Well it didn't take as long as we thought...but we have found our next project! Since the market is so fast and competitive here in Portland, we were prepared to wait some time to before securing the next house. We were able to get away after finishing the Tabor House for some quick R&R only to come back and find the perfect house within a short week. Since then we have been scurrying around and preparing ourselves for quite. the. project. We are no longer in the Tabor/Montavilla neighborhood but actually back up in Northeast Portland where we did The 1940's Ranch a little over a year ago. The location is perfect. That is one of the main reasons we fell in love with the house. The others being the street presence, the age of the home and of course the potential! We present you with The Emerson house...
The house is tall and grand from the street which is one reason we love it. It looks somewhat old and it is (1908) but there is something slightly off. Windows and doors don't line up, very basic exterior trim, asbestos siding (ugh!), nothing that really shows off it's age and grandness. There will be a lot of changes made from the outside. Other than making the house more symmetrical, a new balcony will be added above the front door and we will give the house a more age appropriate siding and trim. Think modern Colonial.
Right now, the back yard is completely open to the street. Our plans involve a fence at the sidewalk to make this space more private and bigger. We plan to add parking, create a pergola for outdoor entertaining and revamp the shed into more living/entertaining space! This area will be unrecognizable when we're done.
The inside of the house is similar to the outside. Clean, basic, but nothing special. The floor plan is decent but needs reworking so we will be doing that. This is right inside the front door. A large space that is actually not very usable in it's current state. We plan on adding a bathroom here, since there currently is no bathroom on the main.
On the other side of the house is the living room. The space is good but also needs to feel special. More character will be added this space but with a modern vibe. More to come...
The dining room is the only room in the house that hints at the age of the house. It's a great space, but almost too large for the type of room it is. We plan on moving the kitchen to this area so it will open to the living room, dining room and be much larger than the current kitchen.
The current kitchen is small. It feels very disconnected from the rest of the house and somewhat odd because of it's size. Like mentioned before, the kitchen will no longer be here as it will swap spaces with the current dining room and will all be open to one another.
The master bedroom is probably the coolest room in the house. It is huge and runs the whole length of the house. However, no bathroom attached and that closet is a little awkward. This room will stay the same size, but think two separate rooms. We will also be attaching the upstairs bathroom to this room to make it a true master suite.
The other guest bedroom is also cute. It is a good size and an interesting shape. We will not be doing much here as far as reworking layout but it will get the same facelift as the rest of the house and...a door that enters onto the new balcony. This will be a special room.
The upstairs bathroom is a great space. The layout is good but it just needs to be dressed up. Right now this bathroom serves as one of the main bathrooms for the whole house but will now become master bathroom since it is right off the master bedroom. We are changing the floor plan upstairs to accommodate this change and to make the upstairs flow better.
Now the basement looks very dark but is actually quite bright for a basement. The basement actually sits halfway above ground level making it somewhat of a daylight basement...sort of. This space will be reconfigured as a secondary living area and bonus space. It will be the perfect getaway...somewhat of a guest quarters when done. (Don't worry about that water on the floor...we were defrosting an ancient freezer)!
This room was somewhat of a mystery. We were unsure if it was another bedroom or an office of some sort. We will be making this into a bedroom by reclaiming some floor space that was lost when the house was last remodeled. It will now become the home's second master suite!
The basement bathroom is a good space...but could use some reworking. We plan on moving the claw foot tub from the second floor down here and charming this place up a bit! This bathroom will become the second master bath as well.
Say goodbye to awkward this awkward bathroom!
This project really excites us. It will be one of our biggest transformations to date and we can only imagine at this point what the house is going to look like a few months from now. We actually started work on the thing a couple of days ago, so changes are already taking place and we are liking what we are seeing! We will be posting our inspiration soon!