Tour My Dream Project

By Mandi 01/26/2015

Do you have a place in your city that every time you drive past you just LOVE. Not love like “Oh that’s cute!” but love like it instantly triggers a gut reaction and you are caught up in a fairytale? I totally do. Many a place actually, but none more than this house. It’s my favorite place, and its for sale. Friends meet my dream project.

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We scheduled a walk through with our realtor and I was 100% confident that Court would love it as much as I did. In my mind I could hear him saying:

“Of course we can buy this house!”

“You’re such a genius for thinking of it!”

“You’re right, it wont be that horrible to fix up!”

“Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life!!” etc. etc.

In reality, we hadn’t even parked before he said “You are out of your freaking mind. This is never happening.”

Sometimes all you need in life is a billion dollars.

The house was built in 1909 by a pioneer family. It is solid adobe brick and for the last 20+ years has been used as a rare book store. The giant Mulberry tree in the front is as old as the house!

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It seems pretty teeny in the pictures because the windows are so huge, but if you look at the size of the door you can see that it’s actually pretty tall.

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This is what you see when you walk in the front door. The space is really huge, especially for an old house. The ceilings are 13 feet tall!

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To the left of the main entrance is a smaller parlor type room. Don’t you want to die over the doorways and transom windows!?

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Dyl was a little nervous….she’d never been in a Romance Room before.

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If you walk all the way through the hallway, you end up in the kitchen (or if you go through the doorway at the back of the first room)

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The kitchen is my favorite room in the entire house. There is just something magical about it.

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This little corner in the kitchen above the window had the most amount of plaster/brick damage downstairs. If you look closely, in the crack you can see where there is daylight coming through. But man, look at the plaster ceilings in there. (And that pink is perfection!)

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There is a small one room addition to the left of the kitchen that’s a little um… stressful?

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Back into the hallway is a bathroom that has been remodeled. Which made me kind of sad.

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And to the left of the bathroom are stairs that lead to the 4 bedrooms.

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They are full of abandoned bookshelves.

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Behind the faux brick panel the plaster had come off of the ceiling.

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The last bedroom is my favorite. I am pretty sure that every single one of us (except Court) audibly gasped when we walked inside.

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It is kind of hard to write about how much I love this house. It is my absolute dream. I cant even imagine the work that it would take to fix it, but can you picture how beautiful it would be?!? The house is currently under contract (not with us) and I have no doubt that we would be into it at least $350k before it was livable.

But man it would be worth it!!

You know the saying If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, then it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never meant to be? That is kind of how I am feeling about this guy. I am utterly terrified of it and at the same time it is all I can think about (shhhh don’t tell Court, as far as he knows I’ve given up all hope!)  I just love it SO. MUCH. Who knows maybe the buyer will back out and I’ll win the lotto? Maybe I have an uber rich reader who wants to buy it for me purely for the entertainment value of watching as it pushes my life to the brink of destruction? Maybe the seller will come down 100k on the price? Maybe I just need to trade my first born?

So many maybes, and lucky for me, maybe leaves a little room for dreaming.

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The best thing that came out of this entire situation is that is pulled me out of my creative funk. HOLY FREAKING TIME!!

So what do you think? Would you ever take on a project like this? Which room was your fave? Have a good maybe to add to my list?

LoveYourGuts14

85 thoughts on “Tour My Dream Project”

  1. Feel your pain (fell in love with an old house but we weren’t ready to buy and it got sold and remodeled nasty). Its hard to keep your mind off though!

  2. I would LOVE to see you bring that house back to life! I am rooting for the chance that it becomes yours too! It’s so beautiful, and has such great bones…I’m dreaming over here along with ya!

  3. No, I can’t say I would ever take on a project like that one. I a fascinated by the people who do and love to see the results, BUT not with my money. 😉

  4. not that i’m encouraging it, since I know how heartbreaking it is when your husband is not on board with “the vision” buuuuuuut…….. Kickstarter that baby!

  5. The outside looks great, the inside looks like a lot of work. I did such a project myself but my house was like 200 years old and was even a bigger challenge. It took me a couple of years, blood, tears and lots of sweat to turn it into a great home. Here in Belgium we have to isolate everything so to keep everything as it was is not possible.

  6. It would be a blast but can you imagine living in it while it’s happening? That’s what would hold me back though my daughter had a dream that I bought a dumpy house where we would all sleep in the same room. She said I was really excited about it, so……maybe I would jump on this project 😉

  7. This is amazing to me for so many reasons. The potential is incredible. I could see it done and so charming.
    Also, where I live that house would be about $50K. $165K would get you that house on 50 good hunting acres (maybe that would get Court on board?!)
    So crazy the cost of houses in different areas.

  8. I am a dreamer married to a realist. When I look at these pictures, I see the place done but my husband never can. You will get a chance sometime, I know it.

  9. I’ll be honest—I really don’t see it. Maybe it’s too far gone for me to see the potential? But I’ll have to back up your husband on this one.

  10. I have one word for you: kickstarter. If not totally donate then maybe you could get people to invest so you can buy it and if/when you sell the house you give them their investment back and keep the rest. It’s worth checking it out. I’d love to contribute and see what you would do with that house. And considering how many fans and readers you have it’s not an impossible dream. I say give it a try and keep us posted! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you. (BTW I loved the scrolly bookshelves in the first room and the room with the huge windows and yes, I gasped too 😉

  11. Yes!! I’ve had a few houses like that in my lifetime– that I’ve fallen in love with & dreamt about. I think this is a beautiful house & would be an amazing (albeit all-consuming) project/challenge. Right now it looks like the setting for an Anthropologie catalog shoot! Hope your dreams come true & we get to see this beauty restored!

  12. I love it!!! Older homes are what dreams are made of! I hope for a big fat miracle it works out for you.
    P.S. I once rented a house that had windows like the upstais bedroom you showed… it was MAGICAL!!!

  13. This would be amazing!!! Why did they destroy the bathroom, I wanted to cry. Keep dreaming, dreams do come true.

  14. Girlfriend, I have always loved that house and a few others on that street. We used to live on diagonal in a cute little cottage home. It was a good one too. Wouldn’t it be a dream to get your own show like Nicole Curtis on RehabAddict? Kick start this baby!! Maybe Home Depot would sponsor you? Or go to Vegas and win big!

  15. This is NOT beyond your abilities. Can’t you get sponsors, or better yet, a tv show to back you. You are amazing.

  16. Beautiful! This house is unique and has a huge potential.
    And I agree with you, the last bedroom is amazing!!! Love all those large windows, so much light…
    But never stop hoping, who knows… 🙂

  17. Totally feel your pain. I have been in your shoes. Me: yes, Hubby: no. Seems so unfair, but seeing it’s taking For.ev.er. to get a – yes 1!- room in my house just right at present with a toddler and the budget of a stay at home mom, I have to say…..shhhhhh!!! – he was right. But only right now! It will happen when all the stars align – and they will!

  18. Mandy! I’ve been in this place! When they were cleaning out the book shop my husband and I stopped into see if we could find any good deals. The kitchen was my absolute favorite! I could picture myself in there, I hope you snag it 🙂

  19. I am in love with those white built ins and the romance room! Wow what an amazing transformation you could do on that gorgeous place. Never hurts to dream.

  20. Oh wow gorgeous! I would never leave that “gasp” room- ALL those windows?!!! Nothing like a house full of projects to put you into power DIY mind blown mode! I can imagine my husband saying the same thing lol. Gotta love (and that whole respect them while not freaking them out with crazy giddiness), but we don’t have to stop dreaming! Good luck!

  21. Years ago we toured a historic house in Denver that overlooked downtown and was rumored to have a grave in the backyard. It did have a secret bedroom at the top of the house that 3of our 4 children claimed as theirs. The entrance to that bedroom was through a secret panel at the back of a walk-in linen closet. Hubby could only see that the only one of the three bathrooms in the house that was functional was IN the kitchen. Since we did not win the lotto, someone else lives there now, someone who husband has a much higher tolerance for construction and diy than mine.

  22. Sigh… I know this feeling all too well. My husband and I are house hunting right now and as newlyweds and first time buyers we’ve been looking at fairly cheap fixer uppers and around here that means looking at some pretty old houses and I always fall for them. Every single one. HARD! But it never fails that there’s always some major problem with it like a bad foundation or water damage. It’s heartbreaking! I’m not giving up hope though, we’ll find our old beauty some day! Fingers crossed that you get yours!!

    https://indianaheart.typepad.com/

  23. Love it! So much potential! I can totally see how you could make it fabulous. I agree with the others – see if you can get a sponsor. Best of luck!

  24. Change your dream woman!!! 🙂 We just moved into our 1905 farm house that we’ve been renovating for the past 1.5 years! Yes 1.5 YEARS!! It took three times longer than we planned. I’m happy to say we are still married, but at times we wanted to kill each other or burn the house down and roast hot dogs over it! I’m not even kidding! Well, kind of kidding, I don’t like hot dogs.
    Actually, we love our house but we ate, slept and breathed renovation for a year and a half. We have 6 kids (only five when we started but since it took so freaking long……) and they worked just as hard as we did on our house! It was a life sucker and so much freaking work! We gutted it!! Down to the studs. New electrical, plumbing, drywall…Our blood, sweat and tears are on every square inch of this house. We did get down to the original hardwood floors though! Love them!! All though I said we’d NEVER renovate a house again, I found a gem just last week that makes my stomach flip circles! 🙂 The house you found is beautiful and I know you could do amazing things with it. Keep working on your husband! Fingers crossed that he changes his mind for you 🙂 Good Luck!

  25. Ooooh my she’s perfect, so cute! I hope she comes back to you. You could do amazing things with the beauty.

  26. Just looking at these pictures stirred up the excitement I felt about the possibilities of an old brick house we found in Panguitch. Oh the fun of restoring the grand old home! Oh the work!!! But we jumped in and did it, running it as a B&B in the summer and doing some more projects every off-season. No matter how much work you think it needs, it will be double, as will be the money. I know St. George has tons of fab old homes, as does the surrounding areas, so my advice is either find one that needs less work or get them way down on the price. Been there, done that….and I’d do it again 🙂

  27. Honey, you are certainly entitled to your dreams, but all I see is a bottomless money pit. If you had 24 hefty brothers who were all experts in construction, and they agreed to work for free, you couldn’t “fix” it in a hundred years.

  28. And do you remember The Nugget renovation? I bet Court does. And how many Nuggets could you fit in this house?

  29. Well, sadly it’s all about the Benjamins. If I loved a house to death AND had loads of cash (including a budget for overages) to design it to my dream specifications, I would. But I don’t have that kind of money – and that’s OK. Thankfully you have a lovely home and a nugget to stare at. And who knows – perhaps an even dreamer dream house awaits you in the future (I bet it does!).

  30. It’s beautiful! Have you ever read the book, Mandy by Julie Andrews? Your feelings about the house reminded me of that book. Your girls would love, as would you:). It’s a book that makes you dream of the possibility of creating something beautiful out of something rough around the edges. I hope your little nugget of history comes to you and if not, something else inspiring and meant to be is right around another corner.

  31. How incredible would that be! If I had your skills, I’d be pushing for it, too. But I have to say that when I read that the kitchen was magical, and then scrolled down to the pictures, I laughed out loud. I love your vision! And those windows are amazing. Hey, if Nicole can do it on Rehab Addict, so can you.

  32. We inquired about this house too and was told there was an issue with termites. I’m not ready to take on termites!

  33. Termites…been there, done that…really not a big problem on a remodel this size. Since you and Court could do so much of the work yourself it would be so doable!!! As a blogger, maybe you could get some sponsor help from Home Depot, Lowes, etc! Lots of products could be donated…roofing, central air and heat, tile, floors etc etc etc….???? I would love to see your touch put on this house!

  34. You would totally do this house justice! I love it, and have total faith you both would bring it to life! I hope your hubby will eventually see this too and reconsider. So charming!! Hope your dream comes true!!

  35. I love that house! I went in there a few times when it was still a bookstore that reeketh of cat hair and dust. I sort of loved how gross it was and how it was floor to ceiling books. But my husband, the minimalist and modern neat freak had to skip out fast! Haha I think your dream and vision is amazing, you would no doubt have a roller coaster of a time.

  36. Never get into a house that you both don’t have the vision for. I learned that the hard way. I have been with my husband since high school. We purchased my dream house, not his by any means and it almost destroyed our relationship. It took over a year to do the renovation and cost way more than we ever imagined (even though we got bids on it before we purchased the house). The entire year was so depressing and we fought so much that we had insomnia and didn’t do things as a family because we were too busy on decision making for the renovation or fighting about it and we didn’t talk to family or friends for a whole year. On big renovations you end up changing so much stuff that things quickly add up and time is tacked on. I love it but my husband still doesn’t love it and I now realize that it wasn’t worth it because it was never “the house we BOTH loved”.

  37. Oh, Mandi, I am soooo with you on this one. I have a dream house too but it is in even worse shape than your…it is condemned! A farmhouse built in 1910 on five acres, a hugh barn, three outbuildings and another smaller house on the property and the bonus is…..it is just on the outskirts of town and all the amenities are within a five minute drive. My hubs in NOT on board with me on this but I can always dream. Good luck! May the best woman win!!

  38. I’m with you Mandi!!! If you ever get this house contact me, I would love to help you!!!! I have 2 months off in the summer time and think it would be awesome to be involved with that beautiful lady! No charge for my labor, payment would be what she looked like in the end!!!!!!! And bragging rights to say I helped a little to bring her back to the beautiful home she once was!!
    Kimberly

  39. My mom just bought a home that was built in 1889! It’s an adobe brick, complete with plaster walls, transom doorways, tall ceilings and hella lotta charm! She will be COMPLETELY restoring it- like floor to ceiling, inside and out, top to bottom. She has given herself 6 years to make it happen because that is when she retires. Seriously, it’s a huge undertaking! Something to seriously think about…

  40. Holy Smokes. Yes! I digggg! 1) shelves shelves shelves shelves 2) tons of natural light 3) lovely turning staircase 4) the outside is charming …. that green quilted carpet just triggered some serious memories. I think it is totally charming. 🙂

  41. Look up 203k loans. They are FHA loans that allow you to finance the purchase price and renovation costs in the same loan. I have my eyes on a rundown wreck that the owner is letting rott. Its seriously scary. No windows, no sheetrock, trees growing through the backdoor. If I can ever talk the homeowner into selling, the plan is to use a 203k loan to totally fix it up

  42. If anybody could fix that place up, it’d be you but…..are you sure that house isn’t haunted? It kinda looks like the “on location” spot for the next blockbuster move 🙂

  43. I feel your pain….but hang in!!! I tried to buy my dream house about 13 years ago and the banker basically laughed at me. Today, I’m sitting in my dream home’s dining room, typing this!! Just this past summer we moved in…..and it was soo worth the wait as the previous homeowner did some of the expensive work like new windows and doors!! Hang in there – if it was meant to be, it’ll happen!!

  44. I’m sure the house could be amazing. I know it’s a long shot, but anything can happen! Two years ago my husband 4 children and I were living in a much too small 750 sq foot home big on charm and yard, but not much else, when my in-laws magically offered to help us get a bigger house. Two months later is was in my dream neighborhood (Historic Old Northeast in St. Petersburg, Florida) living in my dream home: a 1920 Mediterranean Revival with large master bedroom balconies (yes, two) and all, and a ridiculous amount of charm. I think I cried for 2 months out of overwhelming emotion.

    However this house needs a ton of work!!! Electrical, Plumbing, painting interior and out, new windows, doors, roof, exterior paint, interior paint. I’m starting to sweat just thinking about it. It’s a bit overwhelming. The previous owners took all of the old doors and lighting, so I have been slowly salvaging fixtures and doors from around the area.

    On the upside, it’s been fun uncovering things that the previous owners hid trying to turn this into a generic colonial sometime in the 80’s. We found a doorway that had been covered along with two arched nooks in the wall typical of Spanish mission houses. They also covered the old tile and awesome fireplace which we can see the back of when stick our head up the chimney. How in the world do I get the cheap mantle and tile work off the original amazingness without destroying it??? We may have grand kids by the time we finish.

    But it’s still my freaking dream home, and it will eventually be amazing.

    I wish you tons of luck! If this house isn’t meant for you, there is even a better one out there. That is what people said to me when we didn’t get the first house we bid on. It was a house I often stalked and we bid on it the first day without even walking through, just like the other two people who bid on it. We didn’t get it, and I was sure we wouldn’t find anything as good since I had been looking at that house for years. We did, though. And it’s WAY better.

    I wish I had your renovation skills, or you could come help me restore mine 😉

    Good luck!

    1. PS- We lived in the 750sq foot house for 15 years and were very, very happy. I just thought that was worth mentioning.

  45. The room with the GIANT windows was my fav. I can imagine having a desk/work space in there, it’d be the BEST! I love that place, its got a lot of potential.

  46. Ceilings? A pain to replace …. Enjoy your kids while they are with you and do something like this after they leave home.

  47. Ah-MAZING house. I once knew a house like that, would go miles out of my way just to drive by and look at it. Never got to go in and look, but I still think about it sometimes, even though I haven’t lived in that area for 8+ years. I would love to see you renovate this place 😉

  48. Mandi!!! I know you have what it takes to make this home your dream home! Best Wishes! xo

  49. IF IT IS MEANT TO BE–it will happen. We have bought a house basically in the state of that one– but LOVE (of a house) makes you do crazy things!!! We have been renavating slowly cuz a) we aren’t millionnaires, b) we have jobs, and kids and life!! But I love that house, sometimes it is discouraging at the amount of work it needs and the amount of money we will put into it– But I am happy to work on it!!! So if it is meant to be–

  50. Oh Yes I would and I have! We are in the middle of a two year renovation/restoration of a foursquare craftsman. Unbelievable purchase price, but the work needed has added up. We are at the end of the project and get to move in within the next 6 weeks. Something I never thought I would say. So in love with it.

  51. IF it were me, and I was YOU, Miss Mandi- I would start a GoFundMe account, Buy the house, hire a producer/film team, document the rehab and then put it on Youtube. You would be a hit!!!! Is it a tough gig? Yes. Is it worth it? Man- I think you would be sensational.

  52. I love it! My heart did a little pitter patter at all the built ins and transoms. This is exactly the kind of place I would drag my husband to last time we were house hunting! I also have a dream place that I do drive-bys just to peek at and buy lottery tickets in hopes of one day affording the dream place 😉

  53. I just LOVE places that have so much potential but need so much work that it scares and excites you all at the same time. This place is gorgeous–can you imagine all the stories that place could tell?

    My husband and I just sold our home and bought a foreclosure we’ve loved for many years in the next town over (we live in Ohio). It was built in 1978 and it’s very Brady Bunch-y and a total hot mess but I love it so much. It’s structurally sound and has awesome architecture, it just hasn’t been loved by someone in a very long time. It has so much potential (um and it has a FIRE POLE! How awesome is that?!?) and we can’t wait to get inside to start the renovations. We’re waiting on a few loose ends before we take possession, but soon it will be mine. {Insert maniacal laugh}

  54. Leave your business card all over the house. Maybe the seller will call you and you can earn some Benjamins by doing some of the work:)

  55. Maybe… you should offer your design services to the buyer. That would be cool and what homeowner wouldn’t love some free sponsored help?? Shameless plug: I own a condo in Texas I want to spruce up. If you ever want to come to Texas.

  56. I remember going to the bookstore once and google eyeing over the building more than the books! I loved the place. It is close to a home my Butler family built that we had met all our family at that day. Oh it would be a great one to buy. Adobe bricks! If you can, do it! Just fix the foundation first!

  57. Ahhhh I just want to see it done so bad. I love those old houses. I just wanna see a tour of an old house that HAS been remodeled right. Like you know all those cute old as heck houses in manti??? I just want to see inside!!!

  58. OMG, that is an amazing price for that house. I know renos would be extremely costly, but a house like that as you showed it, here in Austin would probably go for half a mil (especially if it was in the “right” neighborhood)! Do you ever watch “Fixer Upper” on HGTV? To bad the Gaines family won’t leave Waco to come to Utah and fix that beautiful place up. Thanks for sharing your dream home.

  59. You can do it, I love it and certainly see the potential. However, that tree you love looks a bit too close to the house (foundation) and you might want to negotiate few thousands for it’s removal one day. Sad but true. Good luck, can’t wait to see if you buy it.

  60. I love your eye for remodels! My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home, and it reminds me of this one. Built early 1900’s and in need of (lots) of tlc….but the potential you feel when you walk in the doors is tangible. We can see ourselves making it a home. Good luck!! You never know what might happen 🙂

  61. In the Millennium, both my husband and I will fall for the same old ramshackle house, AND he will love working on it 😉

  62. Maybe…I’ll buy it, hire you to remodel it (I’ll totally let you do whatever you want to it), you can get your “fix”, and Court doesn’t have to move. Sound delicious?

  63. absolutely amazing!! My dream is to tackle a fixer upper one day too. Maybe not as much as that one is a fixer upper 😉 but yes would love to buy and remodel a fixer upper. Those transom windows and 5 panel doors and those windows in the master – YES!!! LOVE. Unfortunately my husband has about the same reaction as yours does… LOL. so we shall see. I am thinking finding a liveable fixer upper sort of an in between might be what may work for us.

  64. Have you seen the old, turn of the century house for sale on Diagonal?! It always reminds me of your blog when I drive by. You should check it out!

  65. Yeah, those transom windows got me like, guh (punch of love to the gut). Luckily for me, my husband bought a 1857 apartment before I met him and we live in it, even though he’s not keen to take on too many projects I’ve been bringing him around. Those windows upstairs! Wow. Maybe one day it can still be yours.

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