STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I live in a condo in a fairly pricey neighborhood.  The location and the actual condo are fantastic, but I really want my own yard and to get out from under condo fees and regulations.

We have been looking, but haven't found anything with the right location or attributes we want.

There is a house next door to our condo complex on 2.5 acres that was purchased by a developer a few years ago as a tear-down so a multi-million dollar mansion could be built on the property.  This never occurred, and the property was sold to someone last year.  Whoever bought it last year foreclosed, and the property went up on the auction block in July.  We weren't able to make a move on it at that time, so we wrote it off. 

Just recently it appeared as a bank-owned listing.  The auction purchaser never followed through on the purchase.  The property was listed for less than half of what it sold for a year ago.  It was still more than what we wanted to pay for a total fixer-upper, so we decided we would keep an eye on it over the winter then low-ball them.

The following week they lowered the price another $100,000.  I could see they were being aggressive with pricing, probably in an effort to get the property off their books by the end of the year.  We jumped on it.  Long story short, we settled on a price $600,000 less than what it was purchased for a year ago.

We really love the location, and we cut through the yard of this house to go on our regular walks as well as on my running route.  We've kind of kept an eye on the house since it's been vacant for so long, and we were worried about squatters (been an issue in Michigan with all the vacant properties.)  Anyway, we love the area and really don't want to move, but haven't been able to afford to buy a house here -- until now...
We are going to have a lot of work on our hands. We close later this month. We are going to live in our condo next door (couldn't ask for a better set up) while we're working on it, then try to aggressively sell the condo in the spring.

It was built in 1950 and the inside is all original - paint, curtains, etc.  A total time capsule. I'm going to try to save as much as I can and appreciate its vintagey features   However I'm grateful that my husband is insisting on a new kitchen   It has an octagonal foyer, wood floors, a library with fireplace, a sun room, with woods and a stream. 

I practically have the whole place redecorated in my head.  I'll definitely be sharing the progress on here.  I still need to take pics of the basement in the condo for you all -- need to finish the stairs first, but it turned out beautifully.

Here are some current shots of it (there's wood floors under the carpet in the dining room and library - we're going to have wood floors added in the entry/hall/kitchen/mud room):

I'm still trying to figure out how I want to paint the trim on the house (mostly brick, but there's some siding - I'm not painting the brick):

entry way:

kitchen:

sunken living room:

master/main bath - digging the toilet shelter fins and beaded curtain:

master BR:

upstairs BR (these are like jack & jill bedrooms with a vintage pink and blue bath room in between them):

upstairs BR - dig the 50's curtains:

dining room with HUGE bay window:

library with hand-painted delft tile fireplace surround:

sun porch off mud room in need of new doorwalls and floor (and paint - everything needs paint! I can't believe they never painted the house after they built it!!)


this will become my work out room in the basement:


anyway - a ton of work.  I'm surprised my husband wanted to take this on so readily, but it's totally going to be worth it once we're done with it.  We plan on this being our "forever home" and we're really excited.  yay!