Now that I've survived my horrendous commute to work and am settled in at my desk, I'm ready to start
working blogging.
On Friday night we went to a birthday celebration for one of Tony's high school BFFs. We all met up at a bar in Seattle called
Bravehorse Tavern, which is a Tom Douglas restaurant. In case you're not from these parts and don't recognize the name,
Tom Douglas is an awesome chef who has a bunch of restaurants in Seattle, and he appeared on Iron Chef in 2005.
Bravehorse was super packed when we got there, but we were able to wrassle up a table and secure a shuffleboard table pretty quickly. They had awesome black-bean veggie burgers, which I scarfed down in 3.5 seconds. Anyplace that has a veggie option that doesn't consist of a microwaved Gardenburger is a winner in my book! They also had amazing truffle popcorn, which I wasn't sure about at first, but after awhile became super addicted to it.
Tony and I were plaid twins for the night, which was 100% unplanned! We drove there separately after work so we didn't know what the other was wearing.
Our friends Laura and Leeza were there, so we had lots of time to catch up on girly talk while the guys hogged the shuffleboard table all night.
I was super excited when these nerds showed up! I'm pretty sure they wandered over from
Comicon, which was going on just a few blocks away at the Convention Center. I had to get a picture with them! (Nice photobomb, Jared!)
They even posed with the birthday boy, too.
A fun night was had by all!
After taking a few hours to recover on Saturday morning, Tony and I actually had the chance to go and look at one of the houses we've been eyeing. It was so exciting because it's the first house we've looked at together! Besides our rental duplex, of course. We met up with our realtor and checked out two different houses, but after weighing the pros and cons, we decided which one would be better for us. It's definitely a fixer-upper, so we're still deciding if we want to take on so many projects, or keep looking for something a little newer. It doesn't even have appliances in the kitchen, which is a bummer. The house is an amazing deal though, which is why we're still considering it. I didn't take any photos while we were there, but here are some pictures from the online listing.
As you can see, the place is pretty huge! The deck wraps around the whole house, and there is also a hot tub in the back! And a swing set. Even though the backyard is full of blackberry bushes that need to be cleared, the property is pretty huge. We'd need to add a fence at some point, since we want to get a dog. A
goldendoodle, to be precise!
This is the front room, which would definitely need new paint and trim. I don't love the tile fireplace but it would probably stay. The kitchen is behind the wall on the right, so we'd want to tear down the wall to create an open floorplan, and then expand the hardwood floor into both rooms. We'd also want to replace the baseboard heaters with something called a cadet heater (according to Tony).
The kitchen needs work, obvi, but I can easily see it's potential. We'd paint the cabinets, add stainless steel appliances, replace the part of the floor that's missing, paint the walls, and eventually change the backsplash (I'm obsessed with
white subway tile in kitchens!). Oh, and add new lighting to the ceiling. The dining area is connected but I don't have a picture.
This is one of three upstairs bedrooms, the only one I have a picture of. They all pretty much look the same except that one is slightly bigger. I'm a little bummed the rooms aren't larger, but not much we can do about that. They all need paint, trim, and window treatments. Speaking of windows, all the windows are new, which is nice and would save a lot of money on our electric bill!
This is the downstairs living area, which would be where we'd put the big screen and sectional sofa. It probably needs the most work though. We'd rip out the panel ceiling and add insulation and sheet rock. I'd love to paint the wood panels on the walls but Tony likes the rustic look so we'd have to figure out a compromise. There is also a fourth room down here, which isn't pictured, but it would make a perfect office/guest room. It doesn't have a closet so they can't technically call it a fourth bedroom.
Here is the main bathroom, which has been remodeled. I don't love the tile but at least it's modern! We'd still have to paint and at some point replace the sink with something nicer, but that would probably be last on our priority list.
So what do you think? Can you see the potential in this house?? You'd probably laugh if I told you how cheap it was. I actually had a dream Saturday night that two other couples looked at the house after we left, and we got into a huge bidding war with them. Things got ugly. I guess if we're serious about it we should probably put in an offer so that doesn't actually happen!
What did everyone else do this weekend? Anything more exciting than meeting a couple of nerds and fantasizing about old, rundown houses?
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