Episode IV: A New Quilt

It's a duvet cover, really.  A long-awaited gift for my sister AD and her hubby Mr. Finch.  I decided to go for the obvious with bird-and-branch-themed fabric and threw in some gold and blue for flavor.  The pattern (another Amy Butler design called "Lotus Brick Path", a variation on the classic "Yellow Brick Road" pattern), uses 7 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles...198 of them.  I used 1/2 yard each of 11 different prints and cut 18 rectangles from each fabric.

After I cut the rectangles and stacked them up, this is what they looked like:

That's a lot of rectangles.  Here's a shot of all the fabrics, cut and ready to sew.

Later that night, after Mac Mini went to bed, I laid out all the pieces to see how I wanted the pattern to flow.  Picture me pushing all the furniture against the walls and trying to lay out almost 200 pieces of fabric in a seven-foot square in our tiny living room.  Now picture me crouching and crabwalking across the floor because Mr. Mac is deep into a Gears Of War III tournament and I am between him and the television.  Now add two large, curious cats and poor overhead lighting and you'll have some idea of what it's like to undertake a large sewing project Chez Mac.  

After finally finishing the layout, I stacked the pieces in rows and labeled them for sewing.  I have yet to begin the sewing part of this project, partly because it seems kind of daunting, but mostly because Mac Mini, work, and househunting have kept me hopping.  

We had another near miss on our search for Mac Manor...a lovely older (1904) home in Beacon Hill with original moldings, fir floors, an atrium, a window seat, and nice high ceilings everywhere...except in the main bathroom and at the top of the stairs.  With Mr. Mac standing 6'5" in his stocking feet, low ceilings anywhere are a dealbreaker for us.  It's been a recurring roadblock for us...attics turned into bedrooms, "finished" basements with six-foot ceilings (hint to seller's agents: if an average-sized human can't stand up in it, it's not "usable space"), bathrooms tucked under stairwells...this sort of thing is the rule, not the exception, among houses in our price range.  Seattle had a housing boom in the early 1940s, and the "Boeing boxes" built by and for the newly relocated wartime employees are prevalent all over the city.  These houses are charming and have held up well through the years, but economy and space-saving was of the essence and ceiling height was definitely not a priority for those fine folks.  That's why we've been falling in love with so many homes built between 1900 and 1925.  Nine-foot ceilings are just about perfect for a fellow of Mr. Mac's stature, and we love the look and feel (not to mention the build quality) of houses from that era.  Looking at an old Craftsman or Victorian, you just know that it has a story to tell.  And since only 1% of Seattle's extant houses were built before 1900, we'd be helping to preserve a little bit of our city's history before these old beauties go completely extinct.  Maybe this week we'll find our dream house...

Big Dreamers

Well, our house hunt continues apace.  We toured seven homes on Saturday, with Mac Mini in tow.  She was a peach and behaved herself very well.  She especially enjoyed the staged homes and found lots of neat decorations to play with (fortunately most of them were neither fragile nor expensive).  A couple of the homes were non-starters...one was in a very bad location and the other had been built in 1998 and already looked like it needed a full remodel.  Pretty depressing stuff.

We visited another big fixer, this one on Beacon Hill, and yet again I fell victim to my heart and imagination.  It was a sad story: the previous owner had purchased the home for $450,000 in 2007, started renovating it, run out of money, couldn't get a loan modification, and lost the house.  It is now on the market through Fannie Mae for $199,000.  Most of the first floor was torn down to the studs and the concrete block foundation needed a serious overhaul to meet code.  (Even though it has been standing for 112 years and survived three major earthquakes, concrete block is now considered unsuitable for construction in the Pacific Northwest...something about volcanoes and seismic events.)   The previous owner had done a good deal of plumbing and electrical work, so Mr. Mac and I considered finishing the remodel and doubling our money on a large house in a great location.

The house on the hill.

We consulted with a friend who owns a construction business, who told us to run for the hills and never look back.  Good advice.  Unfortunately, he also quoted us an amount for fixing the foundation which fell within the scope of our budget.  My interest was piqued and I went back to take another look at the house.  This time I brought The Fantastic Mr. Finch, my brother-in-law, a carpenter and contractor well-versed in renovation.  He went through the house and pointed out the strange electrical rework, the incorrect placement of the brand-new shower box, the fact that the previous owner had walled in the porch and taken out the fireplace.  He found warped vinyl siding, bowed window frames, and evidence of water damage.  In short, I had fallen in love with another pooper.  Mr. F let me down gently, and said something that sums up our home search so far: "You guys are big dreamers."

Another dream home.

It's true.  After many years of urban apartment living, our dreams of a sweet oasis in the city tend to color our view of reality.  It's so easy to say, "All we have to do is finish the drywall, shore up the foundation, put in a new kitchen, and do some landscaping," forgetting that those projects would take tens of thousands of dollars and many months to complete.  Not to mention that we'd be doing it all on a tight budget and with a very active toddler running around.  So here's hoping we can find a home that suits our budget and our plans, and rein in our imaginations just enough to let in a little practicality.

The Creative Juices Are Flowing!

Mr. Mac and I have been busy dreaming about our dream home and touring all kinds of homes.  On Tuesday, he emailed me a new listing and I was able to see it with our realtor that afternoon.  Along with half of the prospective homebuyers in Seattle.  It was an enormous 1901 Victorian-style manor, smack-dab in the middle of First Hill, with seven bedrooms, three bathrooms, a good-sized backyard, and a parking space...for $270,900.  An unheard-of price for that neighborhood, which usually commands home prices of over half a million dollars.  Simply the best deal we've seen on the market so far.  The catch?  It had fallen into disrepair and needed some serious TLC.  I walked into 4,000 square feet of cracked lathe and plaster, peeling linoleum, funky wiring and plumbing, ancient carpet, and dry rot and fell deeply in love.  Our realtor estimated over $150,000 worth of repairs for a full renovation, but I wasn't afraid.  We would do this ourselves, room by room, scraping away the layers of bad wood paneling and uncovering hardwood floors that needed only a buffing and a coat of shellac to gleam like new.  This was a grand old house, three full stories and a basement, winding staircases with bannisters, crown moldings and ten-foot ceilings, just waiting to be refurbished and rehabilitated.  I envisioned a library on the second floor, a finished basement playground for Mac Mini, a formal dining room, and a third-floor suite for the au pair.  We would remodel the home, live there happily for decades, then sell it for three times the price.

 Four other interested parties toured the house with me, and I knew this home would disappear quickly.  So Mr. Mac and I arranged to see it again on Wednesday during his lunch hour.  This time, there were two other groups of people waiting to see the house, but for some reason the doorknob had been removed and replaced, the lockbox was locked inside the house, and the seller's agent could not be reached by phone.  Something was definitely fishy.  Mr. Mac took a good look at the yard and the outside of the house, but no one could get inside.  That's when our little dream began to fade.  We had a heart-to-heart with our realtor, who reminded us that the home would be the center of a cutthroat bidding war by the end of the week, and made the hard decision that we had neither the savvy nor the budget for that kind of fight.  Sigh.  So our dream home is still out there somewhere, waiting for us.  Ah, what might have been.

Mr. Mac and I had intended to buy a fully remodeled or newer home, but this experience has inspired us to go for a diamond in the rough and make it our own.  I have many, many decorating ideas percolating.  We're touring another spate of homes on Saturday, and apparently springtime is when the sellers emerge from hibernation and the market becomes more open to first-time homebuyers in our price range.  So wish us luck...hopefully we'll soon be sanding, painting, papering, and gardening!

Haus Hunting

Well, things are getting busier around here.  My work has picked up considerably and Mac Mini is being her busy little self.  She drew all over one of the walls with the unfortunately unwashable crayons given to her by a well-meaning Grandma Mac, so priming and painting is certainly in my future.  I have all the fabric for my next quilting project, a duvet cover for my sister and brother-in-law.  It will be my largest project yet!  I've only just started cutting the pieces because I've been so preoccupied with my other giant project...finding us a house!

Mr. Mac and I have been renting our two-bedroom apartment in the heart of Belltown for almost four years now.  It's a great spot, and we love being able to walk to work.  We have a view of Elliot Bay and the Olympic Mountains, and I love watching the ferries go back and forth across the water.  We're on the top floor of our large mid-1990s building, and the apartment is fairly large and comfortable.  This is our home, and it's difficult to consider moving out of the downtown area.

However, our rent has gone up 5% a year for the past two years, and we've reached a point in our lives where we really need to start investing in ourselves instead of giving our money to a building management company.  If we buy a house within our budget, we'll be saving hundreds of dollars in monthly expenses.  We're also kind of out of space.  I'm afraid to open the closet in Mac Mini's room, which is also Mr. Mac's office.  Our storage unit is completely packed full of boxes, outdoor equipment, and the enormous air conditioner we use in the summer heat waves.  Mac Mini's toys have taken over the living room, and our dining table also doubles as my office and sewing table.  It's getting very crowded in here.

I've been looking for a house for us since early December, and it's been tough.  This is a great market for first-time homebuyers in our price range.  But the good stuff only stays on the market for a few days before it gets snapped up, so we have to be ready to pounce.  So far we've looked at 50+ houses and toured about 20.  It's so tempting to stretch our budget and try to buy something more expensive...but the idea is to save money, so I'm determined to get a great deal.  Originally we were going to do the whole thing ourselves through Redfin, but it's just too much work and the good stuff disappears too quickly.  We met with a realtor yesterday, and I'm confident that she can help us find the right home.  Ugh.  This whole thing is so stressful!  It kind of makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.

Mac Mini and I are headed down to Olympia today to celebrate Cousin Leontine's third birthday while Mr. Mac throws a Sportsball party.  I hope the weather is as beautiful today as it was yesterday!  I love Seattle's springy sunshine!