Introducing - Romancing the Ranch

When I reached out for suggestions to name our new project, I was overwhelmed with how thoughtful and creative you all were!  With so many great options, it was so hard to pick a single name.  But after a lot of consideration, I decided on Romancing the Ranch.  It seems to perfectly describe what we need to do!  And as you will see, this place needs some serious ROMANCE!!

Built in 1952, the house has had the same owner since the early 1960's.  That's a long time!  Sadly he has now passed away and the family sold the home 'as is'.  And like many houses we see with elderly owners, there weren't many updates over the years.  It's time for some serious investment!  It might be hard to see now, but it has so much potential!

So let's start with a tour.  On the outside, it's a bit quirky.  There is the main house, connected to a garage that's almost the same size as the main house.  My guess is there might have been a breezeway connecting them years ago - but that's been closed in, leaving a covered alcove in the front.  It's a nice spot to store the trash cans, but I think we can find better use of the space!

The back has a long deck with lots of windows to a big rear yard.  And since it's adjacent to a Nature Preserve, it's a nice quiet location.  By SoPo standards, it's a great big backyard!

Inside, as you step in the front door, you see the washer and dryer!  Not your typical location, so we will be moving that.

The kitchen was probably updated in the 1980's.  Dark oak cabinets and paneling - and without any direct windows it's a dark room.  

The former breezeway provides a bit more kitchen space, with cabinets and storage.  But it still feels tight and obviously needs updating.

There are only two bedrooms, which are a bit on the small side.

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And those fans!!!???  People are always amazed that I can guess the height of the former owners - but seriously, it's not so hard :-) 

The only bathroom in the house had a large shower added at some point.  I'm sure it was an aid to the elderly homeowner, but it made the bathroom extremely tight.  We will be removing it!

So at this point, you're probably wondering why in the world would I want this house??  And this is it.  In the mid 1970's, the owners put this big addition across the back of the house.  It almost doubled the size of the house and provides so much living space!

The room is 16 x 26 feet with a gas fireplace and a wall of windows/sliders, out to the rear deck.

I know it's a bit jumbled at the moment, but trust me, it's going to be fantastic!

See the waterfall picture?  It's embedded into the window frame of the original exterior window!  Clever!

But there's more!  The house has a HUGE, dry basement.  And while there isn't usually a lot of interest in finished basements in this area, the coronavirus pandemic has changed that.  There are two big rooms that can be a way of getting away from it all - whether it's a home office, playroom, craft room - whatever!  Wanna hide from your kids?  There's room for that!  Wanna watch a TV show your husband will hate?  There's room for that!  Want a pool table in the basement?  There's room for that!

You can see the nicotine stains on the walls, where the old pictures were taken down

But it will take some work.  The first room at the bottom of the staircase was used as an office.  It has some nice bookcases, but a low ceiling makes it feel cramped (not sure what we will find under all that ceiling tile!).  Does anyone need some C++ programming texts?  We have lots!

Next is the boiler room, that also has a whole house vacuum, oil tank, washer and dryer.   And look at the big workbench - that's pretty cool!  Oh and more bookshelves, this was home to a book lover!

And the surprise space - this huge workroom.  When they built the big addition in the 1970's, they also dug out a full basement.  That's pretty unusual, but it's a fabulous space.

Want some old VCR's that have most of their parts?

The previous owner ran an electronics repair business out of here (does anyone need 22 VCR's that were used for parts???).  I'm not quite sure if we'll find any treasures mixed in all this stuff - but it's a huge space.

And finally, there's a large garage.  The garage door is oversized for a single car.  And the separate door next to it appears to have been the primary entrance used by the owners.  There's lots of space in there!

Throughout the house we found lots and lots of VHS tapes, DVDs, art and books that focused on war and westerns.  Those were obviously his favorite genre - but it's time for a change! So we're going to give it a big dose of romance!

Stay tuned, we have a lot of work ahead of us!  And be sure to follow us on Instagram or Facebook for even more updates!

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