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November 25, 2012

This __ close to total chaos

At this point there's only one thing standing in our way - apparently this house may not be insurable by our normal insurance agents so we have to find high risk agents.  It might be due to the fact that it is over 100 years old, in the forest, and has 1/2 a foundation.

Hopefully we can find someone to insure it until we can do some updates.  If we can find someone then we will actually be 1/3 owners of this amazing disaster!

In the meantime, I dream of my summers there.

When we went up for a final walk-through yesterday, T went into this room, started dancing and yelling, "mama, I love this room!"

bedroom

Not exactly my reaction - but close.

He thinks the "carpet is beautiful!"  The "carpet room" is the "master."  The only true bedroom on the main floor of the house.

Underneath there are two additional bedrooms and full bathroom - the plan is to add a staircase so all the bedrooms can be used as part of the main house.

This room will likely be his room when we go stay - it is the width of the entire house and all windows.

sunporch




sunporch2

Think I can figure out a way to re-use that magical chandelier?

This disaster of a living room is a fantastic dream.  Redwood floors are under that carpet.  Granted, they are sticking up at all angles - but beautiful redwood floors.

living room

Bubbs will be building me window seats in both of these windows.
livingroom2

 I miss mine from our old house oh so much.
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Carpet in the kitchen?  LOVE IT!
kitchen2
Yeah - kidding.

The cabinets are actually in okay condition and the fridge is clean and doesn't smell!

Hopefully there's room in our budget for a little new countertop.

The drop ceiling will go almost immediately - above it are original windows that look out into the yard with redwood trees - windows the size of the entire house.


kitchen3

We're planning to either move the washer/dryer/waterheater downstairs into an open area, or build cabinets around the water heater and a stackable washer/dryer right in the kitchen.  The water heater is braced just like it should be - the one thing done actually right in this house!

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This shower apparently has rocks from the river as the shower floor (according to the 15 year old next door).  These beautiful rocks leak as does the rest of the shower.
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The shower is getting re-tiled (and waterproofed) with white square boring tiles.  As is the tub surround.
bathroom

We think this used to be a dumb waiter (or coal cart) from under the house - now it is a medicine cabinet.
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Do you love the carpet in the watercloset?
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How about how the toilet has been leaking for years and the floor is about to rot out and fall off the house?  How creepy is it that there's no sink in the toilet room?  How do you solve that problem?

Since the house is on a major hill (MAJOR) the "yard" is all decked.  This is one sunny deck with stairs leading up to the hot tub.
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This deck gets amazing sunshine most of the day - it also has a cracked foundation, falling down railings and is on the neighbor's land by 3 ft.

Along with all the space comes a completely rotted structure:
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All of the roof eaves are rotted (roof is okay)
Structure support beams are dryrotted and eaten by termites - like the beams that hold up the house.
The septic tank is a wooden box in the ground under the house - yeah - that is not going to work.
The decks are completely rotted, there is a concrete patio that is falling down the side of the house.
Squirrels live in the drop ceilings, woodpeckers put holes in all of the siding.
The pest inspector said this was his worst nightmare!

And soon it will be OURS!

Even though we have zero budget for furnishings or decor, my pinterest boards are filled with inspiration.

Hopefully in the next two days we'll get the green light from the insurance company.

November 18, 2012

It is like groundhog day over here

Just as life gets a little crazier, we decide to make it more crazy.

Our disaster is now almost 6 months more disastrous.  We've put three DIFFERENT offers on the house, been rejected three times, become so fricken frustrated with Fannie Mae, but decided to play their game because after hunting for quite some time - this is our house.

A friend of mine today told me she thought we must be independently wealthy to be able to do this. So lemme set the record straight.  This is a hell hole, for one.  We're going in with two other parties, for two (so we're really buying 1/3 of a river house), and three, the property up there is still so cheap compared to the rest of california - granted, where my inlaws live, you could buy a really nice 2-3 bedroom house that needed no work for the price we're buying this for, but we're in California wine country :) We're also cutting back significantly to be able to afford it.  No more vacations outside of this house, cutting our eating out budget, etc, etc, etc.

We're 1 day away from coming to agreement (ah, if I could only count the number of time I typed that already - who knows how close we actually are) - and after that, the mess and a half is ours!

Hopefully 6 months is enough to make it livable enough to enjoy the summer there with our new baby.  I'll be on maternity leave from March - July so I'm hoping for hot weeks at a time in our sunny heaven on the beach.  Plus, 75% of the time I work from home, so the babysitter can take the kids while I work, but we can wake up in the redwoods, drink wine in the hot tub after the kids are asleep, and not turn into evil beasts due to the fogged in summer.

Anyway, once we get confirmation, I'm posting pics :)