the what-we-think-is completely original 1958 kitchen. You can see beyond the kitchen into the den. The interior door that is open leads to the attached 2-car garage.
The cabinets are in bad shape – stained and warped. The window above the sink looks out onto the backyard.
Here’s the view of the kitchen and dining room from the den.
That’s the den. Complete with a window AC unit…the only source of AC in the home. The patio sliders lead out to the backyard.
The laundry ‘room’ is actually a small closet right off the den. Again, the door to the right leads to the attached garage.
Back to the hall off the living room/dining room. It leads to the private areas of the house: bedrooms and bathrooms. At the end is one of two hall closets in the home.
An original pink bathroom. Yikes!
Bedroom #1 is teeny…not even 10′ x 10′. It’ll be Everett’s bedroom. Did I mention the bedrooms boast green shag carpet? You probably would have figured that out on your own.
Bedroom #2 is a decent size. It’ll be Layne’s bedroom. If you look closely at the baseboard, you can see some pretty extensive termite damage. Eek!
Bedroom #3 is the master. It’ll be mine and Handy Hubby’s bedroom. From what we can tell, we think this was the previous homeowner’s ‘studio.’ There are paint splatters all over one wall and dozens of paintings were stored in the closet when we first toured the house.
This bedroom is a true master with a full bathroom en-suite…a rarity in a 1958 ranch.
Another original pink bathroom. Double yikes!
Back outside, here’s the rear of the house. The master bedroom, master bathroom, hall bathroom, dining room, kitchen and den {from left to right above} all have windows/doors looking out over the backyard.
The backyard is wider than it is deep. There are several dead evergreens back there.
Just in case you missed it during the interior tour, there’s the window AC unit located in the den window. Classy.
And that, my friends, concludes The Underdog house tour. That’s what we’re working with. There’s no basement. Storage will be a challenge but I’m confident we’ll manage. So, what’s next? Well, projects that relate to safety and health issues are first on the list: radon mitigation, electrical service upgrade, proper dryer/bathroom ventilation, and precarious tree removal. After that, we can start planning for and tackling some aesthetics. Handy Hubby is looking forward to the larger scale projects that we’ll have to tackle before I can get in there and start decorating. He’ll have his fun, and then I’ll have mine!
I’ll be sharing what changes we have in store for our new old house soon. What would you do to this house?
images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
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