We've finally arrived at the final home on our house hunting tour.
Thus far we've shared three very different homes located on waterfront property, from a 1980's ranch to an 1880's Victorian. Many readers have been divided on both their opinions of the homes and whether or not the home featured was the one we'd ultimately choose. Today we'll show you just one more home before we let you all in on the house we've ended up purchasing.
The final house we're sharing that we have on our list of second home contenders is this three bedroom, two and a half bath 18th century gem.
As you can see from the photo, beneath the glass porch exterior is a somewhat traditional historic home that's been added onto over the years, not too much unlike the home that is the focus of the blog/journal Enon Hall (one of our all time favorite blogs that's no longer being updated).
There are three primary aspects to this house that simultaneously speak to us regarding its tremendous potential and terrify us to our basic DIY foundations.
First, the house is situated on 22 acres with about 900 feet of waterfront. Yes, that's not a typo, that's two-two acres, as in almost 10 hectares (if you're on the metric system) of mostly wooded property. I'd estimate the open area to about three or four acres, with the remaining as a densely forested area of relatively newer growth (15-20 years) trees. Apparently the owner had an infestation of some sort that required them to wipeout the majority of their trees and replant everything about 20 years ago.
I don't know why, but there's just something intriguing and oddly romantic about "acreage" in a property. I'm not sure if it's the idea that you can do so much with it, like have chickens, build outbuildings, plant a pumpkin patch, or set up a massive wall and turn it into a compound to outlast the zombie apocalypse, but we've been raised with this mentality (is it American?) that you should strive to "own land." Alex even has crazily concocted dreams about having enough land to ultimately build his own Field of Dreams. I think he's mentioned this before, along with my "Wendy is not impressed" face that typically accompanies the discussion. As romantic as a lot of land may sound (ignoring Alex's crazy) 22 acres of maintenance, even on 22 largely wooded acres, is substantial from a time and maintenance cost standpoint.
Second, the house's age. At 200 plus years young, a home of this age needs work almost always. This is both wonderful and difficult when we're talking "second home." You know we like historic home projects, but what is there that we cannot see in the home that's waiting just below the surface? While we both have this dream to own an 18th century home that we'll work on all the time, how difficult would it be to own a place that needs a significant amount of work when all I really want is a place where we hope to some day relax?
And finally, the waterfront views are nothing less than spectacular and offer panoramic sunrise settings on a protected inlet with a huge amount of privacy and seclusion. There's a brand new pier, a lot of potential for waterfront fire pits and entertaining areas, and even a swimming hole that was dug for an owner in the 1930s who wanted a place where she could swim with her prize winning poodles.
However, as you can tell from the photo, there's little elevation change between the water's edge and the house, so flooding is a distinct possibility. While the house has survived in its location for 200 years, it hasn't been without the occasional water incident (such as during hurricane Isabel). And to be honest, this terrifies us, from both a cost of insurance standpoint, and the idea that we'd sink a ton of time and effort into making the home what we want it to be, only to have it all swept away or badly damaged.
Oh, are you still stuck on what I said about the poodles and the swimming hole? I don't blame you. And yes, I'm totally serious, prize winning poodles. All of their ribbons are still hanging behind glass in the home's garage.
The garage itself is a single level, but completely huge. It's split into two sides, a parking area and a workshop area with heat and electricity.
This even has a fenced area behind the garage where I'm guessing the prize winning poodles were allowed to roam between the interior and exterior of the garage. I have a feeling that Lulu would not be impressed by these accommodations and would lead a mutiny if we suggested our princess sleep in that area.
The house itself is very interesting. Since it started life as a much smaller house and has been added onto as time has progressed, the floor plan is a bit of a winding collections of rooms. The living areas are spread across the three primary sections of house with the kitchen all of the way in the right section.
From the looks of the interior, the house likely had a 1780's section, a mid 1800's section, and a mid 1950's section.
The main staircase (yes, a Christmas staircase!) in the center portion of the home branches off to the various rooms upstairs and is where the shared second floor bathroom lives as well.
There are somewhat steep steps up to the attic space which has been converted into a bedroom with some of the best water views from the house.
Each bedroom is adorned with a slightly different wall covering material and quirky layout based on the section of house the room resides in.
There's also a small guest cottage on the property with some great water views. It was built in what appears to be the mid 1970s and completely frozen in time. But absolutely tons of potential for a one bedroom and one bath guest living space that has easy access to the main house and water.
Alex's Take: Well, this is it, it's what I've been searching for. 18th century, waterfront, lots of land, so many things that I've dreamed about for so long. I want a giant cooking fireplace, huge exposed beams, something that feels equally comfortable any time of the year because the house just feels so perfect. But...is this it? I'd want to remove the glass front porch and do something more appropriate for the house. Inside I'd like to take most of it back to it's original bones, removing anything modern and new. The old oil furnace needs to be replaced, the kitchen needs updated (with historical sensitive materials and layout), the bathrooms all need significant changes, and I want to replace the roof with cedar shake. Can you see all of the dollar signs and time adding up as all of that stuff is mentioned?
The garage/workshop is great for all of the stuff I'd need to be building, and the property does offer so much potential for lounging and enjoying the surroundings, but it's definitely a whole lot of work. This is one of the houses that I figured I'd want 100% when we first saw the listing, but seeing it in person made me worried about it as a second home. If it were our primary residence, I might be all over it, but I feel I'm lukewarm at best given all of the potential work and also the long term risk of flooding. Can this be right? Am I really not sure about the house that checks all of my "dream house" boxes?
Wendy's Take: Wow, talk about the view! When I think waterfront, this is exactly what I envision seeing when I sit on the porch or look out the windows. I love the interesting history and the potential-rich guest cottage would be a great place for our parents to stay when they visit. A huge plus for me too is the separate workshop space where Alex can keep his sawdust and piles of wood where I don't have to see it, do laundry in it, or trip over it trying to find what I need. On the downside, this home needs a lot of work, both seen and unseen. It also seems like there are endless places for snakes to hide out, including in that "swimming pool" out front.
What do you think? Too much work, not enough reward? Or could this be the perfect colonial homestead to enjoy and grow old in?
We can't wait to let you all know which house we ended up going with, all of the work we have planned, and how we possibly decided that "hey, I think buying a second home when we can barely complete a project in our small primary residence is a really great idea!"
