An Old Abandoned Farmhouse

A friend and I took the little ones to the water park in Mahoney a few days ago and since she lives in Ashland we drove back that direction instead of the way I usually take to the interstate. Not too far down the road I spotted an extremely old (for this part of the country) house perched on a hill right next to a new housing development. I remembered reading a newspaper article several years ago about an abandoned house in this area. I didn't remember details, but I remembered they mentioned the cupola and how you could see both the state capital one direction and downtown Omaha the other. This must be the house? I went home and without too much googling, found the article and photos. (The photo is from the news story. It is not still snowy here thank goodness!)

 The original family had lived in this house until 1999, when they sold it along with the farmland to a developer (hence the brand new fancy housing development next door). 1999? Seriously, the place looks haunted and like it has been abandoned for 60+ years! Now I'm not as fascinated knowing the original 1870's kitchen with cobwebs and dusty utensils I was picturing has a 1980's update and there is baseboard heating throughout. Though I'm not quite sure why the family moved away as the developer claims to (surprisingly) have no intention of tearing it down due to its historical landmark status. Couldn't they have sold off the farmland, leaving them with money from the sale and a smaller lot?  If I had inherited my family home from the 1870's I would be doing everything in my power to stay. Jobs and money are still the reasons I suppose. It's not like it's in the middle of nowhere, Omaha and Lincoln are a 1/2 hour in either direction so it's not a bad commute.  Here is another webpage with some inside photos.  It looks like it USED to be fairly updated and modern inside. What is keeping the developer from selling it to someone who will appreciate it?  You would think it would benefit their housing development too since there wouldn't be a boarded up "crappy" house front and center. Hopefully soon I will see a story about someone fixing it up! I also really want to go up in that cupola!

My Secret Desire to be a Hipster Artist Revealed

A couple of years ago I convinced my husband to go on a historic house tour in Council Bluffs. Ever since then I have been fascinated with their houses and have been trying to convince him we should move. But alas, being a native to Omaha, he has this random dislike for Council Bluffs and kindly refers to it as Council-tucky. This is apparently a common phrase as just last week I heard a radio DJ say "Council-tucky" in a casual conversation so the people of Council Bluffs are indifferent to this? I guess I will have to live vicariously through tours and  I saw another home tour was on for yesterday with Christmas décor. Historic houses AND Christmas decorations!? Yes please! Unfortunately the husband said we could go only knowing it was going to be snowy and gross so he knew I wasn't going to want to make the drive. Darn it! Lincoln's Christmas tour this year consisted of a couple houses in a new housing development by the interstate.
Anyways, I was browsing real estate listings for Council Bluffs just to see what was happening over there and one of the houses I really liked on the house tour a few years ago is for sale! I tried again to persuade a move but for some reason my husband is just not as fascinated with this house as me. "Come on honey, you can find a good paying job there, right?" Good paying it would have to be as I can't imagine what the utilities would be! Victorians aren't known for their efficiency. At least now I have some photos of it since they don't allow photos on the tours. It is listed by Deeb Realty and here is the description:

Only 3 families have ever owned this historic Beauty!! So many fabulous features, including original Steuben fixtures, intricate woodwork throughout, Butler's Pantry, wrap around porch, addtl rooms on 3rd floor (642 sf) waiting for your special touches (area is finished, but not updated or heated), stunning hardwood floors, library w/ fireplace, unfinished lower level can be made very useable. There is an ADORABLE full sized doll house out back, which will win your child's heart! Don't wait!

Here is the link to the listing and there are more photos to be found there:
http://www.godeeb.com/properties/details.asp?mls=21315144

It's only $169k which I think is a good price. I see it backs a parking lot and the start of downtown and that equals convenience right? This will also reveal my secret desire to become a hipster artist. They had the house all decked out with Eames and Bertoia with some primitive antique pieces in the mix and I thought it was really cute. Both Victorian and 50's purists would disagree but obviously I have eclectic taste and I can't seem to limit myself to one era.

OK, the black/gray color gives it a funky Goth feel and it would be good for a couple of Halloweens but I'm more of a purple person so that is eventually what I would do to the exterior. Maybe blue. Blue and Purple?

I do like their color choice for the front doors. All the little details are fantastic in the gingerbread and those cute screen doors. It seems like there should be some stained glass in the window to the right, if not both windows.

The cute back porch, with another cute screen door.

Front entry with lovely staircase and light.

One of the parlor rooms/library. They apparently didn't feel the need to spend money on putting expensive parquet in the middle of the room where a rug was going. That was resourceful...until one needs to find a new rug in that exact size or bigger I guess!

Bookcases for all of my fine leather bound books? Who am I kidding, they would contain novelty books (i.e. Awkward Family Photos, Stuff on my Cat) along with an assortment of tacky tchotchkes. 

Lots of room in the kitchen with a back staircase and view of the back porch so I could enjoy that cute screen door while I cooked. If I ever cooked. Maybe I would if I had this house?

Plus there is a pantry where I could display all of my fine china er, Pyrex?

The hipster artist in me likes this bathroom. I can see it on Pinterest with a little more wall décor and a tag leading everyone to a tutorial about framing your bathtub. On a side note that bathtub must be a pain to clean around!

More hipster artist coming out. I like the white painted floors. I couldn't figure this out when I was on the tour and still can't figure out. You can see it better in the bathroom that these are really crappy, gummy pine wood floors. It's such a fancy house, they wouldn't have such crappy flooring in all of the bedrooms. My only thought is something was on top which got wrecked?? and this is the subfloor?

There aren't any photos of the 3rd floor but this is the staircase continuing upward. I recall it had a hallway with that red carpet and several bedrooms up there. See, more of that crappy subfloor-ish wood for the second floor hall.

And if the main house isn't enough, there is a super cute playhouse in the back!

 

Here is the link again: http://www.godeeb.com/properties/details.asp?mls=21315144

Feel free to buy it and then keep us updated about your projects!

Dreamy Knotty Pine Estate Part III: The Bathrooms

To shorten my previous post I decided to devote another posting to the bathrooms.
If you looked closely at the last post, you may have seen a peek of one of the bathrooms I would kill for (I'm considering it anyways to the woman who came in and said "oh, there is enough room for a skylight in here" along with "ugh, are these tiles 70's??") down the hall in the master bedroom.

 

A nearly mint condition octagonal, tiled floor to ceiling art deco bathroom!

 

 I can just imagine fixing some stray hairs and making sure one's silk stockings are straight before taking off for brunch at the Country Club 80 years ago.

 

No tanks for the toilets in this house. The recessed holder makes up for the awkward reach to the TP.

 

Yes, this tub is very short.

 There was a light in the tub area which was out and it appears someone else besides me was taking a peek at the tub when I took this picture. Luckily it's in good shape because I don't think one could find a replacement though someone will probably come in, rip it out, put in 12" brown tiles and some glass shower doors. To go with that skylight. Are skylights still a thing? I thought that was an 80's/90's thing?

 

Apart from the nifty recessed light above the sink, this was the only other (working) light in the bath. I suppose it will be sacrificed for that skylight?

 

The main bath isn't quite as roomy but I like the colors better.

 

 

 

I'm liking this deep windowsill and those little decorative tiles.

 

The sconces flanking the mirror match the tiles. Plus, check out that 60's wallpaper which they somehow managed to match the flowers perfectly with the tile color!

 

Whew, I think I shared a small portion of this nifty home. I'm sure it will sadly be updated and modernized BUT if someone does happen to buy it and restore it/leave it's funkiness please invite me over for brunch. Umm, unless you are one of those people who I heard bragging about golf. I am bad at golf.

 

I also am not capable of using the heard phrase "toodaloo" as a serious farewell statement. Is this a current rich country club thing that I am out of the loop on because I live on the poor side of the neighborhood??

Dreamy Knotty Pine Estate Part II. Now with Pictures!

I was afraid they had long ago sold this house without a realtor but it finally popped up on the listings this last week!  About 6 months ago (has it been that long!?) we went to an estate sale which I talked about here

Here is the listing.

We went to the open house just to be snoopy. The photos are a mix of the realtor's (the large normal overviews of rooms) and mine, which are, well, mostly strange close ups of ridiculous things.

I admit, not a good start because it's really hard to see the house with those trees but it has cedar shingles on the 2nd story and the rest is stone.

The foyer with the living room to the right. I recall the stair risers were lit at the estate sale. I'm guessing the wall to the left is also knotty pine which was painted at some point. There is a panel in the thick arch on the right which opens for folding chair and/or table leaf storage. (as shared by the estate sale ladies) 

Looking back from whence we came, in the foyer towards the entry and front door. Note the crown molding, banister, risers and trim are all knotty pine.

The fantastic study is directly to the left of the front door and entry so I guess any business dealings can be done without entering the main house.

The living room, which is through the archway. Darn it, there is a colonial themed wallpaper mural on the wall opposite the fireplace but I didn't think to get a photo and I guess they didn't feel that was a big selling point for some reason!!

I love the sunroom off the living room with the painted brick walls.

 

A formal colonial style dining room is next. The sunroom was through those double French doors.

 

 

The kitchen is through the swinging door to the right above. My mom and I carefully examined the cupboards because they are in such good shape. Are they from 1931? They had matching molding around the top to coordinate with the other rooms and the style and construction looked 1930-ish. They have made updates throughout the years with a newer sink, Corian counters and obviously the cupboards have been reworked for a dishwasher and modern stove so it is hard to say.

 

 My mom and I both love this hall. It seems to be the maintenance hallway with the pantry closets and a tiny half bath behind the doors to the left and a kitchen door to the right. A laundry chute, old fuse box and a trash chute? are also down this hall. That far away door is the garage and the back basement staircase is to the right of that which leads directly to a laundry area. The hall has funky black and red specked flooring and more painted brick.

 

The basement isn't too interesting. This room was probably finished in the 60's judging by the paneling, ceiling and light fixture.

 

Moving upstairs. Another shot of the banister and a nice shot of some of the knotty pine doors.

 

The bedrooms all had great wallpapers.

 

This room had bright blue carpet at the estate sale and check out a close up of the wallpaper!

 

 

more wallpaper from one of the other bedrooms.

and this was hiding in one of the closets. Too 70's cute!

 

This bedroom must have been the lady's of the house and/or the master bedroom. The French doors lead to a sun porch.

 

The hall in the bedroom led to a walk in closet to the right and plain old closets to the left.

 

The table is attached to the wall and the small door leads out to the hall with a shelf and call button. The lady at the estate sale said the original owner liked to have her breakfast delivered to her room but didn't want her servants to see her so they could open the door and leave it for her on the table.

 

Moving up to the 3rd floor! The servant's quarters. Look the floors have original vents so it looks like along with real closet space, they also had real direct heating. Classy!

 

More cute wallpaper. They hadn't removed the matching 60's carpeting yet in here either.

 

The original bell is still in the hallway between rooms.

 

Along with this guy who I can safely assume was added for the children/grandchildren's? sake long after the need for live-in servants had gone.  

 

The other huge attic room. Ahh! It has Amityville windows! It also had a very nice (what looked to be a) Heywood Wakefield bedroom set up here at the estate sale.

 

a close up shot of the wallpaper in this room.

 

I wish I would have seen this stash at the estate sale because they probably would have sold it since unfortunately I really can't see anyone buying a house in this area and carefully making repairs to 1960's wallpaper. I'm sure that kitchen will be ripped out and expanded to make room for an island and some granite and stainless steel.

 

 Whew, that pretty much covers it. Wait? the bathrooms? Umm, yes, I am a nerd about bathrooms (that is weird, isn't it?) and this post was getting kind of long so I decided to save them for a separate posting.

P.S. my husband just looked over and said "umm, are you blogging about that house you looked at? That is weird." Is it? Yeah, it is.