Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Vintage 1970s Dream Home: The Grounds

Note: This is Part Four of a series where I rhapsodize about a house I'm in love with that is too expensive for me, doesn't have enough bedrooms, and needs a complete remodel - or at least needs a certain heart-shaped bathroom removed from a red-shag-carpeted BEDROOM in the basement. Want to see it? Check out Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Last time we finished looking at the inside of this 1970s house. We drove through these gates when we got here.


And now it's time to turn around and drive back through them on our way out.


Looks super fun to shovel/plow in the winter, no? Or to drive on in general in the winter months. Let's not think about it. Quick, find something to distract us. Hey, there's that mysterious modern building in the upper right hand side of the picture. What could it be? Maybe a map will help us figure it out. I'll tell you one thing: once Tyson figured out what it was he was very enthusiastic about the house.


I've used my awesome MS Paint skills here to outline the approximate shape of the lot, and also to note with a yellow star the location of that modern building. Yes, it's the clubhouse of the lovely Birch Creek Golf Course on the hill in Smithfield. I reminded Tyson that if we buy the house he won't actually have any money with which to go golfing, but he says he would just walk up the street and hit a bucket of balls every few days.

As you can see from the map, the lot is rather oddly shaped. Maybe a letter C or a rough, chunky drawing of E.T. holding up his finger? Can you see it? I can, so let's go with that. The head of E.T. is just naturalized landscaping that can be accessed from the road that runs alongside it, or from the finger area of E.T. It is separated by huge retaining walls from the grass parts of the lawn directly behind the house. The chunky finger of E.T. (far right area of the lot) I believe to be the garden area and the fruit trees. This is accessed from the east lawn. I didn't see it in person, though, so I'm not totally sure.

My mind goes wild with the possibilities here, but mainly along the lines of camp-outs in our own little woods (we loved having wooded property at our second house in Pennsylvania), tree houses, homemade applesauce, fresh corn on the cob, dance parties on the driveway, etc. Heck, why not even rock climbing holds on the retaining wall! (I just thought of that this very second...genius, right??!? Don't think about the hazards.) And there's really not that much grass to mow! (Also don't think about the snow-shoveling/plowing aspect.) I won't say much about the rest of the pictures. They just show the back and side lawn areas and the covered patio off the upstairs family room.


Oh, and the bars on all the windows. From left to right I think those windows are master closet, master bathroom, pink bedroom, hall bathroom, laundry room (behind the bushes)


Here's the covered patio off the family room/kitchen, looking south to the carport where that truck is parked. Come on over for a cook out! Don't worry, I won't lock you into my house behind all these iron bars!



Big retaining/privacy wall across the back of the lawn area


An exterior tour isn't complete without admiring this view one more time.

Okay...time to say goodbye.




Well, that's it for the...longest...house...tour...ever. What do you think of the grounds? To those of you who are landholders, is this just too much work? Would you like to come over for a game of croquet on the east lawn? Would you like to come to a dinner dance on my driveway, and see the lights of the "city" by night? Would you like to go camping in my woods? Wow, I am really good at selling this place...to myself!





5 comments:

  1. I would totally come play on the east lawn- and its kinda awesome to have a yard big enough to reference areas like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We'd love to have you come play! You're right "the woods" "the garden" "the east lawn" "the terrace" (I don't know to what I'm referring with that one - I just like the sound of it) - a yard big enough for reference areas is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  3. HOW MUCH ARE THE Taxes on this monster home?

    ReplyDelete
  4. The taxes are $1900 per year, just over twice as much as our current taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thank you for the information and articles you provided

    ReplyDelete