The "hood"

Today might be a two-for (sp?). I've been busy in the past couple of days...well compared to a full time worker, probably not, but mentally, I have been very busy. I was been scouring the internet for anything and everything about the Cliff May homes here in East Dallas. On flickr I found a few of the neighbors profiles where they have posted pictures of their homes, and the improvements they made. Ben, in particular, was extra helpful when it came to my questions about the neighborhood. Basically...it's got some problems, but it's also got some things going for it. In the nearby Casa Linda shopping district they just put in a new grocery store, restaurant, and are currently working on a beer garden! There already exists a Starbucks and Chilis Too...but I am more excited about the beer garden.

The houses themselves range greatly in price. Un-renovated Cliff May homes have sold for as low ar 30 grand, while completed ones have been listed in the 160's. This is good and bad. It would be easier to get a loan if the nearby houses are selling at a comparable price...but there is a cap to this neighborhood...and I do not know how much we are willing to commit to this area. If we are going to spend 150 + on a home, we could import our own brand new modular home from Austin for the same price...but more on that later. It's just something else to think about really. I mean, with a new house, we wouldn't get that beautiful Cliff May detail and private patio...but there are more options out there...I'm gonna make a new post to explain further.

Also, I drove by the houses today...work is coming along nicely :)

House #3 Cliff May

Okay, so I had some free time today and drove by one of the other Cliff May homes in the neighborhood that we have been looking in. This one is my favorite of the three because the master bedroom is in the back of the house, meaning the glass surround is in the backyard instead of the front. This also puts the garage out front, and seeing how it's in great shape, this is a very good thing...and I just love the half open garage look. It's currently being renovated/remodeled, and there was someone working on it when I was there today, so there will be more shots of the house soon...but for now...here it is from the curb:

House #2 Cliff May

Alright. So yesterday we went and looked at the first of the three Cliff may homes up for sale. It has some questionable updates and the garage is totally jacked up...but still not bad at all! It doesn't look like much from the front, but this is because of the way the house is designed. The fence is giving privacy to two glass walls which are part of the master bedroom and the living area. Ideally this would be in the back, but hey, you can't have everything. There is another one where that is the case, and I hope to see that one when they finish up the renovations. Here's some shots of the house from yesterday.

It's definitely not bad at all, and we decided we could do it, but we want to see the other two first. They are scheduled to be finished in a month or so, which actually works better for us, and maybe, if this one is still available the price will come down a bit.

Mid-Century Madness

So here goes nothing... After months of searching and looking at other peoples blogs and being filled with envy of their seemingly perfect lives I have decided to set up a blog for Jason and I. It will surely be a more realistic, maybe even slightly pessimistic blog, but it seems so much easier to fool people in to believing we have an "interesting" life over the internet. To be honest, this is pretty far from reality, but, from time to time, we do have fun! (I am hoping I can convince him to post here as well so you can see our two sides of things...and believe you me...we have two VERY different points of view on just about everything.)

As of recent Jason and I have been discussing buying our first home together. AGH. Now, we are in the early stages, and some serious things have to fall into place before this can actually become a reality. Our first step is to bitch slap Sallie Mae. Secondly, I need to start my job...which, is a whole other mess. (Here's hoping for June 1!) Third, well...the list is probably 20 things long and I am already bored...so moving on. Basically, we have a lot to do.

We have been looking at houses for quite a while now, but have never really come across anything that made us proactive about applying for a loan...and then we stumbled upon this little house in the Lake Gardens neighborhood of Dallas. At a whopping 915 square feet, this place stole our hearts. With it just being the two of us, a couple of puppycats, and a Beta named Ming-Ming it really did seem like the perfect house. Now, this being said, it was a total mess. The style is mid-century modern, which he have found to be our preferred style after endless drive-bys of early American cottages... Everything needs to be replaced in this house. The floors even have termite damage...It's not a horrible price for the neighborhood, but seeing as everything needs to be redone, the costs add up quickly. We spent an entire evening and night working on our design plans for this place, and had such a good time doing it! From new bamboo floors to the offwhite subway tiles, we had everything down! Here's some pics of what we would have to work with:

This, however, seemed premature and we ended up not being approved for the house. Which sucked at first, but then we realized, this was the very first house we have ever even taken a tour of, and we were jumping the gun for sure. BUT the mid century fire was ignited!! We also realized we want a place we can fix up and make our own.

In the following weeks I searched and searched for anything and everything mid-century in the Dallas area and quickly realized this is not an easy task. While there are some amazing examples of this style, most of them range in the 4-8 hundred k range...which, will never be in the budget. So I went west and found nothing. Then I went east and found...jackpot! In far east dallas, almost to Garland it seems, there is a random pocket of beautiful Cliff May mid century homes. For those of you who do not know, Cliff May is considered to be the founder of the California Ranch Home. OKAY, so this is HUGE! Cliff May is the quintessential mid century architect and the houses are SO cute. The prices are decent and they aren't in horrible shape, BUT, the neighborhood...definitely leaves something to be desired...it's a little rough around the edges. You can see that there are already a few mid century enthusiasts in the neighborhood though, so that's encouraging. There are currently three Cliff May kit homes up for sale, with all three having the same basic floor plan. Two of them or currently being gutted and restored, which is awesome, to some extent...but hopefully the price won't sky rocket. It seems rare for them to be up for sale, so I am hoping they will be around for a couple of months while we get our stuff in order. We are going to check one out tonight, so I will take some pictures and post later. Okay, Done.