The house in 1946

We bought our house in 2004. It’s a smallish Cape Cod in Seattle that the seller’s grandparents purchased new in 1944. I don’t think it was long before we moved in that the attic was mostly finished to accommodate two extra bedrooms, making it a 4-bedroom house. Since moving into the house we’ve had four major items on a long list of things we wanted to do to the house to make it our home.

1) New fence (DONE). Not long after we moved in we had the 3-foot, rusty chain-link fence replaced with a higher-than-legal cedar fence to give us some privacy. Which really translates to: we didn’t want to look at our neighbors’ unkempt homes on either side of us. On one side, we have a circa 1970s gargantuan, brown, needs-to-be-painted..and cleaned…and landscaped…..split-level home. The owners are quite nice; they just don’t make their house a priority. On the other side is an empty lot where there used to be a charming home (we’ve seen pictures) and now houses broken down cars, trucks, mobile homes, trailers, etc. As much as I hate the term, the best way to describe it is: ‘white trash’. Needless to say, the fence helps.

A strange panoramic photo of the fence being built.

2) Patio Deck (DONE). We started designing and excavating for a patio, but, as the project drug on, we changed our minds to a deck. We built an enormous Trex® deck that spans most of the back of our house; when the weather is nice, it adds quite a bit of livable space to our home.

3) New kitchen (IN PROCESS, due end of summer). We’ve been putting it off for far too long; we’ve finally decided to take the plunge and remodel our tiny kitchen. We won’t be adding square footage to the room, but—all said in done—will have at least twice the storage than we have now and will of course have updated appliances, lighting, flooring, etc.

photos circa 2004 (before we moved in). Anybody want that oven?

4) Finish roughed in bathroom upstairs (NOT DONE). Will hopefully be able to finish in concert with the kitchen. At least, that’s the plan.

The past few weekends have been dedicated to starting what we can on the kitchen. Last weekend we installed French doors off of our dining area. This weekend we closed off the door from our kitchen to make room for the added cabinetry. Next weekend I hope to get some of the wiring done for the outlets and lighting. We still have a long way to go, but as soon as we order cabinets, by the time they arrive, we should be ready to install them and have a functional kitchen within weeks. I hope.

A special thanks goes out to Charlie’s grandfathers who have both been an incredible help with various projects. Without their guidance, I’d be standing in the middle of our back yard staring at the back of the house holding a hammer in one hand and scratching my head with the other.

Stay tuned.