Garage Organization

I have not posted lately, because we have been in the middle of one of our 'to do' tasks - clean and organize the garage. This is our first garage in a house that we own - we had a garage at a place we rented, but the place was so large that we loaned the garage to a friend who was moving from out of state. So, we have proved the old saying that you expand to the space you have, meaning the garage was very full, or at least appeared that way. Is a garage really meant to park a car inside? Really?

The expedition started with a thought out plan of where everything can go. Right! We pondered (mulled) this for a couple of weeks and made every excuse as to why we should not do it each day - it was too hot, it was too cold, too rainy, too nice to be cooped up inside, etc., etc. But finally, after going in the garage to look for something that I know we had and now could not find, we knew it had to be done now. My husband was between jobs, so we had no money and no place we had to be. No excuses....

First is sorting. That is followed by "What is this?" Followed by "What does this go to?" And then "Why do we have this?" After spending an inordinate amount of time figuring out what things were, we spend even more time getting it out of there. Really, have we only lived here four years? I knew moving in on April Fools Day would come back to bite us!

Next comes the arguing. "Why is this here?" "Do we really need this?" "Have we ever used this?" "How does this work?" "Why did we buy this?" We didn't get as angry as we could have, as we knew this would be a very trying experience for both of us. Nice thing about getting older; we have had the big arguments and we realize that we will probably get the same answers, so we just walk away, cool down and get back to work.

This all took about a week of sorting, organizing, hanging, and tossing. Then comes that proud moment when we can see the floor and there are work surfaces again. When we go to get a tool and it is where it belongs and only takes a minute to retrieve, as opposed to an hour of cursing trying to find it ("I know I put it here - Who moved it?")

So I took some pictures so we can record this great moment in history (the ones below show a little work still to be done). And, so far, we are taking great pains to put stuff where it belongs. If this works, cars will be in the garage - what a concept!

Moonshine House

There were other houses that we looked into besides the ones I reviewed in the previous blogs, but sometimes you see a house and the potential as a home is there in your heart. Let me say here that the potential was not entirely 'visual' by any means, especially in the snow and the cold weather, with very little light inside and the remnants of whatever was left behind by previous owners. But something hit my husband and I as we pulled into the driveway of "The Moonshine House."

I had seen this listing on-line, and had asked our realtor about seeing it, but he seemed to feel that it did not meet our criteria and showed us quite a few other houses first. But one day he was showing us another listing on the same road and offered to let us see for ourselves that this house needed too much work. The long driveway went up a hill to a modest little house with a two car garage - so far, so okay. We went inside and it was like a time warp to the 1930's - even the phone was a rotary dial wall phone. (By the way, try making a call to an automated system with a rotary phone - the system does not recognize the number you are dialing and hangs up on you!) Paneling was the decorating style of choice for the couple who had lived here - dark paneling. Initially we called the house 'the dark house' but the moonshine house soon seemed a better nickname. We think - educated guess - that the previous long-term owner, the family who built the house - made their own wine. We found wine jugs, wooden baskets, remnants of a grape trellis, etc. So, Moonshine House! That and there was a flower vase out on the side yard that, for all intents and purposes, looked like - a butt! We all saw it and thought the same thing! Oh, and the moon shine comes in the picture window in the living room.

So we put in the offer to the owners, who had just purchased the property 6 months before but then found out that the husband was being shipped out to Afghanistan. They were just starting to renovate when they received the news, so they had to sell. Unfortunately, their renovation left a lot of garbage in the garage that we had to get rid of. So we paid pretty much what they had paid and moved in April 1. Profound.

The original owner had been a caretaker for one of the big resorts in the area and had been very selective in his plantings, besides the grapes. We could tell that there had been love in taking care of the property, as well as the finish details in the carpentry. The place had good bones, but needed work to bring it into this century. And so the story begins.

Finding a Home - Continued

As my friend who accompanied us reminded me, I did not cover all the houses that we reviewed. If there is a piece of advice that I can give about looking for a new home, it is to bring a friend along. The friend can look at the property without prejudice - without thinking of how the furniture will fit in that room, or why something appears out of whack, or even how to get back to that street the 'special' house was on. A friend is also a great person to bounce ideas off of, since your spouse will be considering his or her concepts, or, in my case, involved in a conversation with the realtor!

More Houses

In reviewing the MLS listings, we saw a 'fixer-upper' for a really low price that was described as a 'Doll House.' It was, although I think most doll houses are larger. There was off-street parking, for one car - small car - and the 'driveway' ended in a large rock on the side of the hill. Oh, and you wanted to get out of the car, too? Sorry, no room for that!

Inside, the living room was cute, the two bedrooms just fit the twin bed in each (I guess the hubby and I sleep separately?) and the kitchen was another 'step-saver.' The listing said there was a second floor, which there was, with steps that you had to lay down to climb up. Something out of an old war movie "We're taking the hill, Clancy, one at a time." My husband did climb up there, but he could not stand up. We heard there was another apartment downstairs, but I could not climb down the hillside to get there. Okay, if I were 30 years younger, wanted a place for my own, maybe..

Then there was the house overlooking the creek (Blue Creek House), very blue exterior, but what a view! The kitchen was smaller than the Doll House, with an eat-in dining area for very small people, but the rest of the house showed a lot of Craftsman details and wood finishes that made us consider it seriously, but... Next door to a biker bar, small bedrooms upstairs that did not seem to have any way to get furniture to (the stairs were narrow and had a landing half-way up), and the mechanicals (heat, water pump) were original from the 1930's. We seriously considered it, but someone else bought it while we pondered.

The Raised Ranch was built over the large garage, which acted as its foundation. At this point, we were not quite desperate yet, just getting tired of looking. Still, this place was in very good shape and had been on the market for quite a while, but was in a community. The older people who had this as their second home did some unusual wiring outside for lights on their driveway, etc. that consisted on indoor extension cords strung through the trees, over the front deck, under the leaves on the ground - can you say fire hazard? And I would like to say that if you have your house for sale, put away your medications and personal information - these poor people were on some pretty intense medications!

This house we seriously considered as well, but when we went back to see the house again - second look - the owners were there and the gentleman told my husband that he really did not want to sell, but his wife wanted to move closer to the grandchildren. Well, so much for negotiation, as he also said that he would make no concessions on anything, 'he could wait forever.'

Home Sellers and House Pets

The homeowners we encountered, which were few, were an interesting lot. Some were very forthcoming about information on the house, others appeared to resent anyone looking at their house. I guess they really did not want to sell. Then there was the house with a tenant, who insisted that there were only certain times to look at the house, since he worked odd hours. We understood that, but could some accommodation be made for when he was not home? No, so we saw the outside of the house and gave up.

A couple of houses had pets, which is nice, but some pets are not friendly. When the listing sheet says "Beware of Dogs," you take heed, especially when one of the 'puppies' almost knocks the door down trying to get to you. Kitties are cute - "is that cat supposed to go out?" - and we are eternally sorry to the pretty kitty whose tail was stepped on by my husband!