![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naturallypixieBart and I may have finally found a house today. We have been looking for months at the same type of Baltimore rowhome over and over and becoming increasingly disappointed. We had found a house that we LOVED right at the beginning of our search, but we didn't get it and we never were sure why. We offered more than the asking price. *sigh*
This one is in a nice neighborhood and is priced right. The catch is that it needs a lot of work. The good part is that it needs a lot of work. In so many places we have seen, other people have "renovated" or "updated" the house into oblivion. Either they did a crap job or they did an amazing job, but are asking way too much for the neighborhood. And I have decided that there is not a designer in Baltimore capable of laying out a useful kitchen. The stove should not be shoved into the corner. Just no.
It was built in the fourties and hasn't been updated since then, so you see, there are lovely hardwood floors underneath that dusty carpet. They don't even need to be refinished because they haven't seen the light of day in years. It has an oil radiator that will have to go, but probably not until after the winter...anybody out there have an oil radiator? How do they work? I have never seen one in action. It needs all new everything, but we can totally afford to do it because the asking price is so low and we are going to offer even less than they are asking, I think. Wish us luck! I will let you all know if we get it :)
This one is in a nice neighborhood and is priced right. The catch is that it needs a lot of work. The good part is that it needs a lot of work. In so many places we have seen, other people have "renovated" or "updated" the house into oblivion. Either they did a crap job or they did an amazing job, but are asking way too much for the neighborhood. And I have decided that there is not a designer in Baltimore capable of laying out a useful kitchen. The stove should not be shoved into the corner. Just no.
It was built in the fourties and hasn't been updated since then, so you see, there are lovely hardwood floors underneath that dusty carpet. They don't even need to be refinished because they haven't seen the light of day in years. It has an oil radiator that will have to go, but probably not until after the winter...anybody out there have an oil radiator? How do they work? I have never seen one in action. It needs all new everything, but we can totally afford to do it because the asking price is so low and we are going to offer even less than they are asking, I think. Wish us luck! I will let you all know if we get it :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2006 21:22 (UTC)Rob might be a good person to talk to about the radiators, I can't remember what kinda he had/has, but he's been heating/cooling geeking for a little while now while redoing his house.
no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2006 21:29 (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2006 21:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2006 21:48 (UTC)no subject
Date: 27 Nov 2006 21:54 (UTC)Wallpaper removal trick
Date: 27 Nov 2006 22:39 (UTC)There are only 2 kinds of Baltimore row home, as far as I've seen. 1 room wide, 4 rooms deep where all the bedrooms open into each other and the other one, where the living room is the whole width of the house and the kitchen and dining room are half. Neither one has a workable kitchen. What part of Baltimore are you looking at?
Re: Wallpaper removal trick
Date: 27 Nov 2006 22:49 (UTC)We are in the 21212 zip code now, which is around Belvedere Square and the Senator Theater. Most of the homes are immense and out of our price range, but there are still a couple of neighborhoods that are still being gentrified.
Most of the houses we saw were of the second type you described and I hate them because the kitchen always sucks. This house, however, is a little different. The bottom floor is divided into three rooms that are the width of the house. Living room then dining room then kitchen. The kitchen is currently set up as an eat in, but could easily be converted to an L-shaped work space with the radiator removed and new cabinetry installed. The kitchen is bigger than most that we have seen and is in perfectly fine working order, everything is just old including the refrigerator, which seems to be from the 50's, but isn't one of the cool looking Frigidaire's from the period.
Re: Wallpaper removal trick
Date: 27 Nov 2006 22:52 (UTC)Re: Wallpaper removal trick
Date: 27 Nov 2006 22:55 (UTC)Re: Wallpaper removal trick
Date: 27 Nov 2006 22:59 (UTC)Re: Wallpaper removal trick
Date: 27 Nov 2006 23:13 (UTC)it's absolutely stunning but the bedrooms are on the 2nd and 3rd floors, both with lofted beds (one built-in above the stairs, one not).
good luck!
no subject
Date: 28 Nov 2006 14:12 (UTC)Of course, since you are talking closets, I suppose my efforts wouldn't be seen anyway...
no subject
Date: 28 Nov 2006 01:11 (UTC)