after living in the old hotel we purchased and renovated for 6 months, what seemed like a fun idea quckly turned into reality of what it was really like for the old miners who lived in small rooms and shared one bath at the end of the hall. so i frantically started searching craigslist for available properties in victor. this time it had to be a house that didn't need ceilings torn out, walls moved, foundations repaired, in order to sell my husband on the idea of moving again. joyously i found a candidate and made an appt. to look at it. all i could see was space, space and more space, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a rarity for victor properties. i think the way i put it to him was "i want it, and i want it now". desperate people do desperate things, but to me it looked perfect...move in ready...well almost.
i didn't get a before picture of the kitchen, because basically there was none. just a sink and stove that faced each other, and in between was a door to the bathroom with a perfect view of the porcelain throne. i can tolerate alot of things, but not that. with all the doors and windows in the kitchen there weren't many options without completely tearing out the floor and replumbing the whole thing. and after all..it WAS move in ready. so i had to keep my requests to a minimum. even though there's still not alot of cabinets, its way better than before. and with the help of a couple of antique pieces for a kitchen island and bake center, it's plenty big for someone who doesn't cook much.
i've always wanted to do a kitchen with just freestanding antique kitchen pieces and that's pretty much how this one turned out.
and now instead of looking into the bathroom, after closing the door on the kitchen side we left it in place on the bathroom side, added shelves and have what is probably the biggest medicine cabinet in colorado!
and then there was the little matter of painting...the entire interior. upon closer inspection, someone in the past had painted with a combinatation of semi gloss in some places and eggshell in others...on the same wall. we figured the time to do it was before everything was moved in, so we had a painting marathon and got it done in 2 days.
love, love, love this cast iron stairway to the upstairs. but it's sure not mover friendly with needing to take beds and dressers up. thankfully, there's an exterior door to the upstairs, but no steps leading up to it. another minor detail i missed. no worries, hubby constructed a temporary ramp and everything got moved in just fine. a new upper deck is on the 'to do' list for this summer.
so, "move in ready" is the new catch phrase with my friends when they refer to me and my house hunting escapades. our plans to renovate and move into an 1896 log boarding house have been put on hold because we like it here so well. but if the time comes that we get it done and get the itch to move again, it's gonna be Two Men and a Truck instead of One Man and a Woman with a pickup. This last move about killed us both.
