Monday, December 9, 2013

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.

http://www.godeeb.com/properties/details.asp?mls=21315144
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!
 
Feel free to buy it and then keep us updated about your projects!

1 comment:

  1. Maybe the upstairs was carpeted? That is very odd, but considering how the first floor had plain wood in the areas of parquet flooring where rugs went maybe it makes sense? It is an amazing house! And more people like to blend Victorian and 1950's than you think! Haha

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