OUR HOUSE

 ...is a very, very fine house.

Let me tell you how we came to possess this 1928 beauty.

When we lived in Barrow, we would fly to the lower 48 for vacation.  One year, between visiting in Idaho, Washington and Oregon, we visited his sister in Salem.  She owned property in Coquille and invited us to ride there to take a look.  Away we went.  I had never been this way before and the ride was gorgeous! 

We were almost the 42 when suddenly a young bear was by the side of road.  He scooted back into the bushes.

We got to the house and is was the hottest day of tye summer, it was about 90 degrees which is almost unbearable.  We went into the house, there was an old brick walkway to the front door.  Carolyn had told us that a couple of families and a business were set up in the house.  As a result of that, the house was crammed with furniture.  The hallway from the front door to the half bath was packed floor to ceiling with boxes of stuff.

There was a path on the left through the living room which was also packed with furniture.  That hallway led past the half bath and into the kitchen. From there a door lead into the dining room which was also packed floor to ceiling. There was a folding door to the sun room on the north side of the living room but the sun room was packed solid as well.

We went upstairs. There were two large bedrooms, one small bathroom and full bath.  Each bedroom had someone in it working on a computer.  There was a door on the north side of the bedroom that led to a deck.

We looked into the attic briefly where there were several mattresses for the kids.

We shuddered and agreed that the house had good bones. 

Sometime in early 1998, we decided that we needed to be somewhere eventually so we contacted his sister and got things underway.

We got the house financed at the local bank in Coquille, the usual ick paperwork and transferring of funds etc.

We flew down for closing and before that we stopped in Salem to order a queen sized bed. We stayed to have dinner and by the time we got home the bed had been delivered and was sitting in the hallway. 

That was the first thing we did was put the bed in the living, which had a fireplace!  Didn't see it the first time we toured the place.  

Carolyn had made many improvements in the place before we moved.  She put in carpet everywhere but the kitchen, bathrooms and sunroom. She had a concrete walkway poured for the front.  She put chain link fencing in the back yard. She had the old oil burning heater removed and put in a high efficiency heat pump.  We were set!

We came down in October for all of that.  We purchased a van in Coos Bay for transportation. We were spending money like drunken sailors. 

After Christmas, we flew back to Barrow proud owners of our first and only house.

Would you like to know the actual reason I decided to move to the lower 48?  Remember Y2K?  Yep, I knew that the computers would keep working, but I was just superstitious enough to decided that if the computers did crash, I was not in favor of staying until things got better.  So I had a big assed yard sale.  Husband was already living in the house with the cat and her five kittens.

I made about 800 dollars at the yard sale which helped immensely when you move by mail.  I mailed a box or two every week and they were all waiting for me by the time I got there in December 1999.

I didn't have a job.  So, I began looking around. The hospital in Coos Bay sent me a nice good luck letter.  So I started searching and for heaven's sake there was a hospital in Coquille.

I called there and asked to speak to the Medical Records manager, Judy Colton.  We had a very nice conversation. She said she did  not have any openings but was trying to get a transcription position. Was I interested? Yeah.  So we kept in touch through the summer as I mailed boxes home.

People are serious about yard sales in Barrow. Most of them occur before school lets out for summer. The teachers who are moving have yard sales.  Mine was later in the year but I sold a whole lot of stuff.  I tossed a bunch of crap into the dumpster and anything left over from the yard sale went in the free corner in the room next to the washing machines.

I also had jury duty that quarter.  I was actually in the courtroom the day that I was scheduled to fly out.  Fortunately I was dismissed from that trial. Whew!

Got to Coquille and settled in for a few days.  I had an interview with the hospital administrator.  She and the office manager interviewed me.  And I was offered the job of transcriptionist.  I asked to start in January and voila I was employed!

By the time I went to went, Judy had fallen and badly hurt her ankle and was not going to be back for a couple of months.  So I came on as  Medical Record manager.  Sheesh!

Back to the house, we settled in and settled in and settled in!  People who visit just love the house, the kitchen is dreadful and needs a remodel but that ain't going to happen unless I win a HUGE lottery.

Here are my thoughts about what I would do with seemingly unlimited amounts of dollars.

In 2008 or so we had the roof replaced.  In 2010 we had Honey Do Construction come and paint and repair as much as possible. They did a great job.  At nearly the same time out sewer stopped working.  As it developed, the iron bits had rusted completly through and needed to replaced clear out the main.  Best thing is that we now have clean outs at all the appropriate places.  Also, we had someone put in French drains on each side of the front porch.  This prevented water run off going into the basement.

Now as for my remodel plans.  I would dig out the basement a good foot to get headroom.

New backdoor. 

Replace high efficiency heat pump.

Replace carpet with hardwood throughout the house. New front door. New doors throughout the house.

Replace all windows.

Put liner in fireplace.  Change mantle and surround.

Half bath remodel. Marble floor.  New sink and toilet.

Kitchen; floor with ceramic tile, cabinets deep enough to dinner plates.  For tallest need sliding library ladder. New counter top, prefer quartz.  No walls knocked down.  Would love dishwasher.  Farm sink. Pot filler at stove.

Dining room firm up floor so items in cupboard do not rattle.  Wall off outside door in dining room.

Screen doors on all outside doors.

Central vac all floors.  Whee!!

Bedrooms are okay, spruce up with paint, window treatment. Screens on all windows that open.  Would like ones that tilt in for washing.  (Like THAT will ever happen!)

Attic: full dormers each side enlarged to small efficiency apartment with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room.  

Develop deck outside north bedroom.  Make a sunroom.

This allows a deck for the attic. 

Outside elevator to allow access to all floors.  Big enough to move furniture etc.

Garage in backyard.  Will need to remove trees.

Improve fencing. Get rid of ivy.  Have retaining wall made for half of lawn next to house.  Improve drainage in backyard.  Black top alley way.

Get lawn fixed either with seed or sod.

Last thing, have professional movers put everything in storage with instructions to discard all empty cardboard boxes.

Treat house for carpenter ants.

Power wash house get spider webs off.

Forgot, purchase triplex so we can be close during renovation.  What fun!