MLS Tour: Spokane South Hill

Welcome to Spokane's South Hill area. Spokane was incorporated as a City in 1881 and according to their web page is Washington's second largest city and the hub of commerce for much of eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and even Montana. The south hill area is home to many turn of the century homes, most well cared for and surrounded by old trees. The are also has many old parks, largest is Manito Park and its five gardens, conservatory and duck pond are toured by over 150,000 visitors each year. At one time it also had a zoo.

Our first tour is this pretty storybook home close to both Cannon Hill Park and Manito. Priced at $319,000. View it HERE
It has a warm family feel inside.
Loving the glass knobs!
This cozy room with study nook is a favorite of mine.
Next home drew my eye with it's pretty turquoise door and blossoming trees. Again a nice walk to both Cannon Hill Park and Manito. Listed at $325,000 HERE
Love the pretty light filled kitchen!
Nice wood floors.
For those with a bigger wallet you can own this newer beauty on the prestigious Rockwood Blvd. Live surrounded by turn of the century mansions that range in style from Italian villas to Federal and lots of beautiful Craftsmans with lush gardens. Listed HERE for $985,000

Pretty kitchen done in what looks like a paris gray and stainless.
This ceiling is something else....what a awesome home to entertain in.
More about Spokane's history can be found at: spokanecity.org

Progress Report

Well we stayed at the house for an extended week and my blogging is a reflection of that. We still don't have the internet up and running. My days have been mostly spent entertaining the boys and trying out all the neat water play areas.. however while the boys entertained themselves making mud pies I did manage to pull the wall paper in the kitchen and dining, but the paste is still clinging to life on my walls. I have to say I think they look worse now.. can't wait to paint. Hubby was busy working on the eves projects in our bedrooms.

Here you can see how the eves look in our bedroom. We have attic access on both sides with these slider panels. This space is pretty functional and it already has board and can be used as a closet. He cut holes in the wall in each side and put in ikea drawers..two sets on each side. This will give us a small dresser for socks, etc. without taking away floor space with a dresser. We spent a few evenings painting them and all the trim white.

Before:


After:
With the drawers in:
He is also busy working on the boys built-in beds. Here is a before of the boys room with their attic space (btw..one connects all the way to ours, the boys could get into our room like a secret tunnel)

Here is one side framed out. They will still have a closet space but the tunnel has been walled off.

The other bed is about ready to be trimmed out.

I did manage one coat of black paint on the stairs before the floor guys got the refinished treads back on.

Here is a view of the blotchy paste covered kitchen...
and dining with more paste on lime green with brown blotches. Yuck
It's slow going with lots to do..but it's getting there. We also got the garage plumed for a utility sink and washer and dryer.. and had the old breaker box and meter replaced this weekend. Whew.

Progress Report

Well we stayed at the house for an extended week and my blogging is a reflection of that. We still don't have the internet up and running. My days have been mostly spent entertaining the boys and trying out all the neat water play areas.. however while the boys entertained themselves making mud pies I did manage to pull the wall paper in the kitchen and dining, but the paste is still clinging to life on my walls. I have to say I think they look worse now.. can't wait to paint. Hubby was busy working on the eves projects in our bedrooms.

Here you can see how the eves look in our bedroom. We have attic access on both sides with these slider panels. This space is pretty functional and it already has board and can be used as a closet. He cut holes in the wall in each side and put in ikea drawers..two sets on each side. This will give us a small dresser for socks, etc. without taking away floor space with a dresser. We spent a few evenings painting them and all the trim white.

Before:


After:
With the drawers in:
He is also busy working on the boys built-in beds. Here is a before of the boys room with their attic space (btw..one connects all the way to ours, the boys could get into our room like a secret tunnel)

Here is one side framed out. They will still have a closet space but the tunnel has been walled off.

The other bed is about ready to be trimmed out.

I did manage one coat of black paint on the stairs before the floor guys got the refinished treads back on.

Here is a view of the blotchy paste covered kitchen...
and dining with more paste on lime green with brown blotches. Yuck
It's slow going with lots to do..but it's getting there. We also got the garage plumed for a utility sink and washer and dryer.. and had the old breaker box and meter replaced this weekend. Whew.

Goodwill Before and After: Vintage Nightstands

A lovely set of vintage nightstands.. I'm thinking 60's country? The painting on the front is a decal of some sort. The tops and fronts are wood and there is some wood veneer. The finish is a bit worn but the wood is in pretty good shape. Of course they needed a good cleaning.

One thing to keep in mind when buying old furniture... if you live in a area with bad spiders.. be sure to handle the piece with gloves and vacuum out all areas..esp the bottom!! Sometimes these pieces have been kept in a garage or barn and around here black widows LOVE barns. They especially love the dark bottom areas of furniture. I have actually seen a black widow drop out of a table in Goodwill and scuttle across the floor. These did have webs..but thankfully no spiders.

Here they are after their first coat of Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint. I'm using Provence, a teal blue. The paint dries very fast and is very different from latex. I didn't sand or prep..just a good cleaning before painting.
After the second coat all the dark brown was covered.
As you can see the paint covers very well...after two coats I had barely made a dent in my paint.
Next I tried to do a wash of Old White chalk paint but it dried so fast I ended up much whiter than planned. I do like that you can just add water to thin..but it also dried faster when thinned. The one on the left I had sanded down to show more Provence. I finally thinned some Provence and used a towel to wash more of the blue over the white.. It worked much better washing with a cloth than a brush..I could work it in before it dried.
Here they are after a coat of clear wax and hardware back on..I plan to put these in our bedroom of the new house. I paid $5.99 for each nightstand and used some of my Annie Sloan paint.. though I have much more for other projects left.

MLS Tour: Astoria Oregon

Due to school being out now we are heading to the new house for working weekends on Fridays. I don't have internet at the house yet...and blogging from the Ipad is not so great, so I'm going to have to move my MLS tours. I may just leave them floating for a bit in order to have flexibility during our move.

This time we are visiting the historic town of Astoria Oregon. Astoria is a very old town. It was actually the place that Lewis and Clark made their settlement when they journeyed to the Pacific. It is very hilly, bad in the winter ice...but great for views. In fact most of the Victorian cottages have some sort of water view.

It is also a famous movie star.. Wikipedia says "Astoria was the setting of the 1985 movie The Goonies, which was filmed on location. Other movies filmed in Astoria include Overboard, Short Circuit, The Black Stallion, Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, Benji the Hunted, The Ring Two, Into the Wild, The Guardian and Cthulhu."

It's also a nice little town to explore and we try to get over there for a poke around when we visit my grandparents at the beach.

This little cottage is filled with shabby charm. Tour it HERE.
I LOVE this built in bed!!

Peek a boo view from the deck.

This lovely 1890 home has tons of period detail. Tour it HERE
Along with a very nice updated kitchen.

Love this detail..
MUCH more than a peek a boo view!
This four bedroom 1914 home has much of the original wood inside. Tour it HERE.

I'm thinking this view is from the front of the house..
There are many more historic cottages for sale.. some needing some updates. Most are quite affordable considering their views.