h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mmmm, lofts with skylights would also be a big factor for me, because there's more visual interest in having rooms with various shapes - but again, that's just me. The boxy ones are certainly easier to furnish.

An area for guests to sleep without it being in a common area does sound like a good idea. I've always wanted a place with those old-fashioned Scandinavian beds in alcoves with a curtain in front of them

What are the entryways like? Not visually, but space-wise? A door that opens straight into the living room is usually a bad idea, especially in a climate like yours, but so is a very cramped entry. It's usually an area the architect forgets to design. You'll want somewhere you can hang your coats and leave a package sitting without tripping over it constantly.

Entryways:

In the first home, the front entryway does come right into the house, offset from the living room, with a coat closet directly ahead and an open staircase to the second floor to the other side. There is a side entrance, the one we'd usually use as K would be parking in the garage and if I walked from the train it'd make as much sense to use the side as the front anyway. That one opens into a small walled in landing/hallway thingy. To the right are stairs down the basement, to the left, stairs to the kitchen, with a door at the top which would be useful for (a) climate control and (b) preventing certain cats from falling down the stairs. No place really to put coats or shoes there, though.

In the second, it did in fact have an enclosed mud porch. We could put our coat tree out there if we wanted to, but there's also a closet right inside the second entry door.

The third enters into a little foyer with a window and a closet and a nice ceramic tile floor, which then enters into the living room. No separate second door.

Personally, I think mud porches are nice but not enough to warrant buying a home I liked less and/or needed a lot more renovation. If you know what I mean. The little foyer in the third one was definitely something that made me stop and think "how nice!".

All three had little doors and chutes for the mail, rather than outside mail boxes, which is nice. Not only is your mail not available for pilfering, but it won't get wet and you don't have to let all the heat/ aircon out and the cold/hot air in.

Mala, the attic area with the skylights was a huge attracting factor, I'll admit. Especially as, aside from the carpet (which I hate but would deal with till I could afford to have something else) and the drywall, it wasn't what you'd call "finished". And it had regular windows facing north and south at either end, which can be opened to let air in as needed. I don't know if the heat or aircon get up there but it wouldn't be too hard to drag an electric heater up there for any overnight guests in winter, and most people could probably survive a night with a fan instead of aircon, I'd think.

Having to think about where the closets are. (Though built-ins are nice.) Outside mailboxes. *blink blink* Had to get back into American mode for a moment.

The problem with our mailbox is that it's just a slit in the door with two flaps, meaning they just push the paper in and prop both slits open, letting the heat out

I think we never once used the front door when we were living on the farm in Oregon - the mudroom was also the laundry and where the coats and boots lived, and we always went in through there and then through the kitchen.

This place does have two back doors, but they're less useful because you have to go through the barn first, and we usually latch that from the inside because it's right on the street.

But back on topic. Ahem. This is all terribly exciting, I want to go look at houses with you! I'm just nosy that way.

With proper cross-ventilation, a long, low space like that should be easy enough to cool - and it's a good heat buffer as well, since the hot air will go up and then you can open the windows at night to let it out (ideally one up high on the south side and a low one on the north side.) But I'd make sure it's properly insulated under that drywall! Otherwise, it'll heat the place up too fast.

Maybe there are floorboards under the carpet? We had that in a few rooms here

Yeah, lots of places have hard wood under the carpets. The basement has concrete underneath, in that last house, and I'd probably pull up the carpet at some point and replace it with something less beige. The attic, if it had decent wood underneath, I would rip up the carpet to expose the wood. That little enclosed back sunroom had carpet, too (it looks like an addition), and that I would definitely want to rip up and replace with cork or bamboo or some decent indoor/outdoor type carpet in a more interesting color and with less pile. Carpeted floors aggravate my allergies and asthma, but obviously an attic might not be used often enough to be much of a problem.

You know, I kind of wish I could bring you along with me. You'd be a huge help! Our realtor is good and she knows pretty much what I like... K is harder to gauge. It's be helpful to have someone around who knew a bit about structure, like you- you could stop me buying any money pits or death traps.

If we go back for any second looks, I'll bring a camera and see if I can show you some photos.

Oh, that first home had a small back door in the dining room, but there aren't any stairs attached. One could install a small wooden platform or deck there (though I hate those huge decks people put on that cover up the whole back lawn).

If it's an older house, the carpet in the attic is extra insulation, both for heat and for sound - so if it's not an area you'd be using that, I'd keep it. If it's too beige, you can always add smooth woven rugs

I like cork flooring. It's holding up well in our kitchen. But it's not for areas where you'll get puddles of snow melting, for example.

Remembering the awful carpet I had in the room I shared with my sister - it was all over the house when we bought it, and renovating our room wasn't a priority. Orange, red, and green polyester shag in varying heights of pile, not only garish, but too uneven to balance toys upright on. Other areas had mixtures of brown and turquoise and green or other awful things like that.

Ah, hadn't thought of the insulation aspect, which is a very good point. I'll make a note that if we get this one, or another with a similar attic, to leave the carpet in until I can replace it with something I like better. At that particular house, it'd only be a priority to rip out the stuff in the sun porch area.

Thanks for the tip.

We had such awful carpet in the house we had when I was a kid, when we first moved in. The living room stuff was a real icky gray, and the downstairs bedroom had brown and orange shag. I kind of like shag area rugs, but not with these cats and their carpet-loving claws.

We had styrofoam wallpaper here when we moved in. The kittens would climb up to the ceiling and jump down on the beds.

I'm now picturing you traipsing around looking at houses with the whole of the participants in this thread following you like little ducks in a row

Clearly we are nosy little ducks (vote for rubber duck smiley )

If you're taking votes, I'd go for no 3, completely without seeing any pictures or knowing the location. Depending on the size of the basement could you maybe put a little cinema room down there?

And Mala - Styrofoam wallpaper???

Yes, it was terrible! The house is half-timbered, that is, wooden frame filled with mud and straw. The only way to construct a wall so that it can breathe all the way through, so there's no problem with moisture no matter how thick it is, that is, no matter how well insulated.

Until you stick on three millimetres of styrofoam because all the new houses are sealed... The plaster in some rooms had crumbled so much we had to re-do it.


(At least the realtor will know why she needs the guest bedroom if we all come "help" her look )

Yes, the possibility of putting up marauding hootooers for a night or a few would be one of the advantages of a spare bedroom or other suitable sleeping area. Once my uncle decided to sell the house up here and move down to Florida (he doesn't want to deal with stairs when he's much older), it'd be nice to be able to let my dad stay if he wanted to, as well, though at that point I doubt he'd be coming up much any more, anyway.

While I'm still keen on a fireplace, it seems silly to pass up a larger kitchen, which I'd enjoy the benefits of pretty much daily, for something we'd use only during colder weather (and not every day then, either), if you know what I mean.

I wonder if I could get any of the photos from the real estate listings, or find a real estate listing I could link to. I'll give that a shot when I get into the office- I'm just having my now and killing time while K is in the shower and stuff. If I can, I'll share the listings for these two.

I can imagine some of you coming through these houses with us, peering into closets and poking around windows, pointing out various good and bad things. Of course, either purchase would be wholly contingent on (a) passing inspection and (b) our landlord letting us out of our lease (which expires April 2012)...

Go for the larger kitchen. Me, I dream of having a larger kitchen...

We'd not have managed my sister's wedding without getting the huge kitchen done in time!

Anyway, if you buy the place, you can always have a fireplace (or a woodstove, which I much prefer - they do have some with glass doors) installed later. An older house like those should have a suitable chimney anyway, you can ask the inspector about that.

...or you can do as my pal C. She has a very antique iron wood stove from anno dazumal in perfect shape that she drags along from place to place. I think she has been doing that for some twenty years or so now

Anyway, she has never used it due to lack of proper chimneys. The latter are not common in multi storey buildings any more...

As long as it's decorative...

Big rooms are easier to clean - and keep clean - than small ones. We used to manage to keep our huge-roomed traditional tenement flat nice and tidy.

In one of those 'small world' things...we already know that the guy we sold it to was a dealer...but I discovered last week that he used to deal to a good friend of mine.

That's the weirdest 'small world' episode I've heard of.

>>anno dazumal

Ooh! A new German phrase for me. Like it!