And so it begins...

It all started with an e-mail from our real estate agent in January of 2010. We had been looking to downsize out of our 1927 Tudor house and into something a bit more modern. We weren't having much luck finding anything that fit our criteria. We did look at a few houses, mostly split levels, thinking we could do some cool things and more importantly save on the annual costs of running a house. See, our old Tudor had character, but that character came with a price, high heating bills, high taxes and a costly mortgage. Probably more important was the amount of maintenance an 80 year old house needs and after 13 years of maintaining it I wanted something newer that wouldn't make me feel like I was a bridge painter. I am a carpenter by trade but also a plumber/ electrician/ landscaper/ roofer/ painter/ woodworker by necessity. I can fix just about anything in a house. That gets me back to the e-mail from our real estate agent.  Our agent sends a link to a house for sale that was designed by modern architect Milton Klein, built in 1961. We opened the photos for the house and new right away we had found what we were looking for. A mid-century gem! We immediately called our agent and asked when we could get in to see the house. She got us in the next day and we were shocked. Shocked by how disgustingly dirty and smelly the house was. The place smelled like a circus. We couldn't imagine anyone would ever put their house up for sale in this condition? The photos below do not reflect the horror of what we saw when we first stepped foot in the house. We were also shocked by just how amazing the house was, indoor pool, Japanese gardens, 50' of sliding glass doors, teak paneling, travertine floors, and a sunken living room. After an hour looking at the house, we left holding our noses and rubbing our eyes, but we couldn't stop talking about all the possibilities. We decided to put in an offer and it was accepted. We closed on the house in June and moved in July. 


Here are the photos from the MLS sheet.