Look at this house, how would you live in it?

[Anonymous]

would share a bath w/ kids. leave downstairs for guests. would hate that the garage has no direct door to the house. otherwise it's pretty nice. good luck.

[Anonymous]

There appears to be no counterspace or storage space in either of the bathrooms. I can't imagine how difficult that would be...

[Anonymous]

this has been set up with the master suite downstairs. I don't like any house with this set up with young kids, but as a pp noted, when your kids are older, this could be a great space for you and DH.

It looks really nice. It is surprising they updated without installing central air. We did it ourselves and isn't too bad, but this should obviously be reflected in the price. No HVAC in DC is a non-starter for most of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yeah I noticed that. It's like they wanted to open the place up but couldn't get rid of that load bearing column so just cut around it!

I agree it would have to be arranged in the right way, I just don't know how....

No, they did not put money in it to do it right and do a new header with a steel beam, so all they did was keep what was inside the wall, which is much cheaper and easier. Our last house had the EXACT layout, except our basement was more open, we had one huge rec room, a bedroom, a Full bath and a large storage space. We opened the kitchen/dining like they obviously did, but did not have that header/beam that house has.


We left our old house because it was too choppy and the bedroom closets were way too small. We always felt we were buming into each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No HVAC??? no way.

Only one bathroom on first floor? Deal breaker for me.

[Anonymous]

I like it, and would consider buying it if I were in your shoes. The open layout is nice, 4 bedrooms (one of which could be a guest bed/bath). Plus living area on the upstairs, and family room/rec/game area downstairs. Definitely would be able to do a lot with this house.

The game room could also be an office. You could have a playroom and an entertainment room. Plus a guest room/bath and 3 bedrooms for your family. With the open layout upstairs you could put a nice dining set as well as some nice chairs/couches and some play shelves for some toys for the kids so they are not always in their bedroom or in the playroom.

The one thing that irks me is the bathroom on the lower level - what's up with the shower? Looks like a major afterthought - I'd probably want to try to change that.

[Anonymous]

In the end I think you will love the freedom. Unless you are a brilliant interior designer you will have to do what most people need to do. Play with the furniture in different locations. Try every combination, even if you think it won't work. It is a big space so you will need a few people to help you (furniture gets heavy after a while). You will instantly know when you have the right configuration.

[Anonymous]

Here's my take on the open-floor plan: not so into it. And I actually do like open-floor plans a times. But this one looks like it was supposed to be a 3 separate rooms, then they knocked out the walls but left that weird remnant there. I think you'd have a pretty difficult time making everything look like it's not just floating in the middle of a large space. It all looks very "off."

Other than that, everything seems doable. But to me, the aesthetics of that upper space would be definite dealbreaker.

[Anonymous]

I think it looks fine. But I really think you should just go see it--who cares what a bunch of people here think? Everyone has a different price point, too--we just bought a house for $1.4m, so it doesn't necessarily compare to what I've been looking at in some ways. Your're going to get a lot of the negative feedback from people who are sitting in +$1m houses--of course they would never consider some things you might if you're looking in the $600k range.

See if you like the feel of it. It looks like a nice reno job from the website.

[Anonymous]

I think it's funny you're posting a house you like. With over 600 views from DCUM, someone else is liable to like it and buy it.

[Anonymous]

I think the floor plan is very workable: set up a nice dining room area off the kitchen and then your living room will be oriented towards either that pretty front window or the fireplace. Agree you will have space for some kids toys as well.
We have a home with a similar open floor plan and it works GREAT for younger kids. Are your kids old enough to play in the downstairs rec. room while you are cooking or whatever upstairs? It's nice that you would only be a few short stairs away from them.
We also have an open floor plan home (though smaller than Holly Drive) , but our kitchen is not so open. What about cooking odors, etc? Do they have downdraft venting? Also, if your kitchen is the slightest bit cluttered, in my mind it could be a huge visual distraction from enjoying the other living spaces in the great room. Just some things to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The big open area looks pretty great for life with children. But the house seems to lack a guest toilet. The upper level bathroom is very close to the entertaining/living space, but presumably it would be the main bathroom used by the kids, and perhaps therefore hard to keep clean. You'd have to send your guests all the way down to the bathroom off the rec room.

I'd also use the rec room (or even the game room, though that's probably too small) as a guest bedroom.

And would you be comfortable having your kids sleeping on a different floor from you? I would be, but that may be just me. If so, you'd have to leave the downstairs master bedroom empty for a few more years.

This house is a badly redone split level. Those houses commonly have 3 bedrooms up a short flight of stairs and a hall bath. Sometimes larger ones have a small master bath. The main level lacks a powder room. Notice the stairs to the bedrooms open onto the LR. The floor plan is too open and needs interior modification.

The lower level is a few stairs down and usually has a powder room and laundry room. Guests would go to the basement? Nope. everyone would traipse up the stairs to the bedroom hall bath unless you all are in the family room-then they'll go through the master bed. So the house is basically 3 bed and 1 full bath for normal daily living. This house looks awful from the back. There are now 2 full baths in the basement and no deck or patio area. Poor curb appeal but it is in Amberley.

The problem is they f'd up the renovations and are asking 625 for what? This is nice and in Amberley for 789:
http://729holly.com/wfPropertyDetails.aspx

A 4 bed 2.5 bath 1960's style colonial was listed for 625 on holly so this house is way overpriced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it looks fine. But I really think you should just go see it--who cares what a bunch of people here think? Everyone has a different price point, too--we just bought a house for $1.4m, so it doesn't necessarily compare to what I've been looking at in some ways. Your're going to get a lot of the negative feedback from people who are sitting in +$1m houses--of course they would never consider some things you might if you're looking in the $600k range.

See if you like the feel of it. It looks like a nice reno job from the website.

I just posted--we used to live in a split and did renovations. The thing is it's location/location/location. This is in a community with water access and big lots. The real issue is are you paying too much for a bad renovation?

[Anonymous]

It's a really bad use of space in my opinion. Why have a huge living room and tiny kitchen? I would need a bigger kitchen. It's nice that it is open but they should have sacrificed some living room space to make the kitchen bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a really bad use of space in my opinion. Why have a huge living room and tiny kitchen? I would need a bigger kitchen. It's nice that it is open but they should have sacrificed some living room space to make the kitchen bigger.

What for? A big kitchen is a waste of space. You're not living in the kitchen, especially when it's not an eat-in kitchen anyway. Then all you're doing is creating more room you need to cross to cook. Ever spend any time in a commerciall kitchen? They're compact to minimize movement--makes cooking much more efficient.

So, to each his own.