Pre-1900 Bungalow?

[eclecticcottage]

Yeah, there was (is) a wisteria at the Cottage. We literally dug up where it was to put in a driveway. Yet I still find new sprouts every year. And it's been a couple years since we dug it up.

[Texas_Ranger]

The only way to eradicate vines (kudzu, wisteria, English ivy, etc) is to locate the roots and dig it up. Much easier said than done with the way this stuff grows.

You can say that again! We had ivy and some other similar plant (with two-tone yellow and green leaves) taking over the front of the farm, already growing through the brickwork and covering most of the front lawn (there's not really a drive). We spent at least two full days digging up two-foot clusters of roots because whenever these evil plants touch the grounds they grow roots along the branches! Looks like we've mostly won if we keep removing the odd shoots that are popping up again. Problem is that the neighbour keeps the ivy as a ground cover around her rose bushes and it keeps growing over the retaining wall into our garden!

She still owes us a favour since she had the walnut tree on city property that supplied us with walnuts cut down though.

[eclecticcottage]

What bugs me the most about the one at the Bungalow is the uncertainty of the knowledge and attention to it that the FO will posses. I just yank them when they crop up at the Cottage-I catch them when they are just coming up. BUT, I know there's no way I can get it all at the Bungalow...and I will have to live with the thought that the FO might 1) like it and let it grow on the house or 2) not care to keep up on it and let it grow on the house. I know once I sell I can't control what happens, but I wish I could eradicate that possiblity (unless they plant a new one lol).

I don't know what it was (can't tell from the photos) but back in the 60's the entire driveway (brick portion) side was covered in some sort of vine Luckily it doesn't appear to have done any damage. I know Wisteria likes to pull on things, so I doubt that is what it was.

The problem is, a lot of vines are really pretty in flower so people let them climb all over their houses, and only when it's too late do they realize the err of their ways. I have grapes really close to the Cottage but I watch them closely to make sure they stay where they are supposed to. I think Clematis and some honeysuckle as well as roses are pretty safe for training on lattice next to a structure. I have a Blaze rose on a trellis and aside from needing to keep it trimmed, it's fine-it has to be wired up, it doesn't "vine" (twine). I also have some Major Wheeler and Golden Flame honeysuckle (not on the house, but on a wood rack and by a shed) and they have stayed to twining on what I've given them to climb-no suckering onto the structure at all. The honeysuckle are great, the humming birds LOVE them.

[eclecticcottage]

I am seriously mentally pacing around right now to see if they bite on the low ball offer. I don't know what I've gotten myself into...(well actually I do, which is why I wondering if I should be watching for the men in white coats to show up any second now lol). I am so sure I'll be outbid, but I just want to know for sure...otherwise my brain will keep pondering fixes, how tos, things to consider, decor, how to move the kitchen and bath back to where I think they belong, what kind of cabinets and fixtures to use, if I can find them on CL since the architectural salvage place I went to over the weekend is too pricey, what the 4th of july celebration is all about...all sorts of STUFF...and should I write letters to the two that aren't for sale but might be due to cicumstances now or wait til I hear on this...oh my.

[eclecticcottage]

Ok, so...could this be more arts and crafts than bungalow? I kind of forget about those houses, as bungalows are pretty common here so anything with that kind of look makes me think bungalow. But I think that was a somewhat separate style, although there was such a thing as an arts and crafts bungalow, just like there is craftsman bungalow. Or it's just an "updated" mutt. A little digging around has shown that it seems one family owned it from the 30's to the 80's. Not that any of that matters since I'll be outbid anyway lol

[eclecticcottage]

Sorry...keeping my mind busy on lunch...

This house has the same detail on the corner...uhh...I don't know what they are called. Not brackets. What would they be called? The details in the overhangs, but not the brackets-those I know. The curvy ones. On the corners of the porch of this house, see the detail that extends past the roof line and has a cut out?



If you look on the porch, the very last "bracket", has snow on it, but it's the same detail

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It's hard to see in the pics, it was snowing and at night...and it's rather overgrown. Its here too, on the left in the mess of vine. I just noticed the cardinal in this pic

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[eclecticcottage]

Duh. Exposed rafters.

And I heard from my agent. And the news is...no news. They received the offer but didn't respond.

[Kashka-Kat]

I dunno, it looks to me to be more than just cosmetic tweaks that were done to give it a bungaloid look -- i mean look at the horizontal-ness of the roof lines for instance, both body of the house and porch. Thats a very craftsman/bungalow/prairie-ish kind of feature. Some of the windows look of an older era than others.

I wonder... how does it look from the back? I wonder if there was just some small cabin type thing that was later incorporated into a larger house built later on? You hear of that sort of thing happening on farms - its not uncommon - they did small two room houses when they first arrived, because thats all they could afford and then later built onto it. I think once you're in there you it might start to make more sense.

I love the exterior - the colors, that faded red and gray/green. Very circa early 1900s!

[eclecticcottage]

This is standing in the front right side by the stairs. The kitchen is in what I believe is an addition. It's a single level and the floor joists are dimentional lumber instead of log.

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floor of the kitchen

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The windows are older, but not the same

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There are two of these that are buried on the inside, drywalled over

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This appears to be an original door

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To the left of the dining room is a drywall wall with a weird hallway and three "bedrooms"-I think the kitchen and bath used to be here

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This is the downstairs bath. Not original

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I was at the Bungalow Project tonight and my contractor (the dad) stopped by. We got to talking about this place and the town. Apparently it used to be a big money town. So it's possible the original builder was an early adaptor of the Arts and Crafts movement, possibly having visited England. Just conjecture of course.

*IF* I get it, it's being repainted in the same colors. I LOVE the color scheme! It's very earthy and flows well with what was a great landscape and gardens. I wish I had pics from the first time I looked at it (right before I offered on the Bungalow), it's REALLY overgrown but it's kind of like a secret garden in the back.

The only thing I can think of is the left side either the original structure, OR it is build on an earlier foundation. Only the left side has a basement, which is rubblestone.

[eclecticcottage]

Better pic of the exposed rafters and detail on the end ones

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