Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Community Event in Earlington

It's the BarBQ Cook Off this Saturday at the Earlington City Park~less than a mile from our home.
Read about it here:
http://isurfhopkinsco.com/press-releases/3688-earlington-2nd-annual-bbq-cook-off.html

Small town living at its best!
If you would like a showing, or have questions:
SisterTipster@gmail.com
216-759-7596

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

New Pictures~You Gotta See This House!

Priced at $65,000 it's unbelievable! 
I will give you info as we go grouping all the pics together by room or area~Enjoy!

This is the exterior of the home which is around 6 feet up from the street with two sets (one you see, the other to the sidewalk) from the street.  House faces North, to the right is West.

 
You are looking at the front door from the interior door from the foyer. The front porch is enclosed as you have noted in the first pic, and the floor is indoor/outdoor gray carpet. The walls are sheet rock with windows down the side on the left of this picture and windows across the front.  There are two exterior doors, the one you are seeing at the top of this picture and the one with the deck in the first picture.  On the left, you can see the house's original exterior siding.  There are three windows from the living room facing into this enclosed porch. 

  
This is the back yard from the left back corner of the house area.  There is an original brick sidewalk you can see just above the date/time stamp on the photo.  To the right of the photo is the raised bed. You can see the turned pot we had as part of our landscaping.  The swing in waiting for someone to enjoy!

This is the view of the back of the house from the garage.  On the left you can see the pear tree.  Read on in the blog to see what a wonderful yield it had this year! Yum! You can see better the sidewalk.  On the other side of the overgrown (at present) raised flowerbed, there is a brick patio.  We put table and chairs for outside pleasures!

When you come inside the back door, this is the back entry where you can either enter the downstairs bath to the right of this view (see the old dryer vent connection?) and behind your view is the kitchen entry.  The door to the bath is in character with the rest of the home. There is no door between this space and the kitchen.  The light matches the one over the sink in the kitchen AND in the butler's pantry.  Originally this was an "L" shaped porch that has been enclosed.  The wood work is less ornate than the rest of the home, but it's a wonderful place to hang your hat, coat and put your shoes~a GREAT mud room!  Paint/flooring/sheetrock/lighting 2006.
  
This is the downstairs bath.  It has a shower only and the renovations were done in 2006. The two windows have frosted plexiglass for privacy.  I used tension rods for swag curtains. The toilette is a highboy, and the right wall was done in 06 as it was originally vinyl siding. 

 This repeated picture is the view from the entryway from the back entry and back door.  It's actually misleading a bit because there is more space from the entry way to this table.  This next picture will give you a better idea of the space and when you read on in the blog there is a post with just measurements.  I hope this gives you much more details on our home.
I am going to go a head and create another post as I have many more pictures to share~thanks again to our dear friends!
If you want to see our home or have questions, please contact me. Remember we will not owner finance, do any renting to own or any kind of land contracts.  This home will need to be either cash or conventional financing. 
Thank you,
SistertTipster@gmail.com
216-759-7596

More Pictures to Show~

Here is the sink base my hubby built for me.
It is 40 inches high instead of the standard 36 inches.  Behind the curtain near the fridge side is a pull out cart with drop top and wire basket shelves for storage and island prep and usage.  I stored my trash can and cleaning supplies under there too.  There is a garbage disposal and sprayer.  This kitchen was not original to the home.  Since we discovered that by deed the house was built pre-1880 by Benjamen Robinson, an Earlington businessman, many things we saw as we renovated made sense.  This wall you are looking at originally held two very large (that matched the dinning room) windows positioned in the same places as do the ones in the dinningroom.  When my hubby upgraded the plumbing and removed the tired kitchen cabinets, he replaced the plaster with sheet rock which showed him the original studding.  Two windows were there originally, and our guess is that when the kitchen was either remodeled to accommodate the upper cabinets (like when we bought it or some earlier ones we did not see) that the owners enclosed the windows and placed the current.  The current window is more modern than any in our home. The trim was preserved to match the rest of the kitchen.  Also note that where the fridge now sets, there was a wood burning stove with pipe that went out the wall about where the socket the fridge plugs into.  It's all been enclosed and no wood burning in the home at present for heat.

 
The other side from the sink base in the kitchen.  You can see the electric and gas hook ups for the stove.  This chimney and wall are not original to the home.  We discovered this when a contractor pointed out that the wall adjoined into the trim of the double pocket doors from the dinning room into the foyer.  Our assertion is that craftsmen of the late 19th century would NOT have built a wall into trim,  and since we also found matching window openings that the dinning room was huge and no kitchen existed in our home but would have existed as did those of the day in an outside building.  This home originally sat on 4-fifty foot lots~meaning that the width was 200 feet wide...now it's 40 feet wide as was evidently sold off as by deed search prior to the 1939 transfer.  You can see a post further down that lists all the owners and when it was done.  
Also notice the vinyl flooring that is completely adjoined beautifully to the hardwood flooring.  No lip or height differences! This was done when we opened  the wall in the discovery of the kitchen creation and wall.  Before this renovation 2007, the back entry, butler's pantry, kitchen and under stairs closet flooring were all different heights~awful! But today there is only a slight difference in the under stair closet~So much thanks to the contractor who did this wonderful job for us!!

 You can't see the floor here which is the same brick pattern as the kitchen, back entry, downstairs bath and under stair closet, but this view is from the kitchen into the butler's pantry.  One door is open on the left side, and there is an identical cabinet on the right to match the left.  In center, you can see shelves, but on the base there are two wonderful WONDERFUL veggie bins~they are lined with metal and will hold onions and potatoes are nice long time! There is loads of storage in this pantry! AND the unit does not take up the entire width of the room.  I had a set of shelving that sad to the far right where I stored my bread maker and other big gadgets as well as my mop, broom and bucket for cleaning!  This shelf I placed was hidden by the swinging pantry door into the dinning room opening into the butler's pantry.  You will see this in the next picture.  Also note that the lighting matches the kitchen pendant over the sink and in the back entry back door area.

This is the dinningroom side of the butler's pantry.  This pic was taken standing in the dinningroom looking into it.  You can see the swinging door~and boy is it heavy! I used my grandmother's 18 lb cast iron antique iron to hold it in the back position into the pantry so I could enjoy seeing my pantry with ornate milk glass collectables on the shelves and baskets/greenery ivy on the top!  I really enjoyed ALL this storage in my kitchen and never regreted or missed traditional cabinets because of the "original" look without them the kitchen had.  Also it's fair to tell you that to have some in kitchen storage, I had two pie safes with punched tin doors and a smaller one 1/2 the width of the other two.  These were in addition to the tabble, chairs, sink base, fridge and stove.  (Just in case you wondered HOW I managed without traditional cabinets!) I USED this wonderful butler's pantry!

Since we're in the dinning room, here's the fireplace and built in china~
Of all four fireplaces, this is my favorite.  I have never seen one like it before! I truly enjoyed this room the most! It has 3 large windows with wonderful sunlight that as the day progresses the walls change hue of color~they are painted a gray-green, but as the sun sets, they will appear more green.  You can see the kitchen from the opening to the eat in area, and the walls will look more gray...it's some lighting illusion, but quite nice!  The kitchen, dinning room, butler's pantry, under stairs closet, back entry and bath are all the same paint: gray-green.

The pantry is totally original. It has original wall paper still on the back walls where the shelves are.  Coal used to be stored in the bottom doors, but I cleaned it well as it had been earlier as well, and used it for my sewing machine and fabric projects.  The doors are original glass. One is cracked.  We did not replace it because of the kind of glass that it is in light of its age.

The fireplaces in our home are all nonfunctional at present and retain their coal burning capabilities.  The summer covers are original, and the only one different is in the living room.  I'll show you that later. . .
The light is this room is partially original.  The metal parts are, while the glass is not. I added those pieces.  I had frosted white torch lamps in this room as well as the foyers so the frosted globe was nice.  I added the crystals. They are crystal but reproductions.  The three windows can be seen in this view as well as the crown molding which is throughout.  I think there is one bedroom upstairs (baby blue room and you can see that in a pic) that has no crown molding.  This light has a three way switch which makes for nice lighting for any occasion!
 
From the foyer you can see the dinning room and double pocket doors (only one side is opened)!  The wall to the right in this photo where the time/date stamp is placed is the back of the fireplace and china.  The orientation of this picture is that the photographer is standing on the stairs leading to the upper landing in the foyer.  
Here is the landing, steps to it and the staircase going up to the second floor.  The door you see leads into the closet that you can see in the kitchen photo from the back entry orientation.  In this closet is the hot water heater and an under stair cabinet with door.  I put one of the pie safes into this closet to store my everyday dishes and glass ware.  These were not tall pie safes about 48 inches, so I also put baskets on it.  There is a full sized window in this closet.  At one time there was evidence that this closet held a toilette from what can be known of some plumming under our home.  My how things change through the years!
 
This is a view of the other side of the foyer from the stair landing area and how I decorated it.  It's a nice sized space, and remember there are room measurements on into the blog for you to read.  The owners before us removed a large wood burning stove from this area that sat on a brick pallet.  My husband refinished the hardwood floors in 2006.  
This may give you a better idea of the space.  The left wall is the one behind the dinning room fireplace/china and the right is the front door and to the right lower corner the doorway into the livingroom.  It has a single pocket paneled door.

 This is the summer cover in the living room.  It's the one that is different from the other three and my favorite.

 
Here's the light on~


And here it is light off...it has a lacy pattern to the globes. I do not know if the globes are original or not, but they are very pretty.  I nor the owner before me replaced any globes so it's possible they are original or at least have some age on them.  You can see that the light extends down from the ceiling which is 10 feet. All except two that I am aware of are 10 foot ceilings.  I will tell you about them as we get into those rooms ;-))

 
This is the fireplace in the living room.  Check out the room dimensions on a later post.  This is a nice sized room! There are three large original windows that face into the enclosed front porch.  You can see that we did not replace this wall paper. I did not repair it either as there are some places where it is coming off, but I wanted to give you that option of an easy removal or to repair it.  Just some simple wall paper paste will fix if you like the reproduction pattern.
If you will read on through the blog you will find many more pictures of our home with our furniture and decor.  It will give you some more idea of how we lived in our home, but these pictures are the latest images taken this week.  I received them today and want you to see!
Please remember we are looking for a bank qualified buyer who will either purchase with conventional loan or cash.  We will not consider owner financing, land contracts or renting to own.  I am sorry if this is your situation. Please understand ours.  If you would like to see our home or have additional questions after you have read my blog, please contact me
SisterTipster@gmail.com
216-759-7596
Thank you!

Let's Head Up That Staircase!

Heading up~ you will find a room for a landing! I encourage you to read this whole blog to see all the posts I have written and the room dimensions!
 
To the right at the top of the stairs you can see that there is a railing and rungs that match the stairs with the over look of the staircase.  Behind this picture and in the stairwell are two full sized windows with original ornate wooden trim.  I put stained glass in these as the reflections were gorgeous!  The doorway on the left is the baby blue bedroom which is the only bedroom with carpet.  This floor was not redone when the others were in 2006 by my husband.  BTW~he sanded and there was around 25 gallons of saw dust removed, so these are in pretty great shape! The finish is satin which is more in line with the period look! Back to that bedroom~it has one window in it and has an acoustic tile ceiling with the original light which matches the one on this landing. 
This is a top view of both of the door ways into the baby blue bedroom and masterbedroom.  This is an origianl light and we know because of a repair my husband did on the one in the bedroom that they are Edison Light Co lights.  They are copper colored and may very well be copper!

Here is the light with the light cover down in the baby blue bedroom.  You can see the acoustic tile ceiling.  To the left would be the window which is the same size of all the windows in our home and to the right is the door way. You can get the room dimensions by reading further on in the blog...

 
This is the upstairs landing with view just into the masterbedroom. Also I believe the orientation is standing in the doorway from the blue bedroom that has Americana blue wall paper and border. More on that room to come! But now...the master bedroom~~~

This bedroom is painted a soft mint green as is the stairwell and upstairs landing.  You can see the third of the ornate fireplaces that are nonfunctioning at present, but are fitted with their original coal workings.  The closet you see has been in this home for sometime.  It could be original because there is not decorative hardwood in it.  To the right in this picture, you can see it, but there is another closet with matching trim.  The owner prior to us made this closet and it covers an exterior window that we did not remove.  It is behind wallboard and insulation.  The room does have three (two facing North and one West) windows that are quite large and the ceiling is 10 ft.  There are two air ducts in this bedroom with reporduction decorative covers in the ceiling and a ceiling fan with light fixture.  The ceiling is wall papered as are most of our home's ceilings except for two, one being that baby blue bedroom and I will tell you about the other when we get there!  
 
This is the Americana bordered blue wall papered bedroom.  You can see the closet that has a bifold door to the left of the fireplace which is decorative only.  This picture does no justice to the tiles in this fireplace.  They are  lavender with yellow and green...Very pretty! There are three windows, same large windows as the rest of our home in this bedroom AND a HUGE walk-in closet that actually was part of an upstairs balcony-porch orignally!  There is even a window in this space! Now the floors are not redone, but it is painted nicely with the wall paper having been removed!  The hardwood floors in this bedroom are unlike the others in the home. They are darker finished and were not redone in 20006. There is a celing fan with a school house fixture.

This may not be the very best picture of our bathroom, but it's soo way much better than any before!
You can see the claw footed tub which was redone in 2007 with interior sanding and resurfacing and exterior painting.  The floor was new luan and vinyl that extends into the smallest bedroom that originality both the bath and bedroom were one bedroom!  There is not threshold molding as it's one piece!  The wainscotting in the bath is panneling and the the walls above are painted a golden beige.  There is a large gold-gilt mirror over the sink.  The window in both these rooms are bullseye or rosette depending upon your definition.  The bathroom trims are painted, the bedroom ones are not.  I don't have a pic of this bedroom, but the painted color of this bathroom extends into this bedroom for a nice neutral touch.  I used this room as a guest room with a single bed and a dressing room with my vanity because behind this bedroom is the other portion of the what was originally an upstairs balcony porch now enclosed and a laundryroom/closet.  This is a very large space where I not only washed and dried our clothes, but stored many hanging clothes and blankets, luggage and more! There is a hanging bar and shelf that extends the entire length of the laundryroom.  I loved this becasue when we bought our home the laundry was in the back entry near the kitchen and back door.  You can see the dryer vent still present in the room in the picture!  Having laundry upstairs is so convenient and modern! Since the bedrooms are upstairs, this made perfect sense to me!

Friday, September 11, 2009

More pictures...

I truly don't have that many current pictures of our home.  But I did take quite a few when we first purchased it so it will give you some idea of what you are looking at.  I will navigate and explain differences as best as I can.

 
This is the top of the stair case showing two newell posts and finials. The landing is quite large and may have originally included the bedroom that is between the two large bedrooms originally.  We really don't know, but because it is so much smaller than the other three original bedrooms (two are currently the same size, the third was divided to make the bath around 1920 or earlier with clawfoot tub...)

 
I am so thrilled to share that this is NOT what the bathroom looks like today! Two years ago, luan and new flooring was installed in this upstairs bath (originally part of the large 3rd bedroom discussed above).  At this time, the tub was turned to place the pipes you can see towards the wall beside the pedistal sink on the left upper of this picture.  Tub was resurfaced and now sets beside a large window.  The commode was replaced with a highboy water effecient model.  There is a long gold gilt mirror over the pedistal sink and the walls are wainscotting of a wood paneling type.  The walls were stripped of their wallpaper and are a warm yellowy beige.  The trim is winter white, and the floor a brown mingle that extends without interuption into the adjoininng 4th bedroom.  All woodwork window and door encasements were painted in this bath was previously painted so we did not strip them. The woodwork style is called rosettes or bullseye.  This type of trim is in the entire upstairs of the home as well as the kitchen The downstairs formal spaces are different and more formal~the back entry and bath downstairs have simple moldings.  The upstairs bathroom ceiling has was redone as in our purchase it was originally accoustic tile and now it is sheetrock with tape and mud.
  
You can see better the space and window where the tub sets now.  The weinscotting is a rustic wood look which I have used Old English on only.

 
This is the master bedroom fireplace.  The room is painted soft green, has a ceiling fan and two closets.  You can see them on either side of the fireplace.  The tiles in this bedroom are a green and white mottled look.  They are glazed ceramic and original as so much of this home.  ALL fireplaces are decorative! They have the original coal fittings when the home was heated with coal.  The closet on the right does not have a door installed.  It was added by the owner prior to us and there are extra unused doors present with the home.   The hardwood floors were refinished when the rest were done Jan 03.  There is carpet in only one room, the room between this bedroom and the second bedroom which has wall paper of an Americana theme (red-white-blue border and med blue country print overall)  The floor is this bedroom was not refinished and is a little darker, but is also not original to the home.  The ceiling has wood with 1x2 trim and painted white with a ceiling fan.  The fireplace mantle is similar in style to this one, except that the tiles are purple, yellow and green mingle.  Very pretty!  There is a closet built in on one side with a bi-fold solid door.  There is a very large closet off the back of this bedroom that was originally an upstairs porch.  The floor is planks as was original.  There is a window in this closet. 

Don't be decieved by this picture! The wall paper no longer exists in the diningroom and the light has a white frosted globe on top with crystal pendants hanging from the circle.  This is what it looked like though when we purchased.  I am sorry other than as description, that I have no picture of it now.  It's pretty and original to the home. It is electric, but was once oil. It has a three way switch in it which is very nice for differing occasions.  The fireplace in the dinningroom is ornate and somewhat unique.  I've never seen one like it before!

Remembering that the  walls are now painted a soft gray-with green hugh, the fireplace is green and dark green mingle.  NO white as it looks in this picture.  There is a built in china to the left of the decorative only fireplace.  I enjoyed the shelf above the mantle with oil lamps for a soft warm glow.

I sincerely hope that these pictures give you more details of our home.  As you navigate my blog you will see several more, some are what our home looks like now.

If I can be of assistance,
SisterTipster@gmail.com
216-759-7596

In a Nut Shell

If you would like to cut to the chase and not read the entire blog which contains pictures and loads of description, (which is highly recommended if you are seriously interested), in order to help you find the information you desire to help you in your decision making, I am going to compile some post links here.  I hope this helps, and if you still have questions, read the entire blog.  If you still are not finding the information you need, please give me a call. I am happy to share about our home's features and community information.  I recognize that your time is valuable and want to help as much as is possible in this area.

A brief overview of the upgrades:
http://1909homeforsale.blogspot.com/2009/04/his-and-hers.html

Room dimensions: 
http://1909homeforsale.blogspot.com/2009/07/room-measurements-for-this-big-ole-home.html

Community Information:

http://1909homeforsale.blogspot.com/2009/06/small-town-near-big-time.html

For Sale By Owner
We are unwilling to owner finance, rent to own OR land contract our home, so without being rude, please don't ask u.  We are looking for a qualified buyer who will purchase with a conventional loan or cash.  This home will not go FHA or VA due to age and some of the original features yet to be upgraded like the windows.  You will want this information early on, so I've told you ;-)) Also in the discovery of our home, we have found that the insulation in the attic is vermiculite.  You may read about it here http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/verm.html#contaminated  as it's considered a EPA issue.  If you read all of the information, there are no recommendations to removed or test, just not disturb it in any way, but don't take my word for it, read the EPA site ;-)) Old houses are often insulated with vermiculite, and it should be assume to be contaminated.  If I am able to answer your questions or you would like to see our home, please contact me. 

Thank you for your interest in our beautiful home.  I look forward to hearing from you.
SisterTipster@gmail.com
216-759-7596

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Stats and EAppraisal Info~

I just happened to find this as I was actually looking for the weather and other stats on the area for you to know about, but since this is about our home I want you to see it! Please note that the picture with scan feature of the area will not show our house~it's behind the neighbor's trees, but right in front of the car, you can see our FSBO sign. If you are in the area, stop by to get a brochure! The coolest thing is this site has loads of info on the area, our house...I will say that I did find a few errors which I could not correct~it said the last time the house was sold was in 2004~not so...we bought it in 2006. So dunno why it said that, but our price we paid is correct and you can see the area or street a bit...just another piece of info for you to consider. It shows market trends, and why we are priced to sell~This is truly a Victorian jewel! There aren't that many of these homes in Earlington, but we are located on the street where there are 6 or 8...more than any other street...our home is not the oldest in town, but perhaps the second oldest. The oldest is on the corner of Days and E. Main. It dates to 1854 I believe I was told. Until the last couple of years, the disrepair and falling down slaves quarters were still on the property. Town lots were made of the area long after that home no longer had a need for such quarters, but the building remained until it was removed by new owners. Our home was recently discovered by title search (read on through this blog) to be dated pre-1880. Previously we believed it was 1909. Architecture shows it to be older~style and construction.

Here's the link: http://www.eppraisal.com/home-values-206-e-main-st-earlington-ky-42410-175644501.mvc

Hope this help~Come see our home!
SisterTipster@gmail.com
216-759-7596

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Price

Price does equal value, and if you will look about, at $21 a sq ft for this home is UNBELIEVABLE! Of course they are many factors involving the price such as features, condition and location, but when a home is priced this low it's no wonder people ask me, "is it livable?" Oh yes! AND it's amazing! It has a simple charm. There's no grandiosness to the home, but a quality like an older home should have~solidness and surity! You can read about our home in the following posts...upgrades are listed http://1909homeforsale.blogspot.com/2009/04/his-and-hers.html



Solid home




Solid community




Solid deal at $21 a sq ft PLUS a 1500 sq ft garage with concrete slab floor and loft for storage!




Unbeatable!




Come see us! 206 East Main Street Earlington, KY 42410


We have an info box on our sign for a brochure!




Make an appointment to see our home:




216-759-7596