We bought a c. 1924 flat fronted bungalow in the West Ridge historical district of West Rogers Park, Chicago. We first saw
the house listed in April of 2013, but it took us two real estate agents
and two offers before we finally secured it in October of 2013. We
probably looked at between 20 - 30 bungalows and this is the one we
wanted all along. Nothing else would compare, and I pined for it. We are so excited to be here and would love to share
with you the updates and restoration going on for us in real time.
To
get acquainted, here are a few pictures of the home from the original
real estate listing, with notes of course on how we felt about each room
when we first walked through. Our immediate projects will follow in the next post.
The arched windows really stand out in a block of traditional bungalows. It was on my radar from first glance.
And then you notice the wonderful light that comes into the front room, all white and light and airy. It's a big room supported by a beam that runs along the attic.
The dining room is a good size but needs new windows, and the a/c unit seems to have become a permanent fixture of the room. Motoboy would see it that it had been 'installed' to last. Also, the floors were a parquet laminate (why???). We thought about taking that off ourselves but simply hired someone to do the entire first floor, linoleum in the kitchen and sun room as well, before our move in. Money well spent.The floors now look beautiful.
The butler's pantry in the kitchen was also a great selling point, we don't plan on changing that much at all. We are going to get our kitchen inspiration from this feel -- white and classic. The shelves need painting, the glass counter needs tossing, and all the pulls need replacing, but we still like it.
(Other people's stuff)
These built in kitchen cupboards, however, are total junk. We suspect
they were custom built for the wall at some point, but not really well
done, all the pulls work on a pin system and they are all broken, held together with yellowing cello tape which I've replaced until we can get them out. These
are getting pulled out this week and I am so excited! The kitchen will
be our first big project I will document.
Now, the other great selling point - party basement!
A lot of these bungalows built in the 20s, in dense residential neighborhoods like Portage Park, Old Irving, Berwyn and West Ridge had bars in the basement. I don't know if its a prohibition holdover or just the fact that there aren't corner bars like there are in other parts of the inner city, but its so charming to me. We were blessed with a pretty sweet setup.
Party room features a pool table and piano, as well as assorted furniture of many vintages. We paid a flat fee for all of this stuff, which was a deal for us. And probably for them too as they are in their 80's and don't have to move it!
Note the door at the end of the room...
Leads to the super sweet wood paneled bar backroom. Looks like a lot of booze back there but its really just airplane sized bottles. I suspect someone traveled for work a lot and didn't even drink. I would collect them too, they are adorable! And were gone by the time we moved in. Which is probably good because we would have tried them here and there. Some were half evaporated due to time.
We could also tell they weren't really using the bar because after our housewarming party the sheer traffic behind the bar cracked all the tiles that were still there. New floors should be coming in due time then!
Yard - I'm going to skip to the yard because the bedrooms - billed as 5 - are really a bit boring. Two of them are usable, one is a sun room, and two are sizable rooms in the attic that I am sure we will get to later. Eventually we would like to see the second floor as a master with second bedroom and a bath, and use the downstairs rooms as guest rooms and offices. The 5 year plan.
Excited to have a yard of our own though. Its covered in sort of local prairie style weeds and bushes, lots of paving stones and edging stones, and a little plastic swan planter that the toddler is obessed with, screaming out DUCK! until you take her to the window to see it. The head's been knocked off by the dog/snow/ice so we will have to get some sort of stone creatures in the garden to replace it eventually.
So that's where we started. A bit overwhelming and exciting and comforting to be in our own home, finally.
