Sunday, August 01, 2010

Well, You ASKED...

Kath, in comments to the post below:
And besides all the gorgeous people in these pictures -- I'm checking out the house! Love the windows and the hardwood floors, which must be real, based on the date of the pictures. Any more pictures of the house?
Well, yes.  Yes there ARE.  Buckle up, Bay-bee... you might be sorry you asked.  Here's 351 West Oakridge, Ferndale, Michigan.

A couple o' views of the exterior:



The outside didn't change much over the years but the interiors did.  Case in point, two Christmases Chez Pennington:

1989 or thereabouts, it might have been 1990

Christmas '92, with granddaughter Anastasia in the pic

More of the living room...


Right around the time we moved in; note the shabby old furniture... some of which had been with us for years.  And years.

Updated, somewhat later

Two shots of the dining room...



Both dining room pics were taken around the same time.

The kitchen

The study

The master bedroom, which was small.  ALL the rooms were small, actually.

The house was built in the mid-1920s and had the original hardwood flooring along with lath and plaster walls.  It also had the original 1920s wiring and plumbing when we bought the place.  We kept the squeaky floors but upgraded the plumbing and wiring as a matter of necessity.  I don't know HOW the previous owners lived with 1920s electric service or the trickle that came out of the faucets.  Those two items were Jobs One and Two on our list but the house remained a work in progress for its entire life... or at least while we lived there, which was about ten years or so.  Just about the time we got things "right" I took another job (an internal transfer with EDS) and we moved to Rochester in Beautiful Western New Yawk.

I loved that house even though it was small at 1100 square feet.  Of all the places I owned throughout the years this is the house I wish I could have back.  Joe Louis Arena is just a hop, skip, and a jump down Woodward Ave, yanno?  Hell, I could even handle the winter.  I think.

Added:  The proprietors:

Which is where we spent most summer evenings, beer in hand.

13 comments:

  1. That is a very cool little house. I love the windows and hardwood floors as well as the fireplace. You look happy there.

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  2. Oh, Buck, thank you!!

    I love this house!! Grew up in a very old house, so I do understand the wiring and the plumbing issues.

    (And that last picture of the two of you might be the best one.)

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  3. That is one wonderful house. The exterior masonry detail is beautiful and I love the arches all around. Not to mention the dogs!

    BB is right -- you look right at home there! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Beautiful! Love the red walls too. Houses of that era have such great architectural details - in such small packages!

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  5. Buck, it's hard to believe it's only 1100 sq. ft. It looks much larger.

    As to the change in paint color in the living room...several years ago, my wife brought home a can of paint and told me that we were going to repaint our bedroom.

    She wanted something that kinda resembled the color in a hotel we stayed in in The Crescent City. I looked at it as it was going up and told her that she was insane! I'd never be able to enjoy a bedroom painted that color.

    That was about 10 years ago, and I'll swear I don't think I could sleep well in a room painted any other color.

    Long story there...but that living room in Ferndale looks like it was repainted from the same can. Beautiful.

    I started to comment about the above post with the threesome going on, but when I wrote it out, it sounded tacky.

    Really, Really, Really tacky. So, I'm glad I hung in to the house pictures. My kind of house. I live in one pretty similar,though not quite as old.

    But, we have EXACTLY those curtains in our dining room.

    Chicks!

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  6. Nice digs! My stucco dump doesn't have a fraction of character compared to that place.

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  7. You look happy there.

    I was, Lou. Those were the last of The Really Good Days.

    Kath: You're welcome!

    Moogie: Thanks. The house had all sorts of craftsman sorta stuff you just don't see in modern houses. It had its idiosyncrasies, too!

    Kris: You're right, as noted above.

    Buck, it's hard to believe it's only 1100 sq. ft. It looks much larger.

    It was larger, actually, if you count the semi-finished (read as "old" but with walls, paneling, etc.) basement where we had our teevee and a king size water bed. And the washer/dryer. But the living room, dining room, and kitchen were the entire first floor.

    About that paint... you DON'T wanna know how many three square feet test splotches there were on the living room walls before we decided on that red.

    Anon: Thank ya Sir/Ma'am (you choose)!

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  8. Oh, it was red? It looked kinda dark pink on my monitor.

    So, never mind! ;)

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  9. Anon: Thank ya Sir/Ma'am (you choose)!

    I'm just a regular Joe. I can't say I rate a Sir but definitely not Ma'am.

    I can't believe with warm enough weather to go barefoot you and the Missus weren't carried away by mosquitoes. My single trip to MI got my hide eaten alive by those buggers.

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  10. Buck, great looking home. Cozy too. Love that red paint in the living room. It turned the room into a knockout.

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  11. Anon: We DID have some skeeters there. We bought Off! by the 55-gallon drum, too.

    Dan: The people that bought the house when we sold said the decor was what attracted 'em. They kept it "as is."

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  12. A couple of comments by the ever humble SMP. I miss Fritzy, she was an awesome german shepard that once climbed over a fence to be with me.
    I stopped by this place sometime in 2002. The owner was not happy to have such a visit for whatever reason, I don't know. However, the garden looked really good. The owner complained that the furnace needed to be replaced, and blah, blah, blah... He and his partner did make the dining room windows into french doors -- which was an idea the my former husband (MFH) and I entertained.

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  13. I'm pretty sure you mentioned going by the place the first time I posted about Oakridge.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.