A Description of the House

Nestled away in one of the downtown old neighborhoods was the hidden jewel. The house had been on the market for a while but unless you were looking it was hard to find. The yard, while beautifully landscaped at one time was now over grown. Standing in the street looking straight at the front door...literally all you could see was the front door. The lot is large – a double lot – not an every day occurrence in downtown neighborhoods. Overgrown ivy flanked the entry way and now tree-sized shrubs blocked the view of the large windows on either side of the porch. There was a brick path that curved around the house and a covered side entry that would be perfect for the porch swing my father had built for me many years ago.

We had been looking for a bigger home for some time. We had found a few that we liked but something was always missing. We (I) had three criteria for the next house...1) a formal dining room 2) an entry/foyer and 3) to be able get to the back yard for outdoor entertaining without having to walk through a garage.

The only other item we were always looking for was the perfect spot to place the antique sideboard that my husband had inherited from his mother. It is a great piece and was certainly one of the focal points in our current tiny living room. In looking at previous houses - even if they didn't meet my three criteria above - if there was a place for the sideboard - than the house had potential.

Well - the garage on this property was detached (1 down 2 to go).

When our realtor opened the front door - it was easy to see that the entry/foyer was a check too. I don't want to exaggerate but it was a grand entry. The front door was huge - there would be no problem moving big pieces of furniture inside. (Ok - so not to jump to the end of the story - but obviously we bought the place - right!?!??) So - I could just get out the tape measure and tell you the exact dimensions of the foyer but who has time for that - let me just say - it was bigger than the kitchen on our old house.) The ceilings were 12-foot ceilings (I could already see big Christmas trees in our future) and the woodwork detailing was awesome. Everything was a dark - espresso colored stain. There was a built-in bench in the front entry - perfect for putting on the little one's boots before running out to play! Now the one thing I noticed is that there is no closet for coats anywhere in sight...and I can tell you even with a closet close to the entry in our old house we never managed to ALWAYS put our coats away - so I can tell that not having a closet anywhere in sight is going to take a bit of getting use to.

To the right of the entry is the "study" or "parlor". It has a beautiful fireplace and great built in bookshelves on either side the front window. The window has a stained glass design of a lady and a star. We have seen a picture of the house taken in the 50s - so don't get too excited over the stained glass - at least this piece is not original...so eventually when it goes I won’t be to heart-broken...(just to throw in here - the stain glass is broken too). The study has dark burgundy wallpaper. It is period wallpaper - reproduction - not original. Ok - technically this is a strike - I spent hundreds of hours steaming wallpaper off the walls in the old house - this is not fun! There is carpet on the floor - beige with pink roses. Good news here - the sideboard is going to be perfect in this room - but will look a little dwarfed here - odd since it was always over powering in our tiny house.

In the back of the study is a tiny bathroom. Now according to the real estate posting for this house - the study is being marketed as the master suite...REALLY?!?!?! The bathroom is a mere closet with a shower, a toilet that when seated your knees touch the wall and a vanity that looks like a small antique dresser with a marble top and it literally is wall-to-wall in this tiny bathroom. It reminds me of the concept of building a ship in a bottle - not sure how they got it in there - and pretty sure the only way to get it out is to break the bottle - or the walls in case of this vanity. Now the study is "land locked" in the house - there is only one entry unless you decide to dive out the window...kind of makes for an odd flow...something to think about for the future.

Back to the entry - and opposite the study is the living room. This room has beautiful boxed beam/coffered ceilings. We can't tell for sure - but we are betting these are original. There is a beautiful leaded glass - diamond paned window and four other large floor-to-ceiling windows. The windows are great - but they are single pane and at this point the landscaping is so overgrown - they aren't offering anything in the way of a view. The stairwell leads off this room and there is a large fireplace. I wish I could say the fireplace is beautiful and we have later learned that it is some type of quartz - but really - all I am thinking when I see it - is WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!?!? (Flash forward here - still not a pretty fireplace - but it is pretty cool to see the stocking hung by the chimney with care for our first Christmas!)

The living is separated from the dining room by pocket doors. Ok - here is 3 out of 3 - a formal dining room. The dining has wanes coating and plate rail modeling. There are three dark red/yellow/orange stained glass windows with the most breath taking hand painted blue birds. There is a built-in china cabinet. (Ok another flash forward here - the top section of the china cabinet is too shallow for a full size plate to be stored....interesting). This room has the same dark burgundy wallpaper that is found in the study. With the dark wood, dark wallpaper, and dark stained glass windows - see a pattern here - the room is - well - it is dark...really dark.

The kitchen is through the dining and there is a swinging door with a stained glass insert separating the two rooms. (Beautiful but not a plus when you have tiny fingers in the house.) We found a certificate in the house indicating that in the mid-80s the house won an award for the best historic preservation. Ok - that was only 20+ years ago.... but really this kitchen is not ideal. The flooring doesn't match anything else on the main floor. There is very little counter space, the cabinet, at least top section in open faced, the sink base cabinet is setting in the middle of the floor, there is no dishwasher, there are two tiny reproduction ovens, a range top, (all built into a brick wall)...and there is basically no room for a refrigerator. Ok - this room is going to be a challenge. The basement steps take off from the kitchen. There is a stairwell that leads back to the main entry - and behind the "brick" stove/oven wall - is a sunroom.

The sunroom is single paned stained glass. It is a plus for me – I envision a chaise lounge, coffee, and a good book. Ok – did I mention the single paned – I guess I should throw in mittens, stocking cap, and a wool coat into my vision?

Upstairs are three bedrooms with each entry having a stained glass transom above the door. The one I pick out for the little guy faces the front of the house. It has a good size closet but no door on it. It has pink and blue roses on the wallpaper. Ok – more steaming in my future.

The second bedroom is “creepy” in my view and I am not sure why. It is the one room in the house that all the beautiful wood trim has been painted (white and green.) It has floor-to-ceiling mirrors on one wall, a unique “cubby” with mirrors and florescent light (the only light in the room) and strange bits of newspaper and magazine clippings glued onto the wall. There are two closets, one with a door one with out.

The third bedroom faces the back yard. It is in the evening when we are seeing the house for the first time and there is a great view of the setting sun. This isn’t the largest of the three bedrooms but I know it will be the master. The floor in this room is unfinished, has paint splatters all over and doesn’t match anything in the rest of the house. It is even about 1/8 to ¼ inch higher than the rest of the floors. (Ok – we have dreams of a master suite so we will just live with the floors in this shape for a while.) There is a pretty good size closet in this room – big enough that we may be able to actually share. (My shoes will never fit in here though.)

Now the bathroom…It has dark stained wanes coating and dark red paint on the wall. The tub is almost (but not quite) in the center of the room. It is a claw foot tub – but you can’t tell this because it has a wanes coating surround built around it topped off with white marble. There is an additional shelf like system attached also with the dark stained wanes coating and white marble – all attached to the tub. (Ok probably not a great description – just think ODD…) The toilet has a wood tank lined with copper. The sink/vanity is dark with a multi-tiered white marble top. The sink is full of rocks. Yes rocks. The floor in this bathroom matches the horrible floor in the kitchen. (Somebody must have gotten a deal.)

Did I mention that the only source of heat upstairs is non-thermostat controlled electric wall heaters in each of the rooms?

The basement is large and finished. In two of the main rooms (office/media/family-type rooms) there is burgundy carpet, burnt orange walls and red neon lights bordering the ceiling. Now technically I like the wall color and the carpet is in good shape - but this color combination will never work. And neon – Really?!?!? There is a common space area that is tiled with nice gray flagstone type tiles and pleasant enough sage green paint on the walls. There is a good size storage closet, a laundry room, a full bathroom, and the “heating” room all off this common area.

I need take a minute to describe two of the rooms to you – the bathroom and the “heating room”.

The bathroom is huge, but for the most part nothing is in it. There is a vanity – very big – with a white marble top. It is that type of vanity that looks like a piece of furniture. Just in the back of the bathroom there is the shower and toilet room. It feels like a tomb. It is floor-to-ceiling white marble tiles. In order to make the shower “work” in the basement, the height is quite short – I am 5’6” and can barely stand straight up in it. There are candle-like light fixtures/sconces on the wall. In this room there is also a giant closet. It is cedar lined floor-to-ceiling. It is a great closet but in an odd location. It would/could be a great sauna – ok that is a bit of dreaming on my part – I will need the closet space.

The “heating” room houses the old oil-fired boiler. The heat on the main floor and basement is hot water radiators. The boiler is a beast and takes up most of the space in this room. In the far back corner is an old telephone switchboard…not sure how or why it is in this house.


The first time we saw the house – our first thoughts were that it is a bit to grand for us…our furniture is way to small for this house…and ok – technically it is out of our price range. Fast forward 8 months or so and several price drops and well we can buy new furniture. We bought the house…now comes the hard part.