We moved up to Minot over 2 years ago when I took a job at the University. We were not sure if, or how long, we'd be staying here, but we finally made the decision this past summer to buy a house - so I guess we're here for longer than just the short term now. We scoured Zillow for months looking for something that we both agreed had good bones. There are enclaves of mid century houses here in Minot, but they are spread out. Finding a place that we both liked took a few months, and really it was one feature in particular that did it for me.
It's not a looker right now from the street. But it's also not a dog. It was build in the Bel Air addition in 1959, so it is a true mid-century raised ranch. The bones are there on the outside, but they will need some help to show through the skin at some point down the road. Yeah, it's clad in vinyl, yeah the lot is pretty small, but look at the low angles of the roof, and that wall of original Andersen windows across the front! It's what is inside that we both really liked though.
Each room was painted in at least one color - some more. There was one bedroom that we called the "sprite room" after the Sprite soda lemon-lime colors that were on the walls. Bright yellow-green on two, and bright yellow on the other two! As you can see from the photo below, the living room was painted in a lovely shade of Amityville basement red. My friend has a similar color red in his den, but with dark trim and dark oak furniture and that works, but in a mid-century ranch, not so much. LOOK at those windows! And that wonderful plastic laminate floor! When we were walking around the place the very first time, I was sure there must be oak plank floor under there, but more on that later. This is still not what made us look at the place, or what made us eventually buy it.
This is. You can hardly see it hiding behind that... couch. A double-sided brick fireplace! This thing is so cool - the very first thing I did when I went back to inspect the house was to get the brightest flashlight I had and stare up at that flue to satisfy myself that it was in good shape. And it was - it is! Fairly clean too. There is another fireplace in the basement just below this room as well. Have burned 3 small fires now - no smoke or any other problems! That whole wall between the large living area and the dining room/kitchen is entirely brick. Here is what it looks like from the dining room.
Check out the vintage early 1980's kitchen cabinets! Oak - not our cup of tea. I've already completely replaced the cabinets and moved the kitchen around, put in a different door, a giant picture window, moved the fridge to that back wall, made the island narrower, and put in a big stainless snorkel range hood. Well, in Google Sketchup anyhow. It's all going to be zebrawood, we think. In any case, you can see the fireplace much better in this photo. The fireplace really makes the entire space. The bedrooms are a bit on the small side - actually, they are pretty large for a 1950's ranch, but a bit small for a modern family, but that will be fine - we don't live in the bedrooms. The upstairs (including the stairs themselves) was completely done in pretty inexpensive wall to wall carpeting. The second thing I did when I went to inspect the house was to rip up a corner of the carpet behind one of the bedroom doors. Yep, sure enough - narrow oak plank flooring! So the inside was in pretty good, though camouflaged, shape. Stuff needs to be done - like painting. A LOT of painting. And something with the carpet. And man - that vinyl laminate floor needs to go! One of the shower walls has a tile job that was so badly done that it leaks into the wall. The outlets are unpolarized, and largely ungrounded. The electrical service is 100 amps. We can deal with each of these on a one by one basis, so no real problems there. The back yard is more perplexing.
I'm not sure what the thinking was, but it just doesn't work for us. The deck has been redone in grey Trex, and that is certainly okay, and we line the large size of the deck. But the topography of the backyard makes no sense, and this fire pit area is just poorly thought out and implemented. There is no flow, the 'brick' paving stones are so uneven that after dark I wouldn't want our three dogs walking over them. And the timbers are pine and are not pressure treated. The rocks are really cool though - rounded river cobbles - those will certainly be recycled in the landscape plan (that is currently nearing completion in Google Sketchup). The back yard is small, but it has some nice potential. More on that when I can get some time to write it up and grab some renders.
Each room was painted in at least one color - some more. There was one bedroom that we called the "sprite room" after the Sprite soda lemon-lime colors that were on the walls. Bright yellow-green on two, and bright yellow on the other two! As you can see from the photo below, the living room was painted in a lovely shade of Amityville basement red. My friend has a similar color red in his den, but with dark trim and dark oak furniture and that works, but in a mid-century ranch, not so much. LOOK at those windows! And that wonderful plastic laminate floor! When we were walking around the place the very first time, I was sure there must be oak plank floor under there, but more on that later. This is still not what made us look at the place, or what made us eventually buy it.
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