Stella's Social Club

I don't need the chair in Brinsea yellow as I will no longer have my sunroom. We are moving.
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Didn't want to share the news until I knew for sure and today we got the final approval for a loan we will take out against the new house until we sell this one. I don't want to put it on the market until we are out and until we move the emus! Talk about a liability if someone decides to check out the pastures.

Anyway, we are buying this farmhouse built in 1894 or thereabouts on five acres just a few miles away from where we live now. It is dry and dead right now but this is how it looked last spring!




I am super excited. It is a two story with a full basement but on the main level I will have a bedroom and a full bath. I don't have that here and every room downstairs is on a different level. The steps are killing my hips and knees.

Just look at this foyer with the original wood floors and trim.




I am having five new coops built. Four are small 5x6, and one is 6x10 for my Icelandics and layers. They look like this except I am having solid wood sides, floors, and 1/2 x 1 inch wire on the fronts. Should be well ventilated.




Michael didn't want my brooders and incubators in the garage (just a 2 car) or finished basement (dust) so he told me to buy a shed to put just outside my service porch door. I found this adorable playhouse on Craigslist and snagged it. It is 8x8 and should be plenty big for my stuff. It will be delivered when we close escrow.



I have order 2 three sided shelters for the emus and donkeys. They will have pipe panels across the fronts with a gate if I need to lock them in. Our emus are out for the night for the first time tonight. I am a nervous wreck! They are fighting too much being cooped up in a 10x6 dog run all night. The girls are tearing the boys necks up.

The house sits directly in front of a Christian school. There is a little shack I plan to fix up for the goat girls. The kids have come down while the property has been vacant and painted peace signs and stuff inside including a pink prayer wall. I think Laverne and Shirley will approve.




The chicken coops will be placed in this area with the runs going up the hill. My playhouse will be right by that side door. The school is behind the pines which are on our property and there is a chain link fence. We heard kids voices when we were out there today but other than that, not a peep. The man who owns the school grew up in the farmhouse when his parents bought it in 1955. He has shared lots of history with me and will be a great resource.




In this spot in the driveway I am having a small red Tuff-Shed barn installed to store hay and feed. Every morning I will load my scooter up with crimped oats, goat chow, emu food, Flockraiser and scratch in big pails and go feed the animals!




Oh, and it has been totally remodeled inside with new kitchen and baths.








The chicken hill in Spring.




View from the front porch. There is a wrap around deck all the way around the house.



Here is the deck at the front door. I love the scallop trim under the window, The window themselves were just swapped out for dual pane! I can't wait to decorate the porch with pumpkins and gourds.




The service porch! OMG I love it but the mauve has to go!







The livestock plan. The white rectangles are where the shelters will be. The one farthest out is really nice but it does not have enclosed sides. Jack and Diana are going to love all the room they will have to roam. They can drink from the pond or the irrigation spring which runs across the front of the property.




I am beyond excited about this. It has been a complete nightmare buying an historic property with curve balls thrown in at every turn. We have been on an emotional roller coaster for weeks. Imagine thinking you are set to close on a 1800's era farmhouse when they tell you that you can't get homeowner's insurance unless you retrofit it for earthquake safety! Or how about the title report comes and it seems there are CC&R's dating back forty years saying the only animals you can have on the property are horses! These are only a couple examples of the things that we have faced in our struggle to buy the farmhouse. If all goes as planned we will close escrow on Friday next week. This is a dream come true for me. I have loved it here but it is time to leave life in the fishbowl. I won't miss angry mean-spirited litigation-loving neighbors, dogs at large, barking 24/7, cars speeding on the dirt road, dust everywhere, steps and stairs all day long, and HUGHESNET!

Yes folks, prepare yourself. The new house has CABLE AND HIGH SPEED INTERNET!
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Mary, it looks like a Dream come true... I am so Happy for you. How many acres will you have at your new place? What town are you moving to? The house looks Amazing. CONGRATULATIONS!

Keep in mind, I have a 21 year old son Alway looking for side work. If you need any help with the move, give me a call. He has a large dump truck and flat bed trailer.. :) Molly
 
Thanks everyone. We are one hold-your-breath mode until we close next week. This purchase has been fraught with problems. It is a bit of a Winchester mystery house having been purchased at auction by an investor, remodeled, and put on the market. It was priced too high for the first many months and it didn't move. Lucky for us they got real and dropped the price while we were looking. I found this home myself and loved it. I went over so many times, pressing my face against the window to see inside. Finally I tricked Michael into going over and seeing it. He hated it. Too many cars going by, too many power lines to spoil the view, etc. He couldn't get out of there fast enough, without even seeing the inside. I conned my real estate agent into showing me the house one Saturday morning when we were going to look at other houses. It was mid day on the hottest day of the year. The A/C was turned off and it was hotter than Hades inside. The sting of fresh varnish burned our eyes on the second floor. I never even got to step foot in any of the bedrooms before she said "we are getting the hell out of here." She hated the house, Michael hated the house, I loved the house. We moved on to other properties, made a couple of offers, went into contract on one. But I never forgot the farmhouse. Many mornings I drove over and got a Starbucks coffee (it's just around the corner!) and drank my coffee sitting on the farmhouse steps. I was under contract to buy another home a couple of miles from the farmhouse but the farmhouse was where I wanted to be. We were ready to back out of the other property after the well showed contamination even after sanitizing. We then started reviewing and re-thinking all the properties we had seen. This one never made it to the discussion. One day I asked Michael if we could just go look at it again. I was shocked when he agreed. When we got there, as if by fate, someone had left a door open. Considering that more of an invitation than a breaking and entering, we went in. I got to see what I wasn't allowed to see before and Michael got to see it for the first time. I am not sure he loved it instantly but my the time we left he wanted that house as much as I did. We cancelled the contract on the other house that night and asked our agent to put in an offer on this house for us. She fired us as her clients! What? Who does that? She said if we really wanted that house someone else from her office would represent us in the purchase but not her! Wow. Suddenly free to do what ever we wanted, we called the listing agent and make an offer over the phone. She wrote it up, the seller agreed and we were under contract just hours after being fired! Our agent has worked tirelessly for us us through all the pitfalls of buying an historic home. Her early days were spent selling Victorians in San Francisco and that experience proved quite useful here.

Slowly I am gathering the history of the home. I don't know what year it was built but the first time it shows up in Nevada County records is 1894. It could be much older. There is still remnant of the old lath and plaster in the attic.




The home did well on insppection. The inspector said it was solid and in great condition for it's age. Some things did need to be repaired. The seller is repairing some and we are repairing others. I figure that's great since it was an as-is sale. A new air conditioning unit is being installed for the second floor today. We hired and electrician to come in and fix a couple of things plus remove all the old wiring that isn't going anywhere or doing anything.

I may pass out from holding my breath from now until next Friday for fear that something else will come up and we'll lose the house. If that happens I am going to need my friends. Well, I am going to need you anyway but more so than ever if that happens. Stay close please.

p.s. Molly, it is in Lake of the Pines Ranchos. It was one of the three original farms that were divided up, becoming Lake of the Pines and Lake of the Pines Ranchos. I am not sure what happened to the other two houses. Originally the property line for the next rancho over went through the farmhouse as they drew up the lots without showing the house. I was told there was discussion about tearing down the house. Eventually the property line was moved but the original also still shows on the parcel map, dissecting the house! I am having such fun finding out some of her mysteries.

Molly, would your son be interested in giving me a bid to drive around and pick up old fence boards, broken horse feeders, etc and take them to the dump? I also need a little "A" frame shack torn down and hauled away.
 
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WOW!!!!!!!! Mary that is so wonderful- that house and property look like a DREAM- I hope someday we can find a setup HALF as nice! Good luck with the close!
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Rinda
 
Mary, does it have an in ground pool or is that an above ground pool in the aerial that has been removed.

Looks like a LOT of work.

How will you fill the non-existent pond? Do you have irrigation rights?

Have you sold your current home?

So many questions.
 

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