The year of the house
2008 has arrived, and it’s house-hunting season for Doug and Megan. Today at the crack of dawn (10-ish), we were out looking at houses. Well, not “houses” … house. The same one Megan already fell in love with.
I must say, it’s growing on me, too. For starters, my truck clearly fits into the carport, a crucial detail …
It’s a sprawling rambler in a quiet secluded neighborhood, and has the feel of a party pad in suburban California, mid-60s: big hair, big sideburns, bushy mustache, tan lines, walking around dripping wet, neighbors with pimpmobiles up on blocks, you know the type. There’s retro decor everywhere (the General Electric power fixtures are to die for), and it has the stuff we’re looking for: a kitchen, a living room or two, some bathrooms and bedrooms, and places to hide offices and a gym room and stuff like that.
The landscaping is classic Californica, sort of a bonzai-on-steroids thing with overgrown shrubs encroaching on the walkways, lots of concrete slabs and gravel. There’s not a square foot of lawn to mow, a definite plus. Some of the water fountains and other details look like science-fair projects gone awry, but a layer of moist Seattle leaves over everything really smooths out those harsh details. We may want to stick with that approach, since it seems pretty easy to do and low-maintenance.
Next step is to really check it out, of course. Actually go inside, look around, get some details, find out why the smart money would run, figure out a corresponding offer. But the hard part’s done: we found a house we both like.
Oh, did we mention the pool?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 3:48 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on January 1, 2008 at 8:32 pm Lynn wrote:
Gee, you don’t waste any time! Where is this house? And how did you find it. Is it empty? My bathing suit is packed!
on January 1, 2008 at 10:08 pm Tom wrote:
Wow — very swing-ging. It looks to have a slight Edward-Scissorhands-meets-Brady-Bunch feel to it, too (both seemed to revel in the Californica style you’re talking about), which is aces in my book. That fireplace is dynamite. Do my eyes deceive me, or does it go through from the living room to the kitchen/dining area?
Good luck with this one — I hope you decide you want it (it would be perhaps the easiest house-hunting experience of any of my friends EVER) and that you can close the deal. Nice that they had that sign printed up for you …
on January 1, 2008 at 10:33 pm Doug wrote:
Well, I didn’t want to send any other potential buyers to the place, of course. If we got invited to a housewarming pool party at this address for one of our Seattle friends, we’d feel like such fools.
Your eyes are correct: that’s two sides of the same fireplace that you see in the kitchen and living room photos. And there’s also a fireplace in the rec room below the living room.
Lynn, the best way to describe it is this place is in between the two places we’ve lived in Seattle, a few blocks from Lake Washington. And I have no idea how Megan found it. She has her ways.
We realize the pool is very impractical and may be a net negative in terms of resale value, but still … http://www.mahugh.com/images/blog/2008/01/01/divingboard.jpg
on January 2, 2008 at 8:47 am Scott wrote:
Cool digs! Looks to me like it just needs a bit of fresh shag carpeting, swag lamps, naugahide and you’re the next Hef! And the pool is killer! You picturing the same tiki bar I’m picturing?
I’ll bring the umbrella drinks!
sp
on January 2, 2008 at 10:40 am Jess wrote:
Is that astroturf surrounding the pool?
on January 2, 2008 at 11:34 am Doug wrote:
Yes it’s astroturf, although I prefer to think of it as a putting green. It’s a good match for the bumpy greens we tend to play.
on January 2, 2008 at 1:04 pm molly wrote:
cool!
i really like it. the house is so cool that it might soften the blow of you guys not moving down here.
megan is very cute with her coffee cup.
on January 2, 2008 at 2:21 pm Tom wrote:
Yeah, a putting green with quite a forgiving cup in the middle. I’m not sure that’s a regulation-size hole (I’d like to see the flagstick that would go in it, though)!
on January 2, 2008 at 7:50 pm Mom wrote:
Does the living room have windows? It looks like the walls are solid without windows–or is what I looked at the lowere level? Please explain.
Mom
on January 2, 2008 at 9:44 pm nick wrote:
that has got to be the biggest water trap I have ever seen on a putting green, but where is the sand?
on January 2, 2008 at 10:13 pm Doug wrote:
Mom, the living room has a big window that I took the picture in through, and also another window to the right just out of sight in this picture.
Nick and Tom, we were thinking we could put a synthetic green in the backyard on the concrete.
Molly, I agree. Megan is very cute with her coffee. And house shopping makes her giddy.
We have an appointment to see this house and others on Saturday. More photos then.
on January 5, 2008 at 8:45 pm Lynn wrote:
Well, how did house hunting go today? Did you get inside the first house?
on January 6, 2008 at 12:47 am Doug wrote:
We did, and we looked closely at several others too. And we’ve found one we’re very interested in … more details coming soon.