Doing Our Part For Economic Recovery

The last week has been absolutely insane. The week started with Ryan leaving town for the Mac Worldwide Developer's Conference on the same day that a great house came on the market. Let me back up for a second, a couple weeks ago, Ryan and I started looking at houses with our fabulous realtor, Nicole Barclay. Of course when Ryan has to leave town, the right house comes on the market. So I went to look at the place with two of our very close friends, Amy and Byron, who have a fabulous bungalow that they renovated from an old and outdated mess to a beautiful home. In other words, they know about houses and Ryan and I trust their opinion.

Before Ryan left, he saw a couple photos of the house and was distracted by a ladder-like structure in the kitchen. He didn't want to look at the house and made a VERY clear point that he wasn't going to buy a house with "a ladder in it". The rest of the house looked great, so I argued that we should at least look at the place. The kicker? Ryan was leaving for sunny California in a couple hours.

So he left and Amy, Byron, and I went to go look at the house. Of course it was awesome! The ladder was a little weird but not nearly as bad as we thought. The current owner is an artist and a wood worker, so the "ladder" is more like a permanent attic stair structure that leads to a great finished attic/second story. There are too many fabulous things about the house to mention: wonderful details that you don't get in newer construction, great garden space, a perfect mini-patio for a hammock, beautiful old trees, etc. However, the best part is that the house is about a block from the Packer bar that I like to go to during football season. We also think that we can see the Olympic mountains from our second story window, but it was cloudy and we couldn't confirm that fact.

Anyway, Ryan was gone and it was up to me to decide whether this was a house that we wanted to put an offer on. I went for it and we got the house! I've been losing sleep all week because Ryan hadn't seen the place and may end up hating it -- especially the "ladder". Ryan returned from Cali last night, and we just came back from Ryan's first tour of the place. THANK GOD HE LOVES IT!

What do you think?

It's a Craftsman house that was built in 1910.
The owners have really loved the home and taken good care of the place. I'm already scheming about what to do with the garden. Mature climbing roses and wisteria line the side of the house and the potential is tremendous!

10+ foot ceilings with curved detailing and a working (we think) wood burning fireplace had us at "hello".

A huge dining room ready for lots of company and visitors!

The office - notice the Mac computers.
This was a sign that the place was meant for us!

The kitchen could use some customizing for our taste, but the appliances are new and the size and layout are fabulous!

The "ladder" to the second floor

The beautiful backyard with old trees and an ancient lilac.
Soma will love it!

Mudroom perfect for wiping off muddy paws!

Master bedroom with bathroom and wicked high ceilings.

The finished second story, which is perfect for a guest room!
When we build a staircase, we may convert this into a master. Regardless, visitors are welcome and we have lots of room!!

On to the inspection!