Video Tour: Back of House

Video Tour: Front of House

Found a House to Remodel

Although it was our hope to find a lot in the downtown area to build on, we managed to find a property to renovate instead. This meets Mike's needs to have a nice, landscaped yard with mature trees. The yard, over an acre in size, is spectacular! The house will need some renovations to work best for our family. But, we're really excited about it!

Front of house.  I'm not a fan of the appearance of the front of the house.  I don't like how the upper floor hangs over the lower floor.  I'm also not a big fan of the appearance of the top windows.  I'd like to redo the front facade, giving it a more Craftsman look.  I'd like to have a nice front porch, perhaps a double porch with access from the front two bedrooms onto a porch.  The front of the house faces east. 

This is the south side of the house.  I'd like to add a sunroom to the main floor.  On the top floor, I'd like to add on to the bedrooms, adding a master bath.  There is only one "full" bath in the house.  Which, is tiny and lacks a shower (just a tub with a shower wand.)

This is the back of the house (faces west).  Normally, I'd skip a house with a west facing back yard, but it is so wooded that we have plenty of shade, I think.  To the left (north) in this picture is an addition that was built around 1960.  We are thinking of putting the kitchen in this addition, as the current kitchen is TINY.

This is the view from the north.  The 1960 addition has a basement area that is a currently a work/crafts room.  I'd like to make it a mudroom and have stairs added up to what will be the kitchen.

View from the backyard.  Lovely landscaping!

The back patio, newly redone last year.

From the corner of the yard.  1.2 acres, in town!  Wow!

Essentials

Mike and I went on the local parade of homes this past Sunday. It was discouraging to see how much local builders want for new construction, some of it fairly shabby. This lead to a conversation about whether or not it is really worth it to build a new home--given the premium you pay for designing the home yourself. We plan to wait a year (afterall, our lot is not going to be accessible by road until then) before we set a final budget for building a home. At that point, we'll run the budget past our builder, along with what we'd like out of the home, and see if it is possible to get our "dream home" for what we are able to spend.

In the event that we aren't able to afford to build, we will be looking for an existing home to move into, perhaps after some renovations. Mike has a hard time believing that I could be happy with an existing home, given that we have looked at many homes together and there aren't many that I like. Of course, part of that is a poor match between Manhattan, KS homes and my tastes. I'm sure that there are other parts of the country that would have an abundance of homes that I would love (for Mike's sake I'll elaborate here: I like Debbie and Stephen's home in Virginia and I liked many homes in Camden, Maine.) I also loved our first home here in KS. In fact, there are probably many homes in Manhattan that I could love, but they are close to campus and, as such, near to trashy rentals. Sigh. The Little Apple does not do a good job of maintaining its historic neighborhoods. I'm not going to lay down $450,000 for a house next to a rental that is sporting a cut-out of a bikini-clad girl in the window and a half-empty keg in the yard. Maybe I'm just being picky, but I don't want Wilson and Henry to get offered a bong hit in lieu of candy on Halloween.

So, let's get down to essentials. What is it that I really need to be minimally satisfied with a house? Those things are:
1) A good Christmas tree spot. A good Christmas tree spot is an important part of a house, for me. This is defined as a place in the front area of the home that is fully exposed by a window to the street (Christmas trees should shine out for all to see.) On the inside of the house, there needs to be plenty of room around the tree for gifts and, on Christmas morning, for people to gather around and open gifts. So, this room should be a living room, study, or parlor. It can't be a dining room, as the table would be in the way.
2) Good natural light. This is defined as lots of southern, eastern and/or northern light and a minimum of western light. Bonus points for wide window sills and window seats, to help enjoy this light.
3) Working chimney and woodstove (or fireplace that could be replaced with a woodstove.)
4) Screened porch or sunroom.
5) At least as much kitchen cabinetry and counter space as we currently have.
6) At least a 2-car garage (detached is acceptable.)
7) Enough rooms to keep our lives organized, including: master bedroom, boys bedroom or two, office for Mike, playroom, dining room, living room, kitchen, laundry room.
8) Not on a busy street.

Okay, so those are the essentials, as I can think of them. What would I like, but don't "need."
1) White baseboards and crown moulding.
2) Lots of built-ins: bookcases, cabinets, window seats.
3) No oak or walnut woodwork. A darker cherry is my preference, but others might be okay.
4) Black and white tile floors. In the bathrooms, I like small, hexagonal tiles. In kitchens, I like 1' black and white squares.
5) Really prefer to have a dedicated guest room. I like having a guest room with a bed all made and ready, a selection of good books, and a few other things to make guests feel at home.
6) A room for me that would meet all my personal needs: computing, art, sewing, knitting, growing seedings.
7) A separate parlor/library to be used for quiet reading and studying.
8) A media room in the basement to keep our gigantic TV hidden away.
9) A more structured floorplan, where rooms can be closed off or opened up, using pocket doors.
10) A beautiful staircase.
11) A mudroom to keep all of the following organized: recycling, coats, boots/shoes, extra pantry items, mail, keys, bags etc...
12) A small foyer where you can sit to take off shoes and hooks to hang up coats.
13) A backyard seating/grilling area that is blocked from harsh evening sunlight.
14) On a cul-de-sac or other non-through street.
15) A fireplace and small sitting area in the master bedroom.

Wow! I look at the second list and it's no wonder that we worry about affording to build a house. That's quite a list of "wants!" We'll just have to wait and see how things play out for us financially between now and the time that our lot becomes available to build on.

Kitchen

Throughout most of the house, I'd like to have dark cherry wood floors, white trim and built-ins, with dark (slate or black) quartz countertop on surfaces that might be home to plants or drinks (e.g. low, hip-height bookcases that I would like to have along the south (window) side of our living room.) But, I've been thinking of inverting this in the kitchen: doing dark wood cabinets with white quartz countertops and black and white tile floors. The pictures below (taken from the February 2009 issue of House Beautiful) show the dark cabinets light countertop look. So, it would be something like this but with black and white floors: I like the wall color. I'm not a fan of the recessed ceiling or the marble backsplash behind the stove. I like how the upper cabinets go all the way to ceiling, eliminating that odd space above most upper cabinets that just

Nice French doors in the eat-in area of the kitchen.

Furniture Styles

Okay, I have another confession: I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to furniture styles. Yesterday, we tried to shop for coffee tables, and I found myself utterly unable to describe what I wanted. So, I'm trying to remedy my ignorance today by reading through a primer on furniture styles:
http://www.efi-costarica.com/Antique-Furniture-Styles.html
I like some aspects of the Sheraton Style (1751-1806) The website describes it as "remarkable for its refined elegance, excellent proportions and balanced distribution of ornaments. It also mirrored the influence of Robert Adam and the Louis XVI style, which Sheraton greatly admired." These chairs, an example of the style, are pretty:

Hmm.... going through the other styles, I some styles that I both like and dislike. Some styles are easily in the dislike category: Arts and Crafts and Mission styles are too plain and heavy looking. Gothic is too severe and imposing. I don't like English Country or Windsor styles.

I like some aspects of Chippendale (chairs) and Federal (tables) but don't like the larger cabinets/secretaries in either style.

I'm a little embarassed to admit that I kind of like mid-Georgian style (particularly Chinoiserie cabinets). It's a little frou frou and would be hard to fit into a home in KS. Late Georgian Style, apparently, includes the Sheraton style featured above. Another good website: http://www.furniturestyles.net/

Okay, so far I don't feel any closer to identifying my own style of furniture. More research is needed!

Wallpaper

Wallpaper can be a bit polarizing. People tend to have strong feelings about it. Currently, the tide seems to be in favor of hating it. It can be hard to install, even harder to remove, and the patterns tend to get dated. But, as risk of being unpopular, I'll admit that I like wallpaper. Not on a wall-to-wall, every room of your house way. But, used judiciously, I think that wallpaper can add something very unique to your home. And, at the risk of sounding completely insane, I like Asian panel wallpaper (Chinoiserie. ) I'm talking about the handpainted designs that were popular in Europe in the 17th century that, rather than feature a repeating pattern, represent a single image (e.g. of a landscape.) I particularly like ones that feature branches, flowers and birds, with a bit of gold leaf accents. When I say that I'd use this judiciously, I mean that I'd use it as if it was a work of art (and, given that they are still handpainted, they basically are works of art.) I'd do one wall of a dining room or the area over my bed. Or, I'd do the interior of a closet, which I think is a fun place to surprise people with wallpaper, as if you've wrapped it up like a gift.

Here are a couple of manufacturers:
http://www.griffinandwong.com/
http://www.graciestudio.com/