THE DECISION:A few years ago, we decided that the next phase of our lives, which would begin when our youngest graduated high school, should bring us back to the west coast. We started considering the options and eventually decided on Seattle. Having decided this, we set about defining the lifestyle we were aiming for, and explored neighborhoods in Seattle with a couple of main features in mind:

First of all, we needed to find something in range of our estimates of what we could sell our CT house for ( turned out to be WAY off, but…)

Secondly, walkability. If you haven’t shopped for houses lately, let me enlighten you. Online realty sites nowadays show a graphic and rating called walkability. This little map lists several basics and rates how far it is is to walk to each of them, and after some behind the scenes algorithm processing, spits out a Walkability Score. Since we were aiming for a highly walkable lifestyle, in large part a reaction against our last 12 years of being slaves to our car, we took careful note of this feature.

THE SEARCH:We started out by driving to and walking around in several neighborhoods in Seattle that are considered village-like, places where there are several blocks on the main drag, offering cafes, grocery stores, a variety of restaurants, banks, parks, bus lines, gyms etc. We got a feel for many, and narrowed our choices down bit by bit, eventually deciding on the Wallingford neighborhood adjacent to the U District. As we were looking, we kept our eyes on available properties throughout the area, and also narrowed down our optimal Walkability Score, deciding that anything less than an 85 would have us spending more time in a car than we were aiming for. (Note: the CT house’s score is 25, which seems pretty high to me, considering how far and how often we drove)

THE LUCKY BREAK:Now, finding the perfect house for you and your family is not all about planning and groundwork. There’s some serendipity involved as well. Here’s what ours looked like. On a weekend business trip, Claude found a house that might suit us, and in order to protect our interest in it, put an offer on it. Becky flew out the following weekend for a personal on-site evaluation, deciding quickly that it was too near a major artery to the highway, but without many of the village benefits mentioned above, so we withdrew the offer and Becky spent the weekend exploring available properties, deciding to keep our eyes on the market, since there was nothing we loved currently available. Timing is everything. Our local Seattle realtor, good friend and cousin called to say that DURING Becky’s return trip to CT a house that matched pretty much all of our criteria had been listed. Since even highly determined folks can find their attention wavering, we are pretty certain that we found this house simply because, at that moment in time, we were actively looking for it. So 4 days later, Becky was headed back across the country to have a look.

THE PURCHASE:It was, indeed, everything we had hoped for. Walk Score = 97! We asked for an inspection, just to be sure, but it was clear that this 1911 craftsman had been constructed with love and care and built to last. And after several years as a duplex rental, it was ready to be brought up to date with as much love and care as the original builder had poured into it. We put in an offer and discovered we were among more than half a dozen offers that had pre-inspected. In the end, there were 2 offers higher than ours, but we were the highest bidding single family who planned to live here, and maintain it as a home. That tipped the balance for the sellers, and we became the proud new owners of a beautiful home in the heart of Wallingford, along with a long-term remodel project to bring the structure and function up to 21st century comfort and code while preserving its beautiful lines and honoring its place in the neighborhood.

THE PROJECT:That’s quite a task, living up to a legacy in century-old neighborhood. We have a lot going for us at the start: sturdy fir structure, a foundation in near perfect condition even at 102 years old, fir floors throughout, 2 kitchens and baths (due to the duplex), beautiful oak overlay floors with mahogany detailing in the entry, living and dining rooms, a cute brick fireplace, a huge window seat with one of two lovely picture windows with grid details, a coffered ceiling in the dining room, a pleasing widening of the hallway where it meets the stairs to the top floor, a full attic (uninsulated), a full basement (the separate dwelling unit), a graceful porch with more fir flooring.

Here’s what we want to add/update: the main kitchen – currently separated from the dining room by a wall with a u-turn entrance that goes through two sections of back porch – needs a full replacement, and we need to add a downstairs bathroom, remodel the basement dwelling unit to accommodate a computer business office, enlarge the back bedroom and add a master closet and master bath, add an upstairs laundry, add insulation and replace windows to decrease energy loss, remove any toxic surfaces that we will be working through or adjacent to, and update the pipes, wiring, and heating systems. Wish list for later includes a new roof with solar panels and water collection systems, and an insulated and finished attic.

THE BLOG:This will primarily be a pictorial blog with regular postings on the project’s progress, mainly chronological. Descriptions and comments will be brief, and will often take the form of a cut and paste from the daily diary of work progress we are keeping separately for our own records and reference. We do not promise to keep up a running banter or series of anecdotes about the work and workmen since we plan on spending more time helping get the work done and less time with online documentation.

Here are some shots of the house as we bought it: