Dream a little dream for me...

Yesterday we opened Pandora's box.

 

 

Yesterday we took a good, long look at a beautiful old house...

 

 

...in the loveliest part of town, two blocks back from the Main Street, opposite Harry's Preschool and a few doors down from his new primary school.

 

 

We've fallen in love with this heritage listed Art Deco gem.

In the past 80 years it's only had two owners and most of the original features still remain, including the BEAUTIFUL old Aga and the little cubby where the milk bottles were delivered. I must admit, I let out an involuntary squee when I saw the kitchen.

 

This house could be a truly beautiful family home.

The catch, it's been sadly neglected for a long time and needs a large dose of TLC...structurally and cosmetically. A renovators delight as they say.

We're toying with the idea of taking it on.

 

 

I love the master bedroom with its big bay window and the sweet little sunroom off the side.

 

 

I love the high ceilings and ornate plasterwork. I can picture the living room, free of the current tenant's clutter with a refurbished fireplace, a fresh coat of paint and comfortably furnished with our Moran leather lounge and Art Deco drinks stand.

 

 

The bathroom...great size but serious damp issues and needs to be gutted and redesigned, current layout doesn't work.

 

 

The boys bedrooms are a lovely size and there is a very decent study too.

An ugly 1970s addition to the back of the house has great potential to be turned into a beautifully sunny open plan kitchen/diner, with double glazed doors that open out onto a large deck. I've always longed for a kitchen opening out onto the deck and back garden.

The hub of the home, the heart of our home.

 

It would take some clever designing and would involve moving the Aga, transforming the original kitchen into a formal dining room and turning the old formal dining room into a library.

As for the garden...oh the things we could do on this double block. A big blank canvas to create a new patch of paradise.

 

 

It is such a gigantic and costly project but in the perfect location and absolutely the right fit for us. We usually err on the side of caution and yet it feels like 'the' one. We can see what a wonderful home it could be in ten years time, a place where our teenage boys could hang out with their mates. A beautiful, welcoming space for entertaining friends and growing our own food and enjoying the end result of all that hard, hard work. I've been gathering ideas in my own little Dream House Ideabook on Houzz. Such a great source of inspiration.

As it happens, the realtor who is selling this divine property sold our current home to us almost seven years ago. Our dream property has been on the market for over twelve months now and come down in price by $100k. Other prospective buyers wanted to knock the house down and subdivide the double block. But the council want to retain this historical gem and the current owner has stipulated that he'll bide his time and only sell to someone who is committed to keeping it as a family home. Is that serendipity playing its part???

We've loved our little cottage, it's been a great first home but we only ever planned to spend seven to ten years here and it is well and truly time to leave this neighborhood. We don't want our boys growing up thinking that violent brawls at 2am and drag racing up and down the street is acceptable behaviour. We don't want to be the nicest house in the worst street, we'd much rather be the worst house in the nicest street.

 

 

Anyone out there taken the risk and jumped feet first into a project like this?

Are we completely mad for contemplating such a mammoth task?

I suppose if we're going to dream, we might as well dream big.

xx Em

 

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