We closed early September, and moved in last week. James and I spent the days in between doing some quick improvements with the generous help of my parents and his parents, but we've definitely got a ways to go. For the record, here are some photos of the place before we touched A THING. Be prepared to be happy you don't own such a place! JK, it's not that bad. Well...
(I'm a little bit dumb and didn't take a lot of "before" shots myself, so some of these are screenshots from the appraisal.)
We were house-hunting all summer, looking for a place that we could make our own, but that was not a complete gut job. This one seemed to be a good balance for us. Some of the things we loved:
• Perfect size - double our apartment! Enough for Joah to have his own bedroom upstairs, and James and I get our own offices in the basement.
• Built in 1947 with a fun transitional style - post-war, early mid-century
• Brick!
• Original hardwood floors (oak?)
• Some original trim and doors
• Large windows let in lotsa light
• Cute circle window in front!
• Big back yard
• Fruit trees
• Location - near downtown; easy access to freeway and public transportation
So far all the challenges with owning this house have been so worth the feelings of accomplishment and ownership. We don't have heaps of money to put into renovating this place, but it's liberating to know we can do whatever we want, as long as we are willing to put the work into it. So so fun!
Oh and, for fun, here's an itty bitty screenshot of the assessor's earliest photo of our house. This was the only old photo they have online, but they may have more if I go searching in person. Could be cool!
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