Monday, September 07, 2009
(Warning: This post is wantonly boastful and long.)
For those whom we've not told, we closed on our house! The old place in Wicker Park sold without a hitch and we closed on a new place in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
It's not much to look at now, but Liz and I have big plans. These are the pictures from before we closed, in all its shag carpet, plastic brick and wood paneled glory. It's going to be a lot of work and a lot of stress -- and that's just choosing the contractors -- but it's a big house in an awesome neighborhood.
We may not be a block from the supermarket anymore, but we're still within walking distance of both major train systems, a big selection of restaurants, a massive park, a huge library (makes Wicker Park's feel like a convenience store) and a neighborhood square with a fountain where people and performers gather. We feel very blessed.
Plans for updates to the Leavitt House are starting to take shape, though never as fast as you'd hope. As Clark and I spend more time on the house, it's become clear that someone spent a ton of time, attention, and money on the house in the 70's. This house would have looked awesome back then. The house hasn't had as much TLC in the last 20 years, but we're thankful that the house mainly needs cosmetic renovations and not major repairs or movement of walls. The project still feels daunting while we work to get our contractors in place and prioritize our list of improvements, but we're happy that it's not a gut rehab -- that never would have worked for us at this stage of life. One of the biggest sellings points of this house is the large family room addition that was added in the 70's, which is rougly the same size as our entire first floor in our old condo, so that gives us a lot of extra space to "cordon" ourselves into while we rennovate.
Our main plans include two new bathrooms, a new kitchen, new hardwood floors (the old ones were wrecked beyond repair by thousands of carpet staples), new drywall to replace the wood paneling, and a whole lot of cosmetic updates. Longer term, we'll probably open up into the unfinished attic to build an awesome master suite and we may tackle the "finished" 70's basement at some point.
Published by Jace Mouse
on Monday, September 07, 2009 at 1:31 PM.
For those whom we've not told, we closed on our house! The old place in Wicker Park sold without a hitch and we closed on a new place in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
It's not much to look at now, but Liz and I have big plans. These are the pictures from before we closed, in all its shag carpet, plastic brick and wood paneled glory. It's going to be a lot of work and a lot of stress -- and that's just choosing the contractors -- but it's a big house in an awesome neighborhood.
We may not be a block from the supermarket anymore, but we're still within walking distance of both major train systems, a big selection of restaurants, a massive park, a huge library (makes Wicker Park's feel like a convenience store) and a neighborhood square with a fountain where people and performers gather. We feel very blessed.
Plans for updates to the Leavitt House are starting to take shape, though never as fast as you'd hope. As Clark and I spend more time on the house, it's become clear that someone spent a ton of time, attention, and money on the house in the 70's. This house would have looked awesome back then. The house hasn't had as much TLC in the last 20 years, but we're thankful that the house mainly needs cosmetic renovations and not major repairs or movement of walls. The project still feels daunting while we work to get our contractors in place and prioritize our list of improvements, but we're happy that it's not a gut rehab -- that never would have worked for us at this stage of life. One of the biggest sellings points of this house is the large family room addition that was added in the 70's, which is rougly the same size as our entire first floor in our old condo, so that gives us a lot of extra space to "cordon" ourselves into while we rennovate.
Our main plans include two new bathrooms, a new kitchen, new hardwood floors (the old ones were wrecked beyond repair by thousands of carpet staples), new drywall to replace the wood paneling, and a whole lot of cosmetic updates. Longer term, we'll probably open up into the unfinished attic to build an awesome master suite and we may tackle the "finished" 70's basement at some point.
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By the way...
Happy 500th posting to us!