Modern House Dallas

I'm with the film crew...

I was Googling something related to modern houses and Dallas, and came across the site for at Location.   They are a Dallas location agency--you know scouts for photo and film productions--and they have their "books" of properties online. 

It turns out to be a very nice source of Dallas house porn.  The homes are arranged by style: mid-century modern, French country (ha!), contemporary, and even log cabin.  There are exterior and interior shots of each.  Kind of like an arm chair home tour.

The images here are from Mid-Century Modern Location #4, a Cliff Welch designed home.

The baptism

It is a done deal.   We signed on all the dotted lines, forked over a nice little chunk of  change, and got a pocket full of keys in return (actually 16 keys!!!). 

After the closing we went to the house and promptly started ripping up carpet.  We found the floors underneath to be in surprisingly good condition, if a bit odd in configuration (that funny mix of parquet, plank and plywood subfloor).  It also satisfied our desire to rip something up and start making the place OURS.

Luckily we were still inside when the city turned on the water to the house.  We heard some gurgling then a loud hiss, that we knew was running water.  As soon as I heard it I panicked, and ran to utility room, which is just off the entry.  There was still no power, so it was dark, but even in the low light I could see two streams of water shooting across the utility room.    The valves for the washer hook-up had been left completely open.  I shut them off and listened.  The sink in the bathroom was flowing, as were two faucets outside.  Nice.

It was a very wet welcome, but I shudder to think what might have happened had we not been there.  The obvious lesson is BE THERE when the utilities get turned on.  You never know what might happen.

Walkthrough

We close on Wednesday, and in preparation we did our walkthrough yesterday.   The tenants and almost all of their stuff is gone, so the place looks MUCH better.  I snapped some photos, primarily as visual notes for us to reference as we decide what we are going to do with the place.  I've posted the a link to the gallery in the sidebar, and will add captions when I find the time.

The dreams are in full effect and the lists keep getting longer.  We'll explore some "perfect world" fantasies, then whittle them back to realistic levels! 

If you have read the previous posts, you know that we are somewhat obsessed with the floors.  The walkthrough was interesting because we took the liberty of pulling up a corner of the carpet in each of the carpeted spaces to see what was underneath.   

What we found was a little bit perplexing.  Here is a rundown on the floors in each room:

Living/Dining (pictured above): parquet with scratched and bubbled finish.

Here is the hallway leading to the bedrooms.  Under the carpet, it has the same parquet as the living/dining room.  The first door on the left is a big walk-in closet.  It has plank hardwoods.  Why?  Who knows?

Bedroom #1: parquet in apparently good condition.  The closet in the room has plank hardwoods.  Why mix plank and parquet in the same room?!

Bedroom #2: plank hardwoods in apparently good condition.  Closet too.

Master bedroom: plywood subfloor only.  The closets in the master bedroom have plank hardwoods.  Does this mean that some one tore out the hardwoods in the room, but left them in the closets?!  Again, this is kind of weird.

Living room: under the carpet there is only a plywood subfloor....

The kitchen has yucky vinyl tile that is coming loose, the entry looks like a vinyl interpretation of tile inset with wood and the bathrooms have the original tile (I think gray in both cases) painted white.

Next week it is done (and beginning).

Deal struck.
Renegotiated.
Inspection complete.
Appraised.
Loan approved.
Walk-through Saturday.
Close Wednesday.
We become...  Homeowners.  Designers. General Contractors.  Laborers.  Taxpayers. 

Happy homebodies I hope.

Kitchens and floors

We went tile shopping again. 

Yesterday it was Ann Sacks.  While they obviously have some nice options, we refuse to buy from them based on our experiences there.  The staff at the showroom here is snotty and annoying in a very provincial, uninformed "Dallas" kind of way.   

Anyway, here are some of the highlights via horrible camera-phone photos:

This is a an interesting option for a backsplash or wall.  It has a nice 50's feel yet balances retro and contemporary.

Although it is hard to tell in this photo, it compliments nicely the carrera marble countertops, something for which the wife has a sudden interest.

Today, we went back to Horizon Tile, they are just around the corner from Ann Sacks, but might as well be worlds apart.  They are a pleasure to deal with and will likely be  getting our business.    We took another look at the Feel line from Caesar, and also at another dark porcelain (can't remember make right now).  It was used for the flooring in the Bulthaup showroom around the corner, so we poked our heads in there as well.

As a flagship brand for German design, it is no surprise to see the exquisite attention to detail, but it is refreshing nonetheless.  At the showroom, we were welcomed by Mason--a consummate host and excellent salesman.  My wife's parents are in the process of designing a new Bulthaup kitchen, but I doubt Bulthaup is in our immediate future.  The more likely scenario is a nice, but sub-six-figure face lift on the existing kitchen. 

We have toyed with the idea to moving the kitchen into the family room, but that is another post.