House Exploring

Have I ever mentioned that I love to walk through older homes?  It's a little pass time of mine that I don't get to indulge very often any more since I don't want to drag my three children around on the weekends to different open houses.  But before we had children Mike and I would sometimes spend a Sunday afternoon choosing a neat neighborhood and wandering through the different homes for sale.  I love to see the character and charm of older homes, but I also love to imagine myself living there.  Where would I put the couch?  Would this room make a good office/study?  Where could I plant a garden in the back yard?  Can I picture myself baking cookies in the kitchen?  Even back in college, my friend Kim and I had a weekend tradition of touring open houses. Our tradition included a trip to 7-11 beforehand to stock up on candy which we would munch on as we drove around. 

So this past Saturday, when my aunt and uncle called to see if we wanted to stop by and tour a home they have been renovating for the past year, I said YES!  My aunt and uncle own lots of rental property and also buy homes to renovate and resell.  I've been hearing stories about this particular home, though and I was anxious to check it out.  Built in the 1920's, it looked like a very basic, but cute two bedroom, one bath home in an older neighborhood.  My aunt and uncle purchased the home, and they went to start working on it right away.  They knew the home had a basement, which is something pretty unusual for Oklahoma.  But when they went down to check it out, they were met with a wall of stuff.  Literally.  The previous owner (who had passed away) was a serious hoarder.  The basement was piled high from floor to ceiling!  With a little help from my cousins, they began clearing it out, and much to their surprise they discovered not one basement room, but five plus a small bathroom!  The house has over 1600 square feet of basement space!  This is nearly unheard of here.  Even more unusual were the "treasures" they pulled out of the basement:  screen printing supplies, medical supplies (including expensive culturing equipment), wood trim, printmaking supplies, scrap metal, and even a kiln!  We couldn't wait to check it out for ourselves. I took a thousand pictures, but I'll spare you that many.  I've narrowed them down for your viewing pleasure.

From the outside, it is plain, but charming.  The front porch is large and I could imagine some patio furniture fitting nicely.  A few flowers for curb appeal and it is really in great shape!

You come in the front door into a spacious living room.  The ceiling is called a "Pullman ceiling" because it resembles the inside of a Pullman train car.  My aunt and uncle refinished the beautiful hardwood floors, cleaned up the fireplace, and kept the original light fixtures. 

Every doorknob looks likes this beautiful crystal.  I love the vintage charm!

This is the main floor bathroom, and the larger of the two. Most of the tile work is original too.  I love black and white.

Here's a view of the largest basement room.  It is enormous.  The floors are stained concrete, the fireplace is in working order, and there is PLENTY of space for a media room or play room or game room or all of the above.  Behind me is a small bar with a granite countertop too.  And leading into this large room is a small landing with wood floors that would be a quaint sitting area.

This is out of order, but it's an up close look at the fireplace detail in the main floor living area.

Need to print a few posters of Billy Idol?  Well here you go!  This, along with many, many, many more were discovered in the basement.  They are now all in the detached garage, and we had fun looking through them.  Billy was my favorite.

Another basement find was this gas stove.  My aunt cleaned it up and is considering incorporating it into the kitchen somehow.  The kitchen is still a work in progress, but you can see the nice new tile they have installed throughout the kitchen and eat-in breakfast area.  They have added pretty new countertops, updated appliances, tile back splash as well as a fresh coat of paint. 

Throughout our tour I found myself wondering if we could live in this unique home.  It would work, but we're not in the market to move at this time.  For today anyway...:)

Do you like to walk through homes too?  Please tell me someone else likes my strange obsession.