The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[rp2813]

Dave's daughter & SIL finally snagged themselves a house in this wild and crazy Bay Area real estate market after starting their search back in October.  They got the keys this past Wednesday.  The place needs updating, although the kitchen appears to have been remodeled sometime toward the late 80's.

 

There's not a whole lot of decor that will be saved, but the window coverings on the laundry room door are an exception.

 

The good:

 

[rp2813]

Lower panel:

 

 

[rp2813]

Staying in the laundry room, we have The Bad:

 

[rp2813]

The money (pit) shot:

 

 

 

[rp2813]

The Ugly.  It's pretty funky inside and has been disconnected for quite some time.  It will be replaced.

 

 

[rp2813]

And just for fun, another shot of some ugly.  This will definitely be going.  It's so easy to bump one's head on these piss-elegant pendants.  Amazingly, there's not a square inch of green shag carpeting to be found anywhere inside the house.

 

[verizonbear]

swag lights in the bathroom ?

what on earth lol

 

[sudsmaster]

Oh, the Humanity!

OK, now don't make me post photos of the flocked faux gold wallpaper in the master bath (and dining room) of the place I bought in 1997... LOL... or the green shag in the family room and master bedroom (don't think I have a photo of that anyway, PTL).

The curtains are cute, though.

How were they able to beat back the "cash only" buyers?

 

[rp2813]

How They Did It

I'm extremely proud of Dave's daughter Teresa.  She composed a letter to include with their offer.  She was very observant when they toured the house and found out as much as she could about the seller.  Her well-crafted letter hit on points she knew were near and dear to the seller. 

 

It worked.  The seller accepted their offer, even though there was a competing offer for $23K higher.

 

Just to clarify about the laundry pair -- they will get the boot.  They have a nicer (KM or WP) pair of their own that they'll bring to the new place.

 

Here's a shot of the front porch light.  It, along with the entry way light, will be changed out.  I'm going to nab these for someone who is interested, along with another interior fixture.  The deceased patriarch was a stone mason.  There is similar treatment on the living room fireplace wall, with many large chunks of petrified wood interspersed among the stone.  All of that will stay.

 

[sudsmaster]

Interesting Flintstones wall treatment. Does a foot operated golf cart come with it?

On my house the front porch has a full thickness brick veneer. The portion over the doorway is reinforced/supported with a 1/4" thick steel plate, painted primer brown to blend in.

It might be hard to find a dinosaur powered garbage disposal, though.

 

[hydralique]

That sort of stone veneer was pretty modish for a brief time around the early '60s. Regarding the swags in the bathroom, I ripped a pair out of the main bath in my parent's house awhile back. As with this house, there had originally been a simple wall-mount fixture but someone who wasn't into simplicity preferred the foo-foo swags, so Voila!, instant piss-elegance.

 

Ralph, if the GE washer and dryer don't please the happy new owners, how 'bout a good pair of Norges, at least you know how to maintain those!

 

 

 

[rp2813]

Making a cross sign with my index fingers

. . . against any Norge intrusions.  I actually don't know how to fix them and don't consider them to be worth the investment of time to do so.  Since Teresa runs a family day care and sometimes has infants on the premises, anything Norge has no place in her household.  If I were a day care inspector, I'd have serious concerns about a Norge washer drowning out the sound of a crying baby that needed immediate attention.

 

Rich, that would have been a pig under the Flintstone kitchen sink.  Easier to find, but probably a violation with the day care scene.

 

[whirlcool]

What is "piss-elegance"? I've seen it used in this thread a few times.

When I see those stone walls I think of the Rat Pack in Las Vegas. For some reason they remind me of hotel lobbies. Usually they have down type spot lighting shinng on them, or maybe even a fountain made of the same material in front of the wall.

In the Chicago SW suburbs you'll sometimes see houses built in the 60's or 70's with a portion of the front fascade built like that.

Yes, I remember a time when sway lights were all the rage.

 

[rp2813]

Allen, I agree with you about the Rat Pack look.  Bob's Big Boy is another environment that comes to mind.

 

Here's a link to my interpretation of the piss-elegant term:

Urban Dictionary: Piss-elegant

Piss-elegant: A [pretentious], actually quite [tasteless], attempt at [good taste].

www.urbandictionary.com

 

[whirlcool]

Ah, now I know what you mean.
We have some friends that upgraded their lifestyle due to a job change and their idea of decorating was that anything expensive always looks good together. They refurnished their home and it turned out to be a nightmare. Sure they bought nice expensive furniture. Too bad none of it matches. It just comes across as being vulgar.