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Monday, March 18, 2013

The Ugly Truth ---

Real estate hunting has it’s hilarious moments!

Sometimes it’s like a complete time warp ----

And it all starts out good…..beautiful view!  Not a bad area ---there are some neighbors but not too many ---

And we are hopeful.

And so we walk up to the front door thinking ----this just might have possibilities!

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Until we enter the premises and are thrown back in time to 1975!

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Oh.

No!

Granted, the folks were still in the process of moving out – but I swear I had that same stove and countertop and matching avacado green sink in our first apartment in 1981!  It was bad then.  It was extra bad now!

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Gold shag carpet!  Isn’t this stuff making a come back? This is the original article, baby! Ummmmmm….I think those bedspreads are from the same era as well!

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Miles of wood paneling, and an orange velvet chair fit the era.  I was ready to break into song remembering this year.  Do you know that the most popular movies of 1975 included Jaws and Rocky Horror Picture Show?

The Captain & Tenille had their #1 hit, Love Will Keep Us Together in 1975!


Those were the days!

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The Eternal Tile!  It lives in both the bathrooms!

I admit I love it’s quity-appeal, but as a floor?  I was laughing so hard I had to stop taking pictures at this point ----There was a very narrow spiral staircase leading down through the living room floor to the master bedroom below and I couldn’t see us in our old age managing that stair case ---not in a million years.
But it was a fun opportunity for reminiscing just what we were doing, and wearing in 1975!

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1975 also has a memorable spot in my life ----my dream car was my 1975 MGB convertible.  Of course, I didn’t get it until 1990 something---but oh how I loved that car!

I just don’t love 1975 that much to want to still live in that era ;c)

Someone is going to like that cabin.  Someone – if they can get it for a low enough price will gut it and start over, and enjoy that magnificent view----but not us!

What’s up for your Monday? I’ve got a cram packed day to get ready for Portland Oregon tomorrow – but I’m thinking we can do Quilt-Cam at 9pm Eastern if you are interested --- oh yeah!  And if you can’t make it, never fear, it will be archived on You Tube!  See you then!

57 comments:

Karen said...

Thanks for the Monday morning laughter & memories! I guess this means you will keep looking? LOL!!!!! However, the view is great!

Janet O. said...

Holy time warp, Batman!
LOVE the photo with the car! : )

Mary said...

1975 was a very good year! I graduated from High School. That 'Eternal Tile" was in my first house in shades of Blue. Glad you could spend the day with your DH dreaming of a mountain escape. Maybe not this one, but there is one waiting somewhere...

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

LOL, yes if I bought that cabin I would need to replace just about everything including a spiral staircase!

JoyceT said...

Hey, I chose that vinyl for the bathroom in the house I built in 1976!

Anonymous said...

BEEN THERE WHEN HOUSES HUNTING! Some folks are sickeningly "messy". Besides the mess, I WILL NOT puchase a place prefilled with bugslolol

Bigger and better is out there....
Smilies
JulieinTN

WIPPYSPLACE said...

if you keep looking for the view--please post pics--I love scenery :-) that house would be great if NEW inside and no staircase....happy hunting ;-) *~*CAROLE*~*

Liz in KY said...

What a fun post!!! We stayed in a cabin at Mack's Inn (eastern Idaho, near the west entrance to Yellowstone for those who don't know the area) that was eerily reminiscent of this one. My dad instantly starting fixing things - removing fishing flies from the shag rug, vacuuming the place, repairing a faulty gas range, etc. - I thought we'd gone to Mack's Inn on vacation, not to give him more projects to do! :-) Isn't shopping for real estate a blast?

45th Parallel Quilter said...

Wow ... their realtor isn't doing them any favors ... when you put a house on the market it needs to SPARKLE, especially in today's economic environment. Having just sold and then bought a house I know of what I speak! The views are fabulous but you still have to LIVE in the house ... keep looking ... the "right one" is out there Bonnie and will speak to your heart the minute to walk inside ;-) Linda

Carolyn Edwards said...

I really enjoyed the Captain and Tennille song. It was one of my favorites of the time. Keep looking you will find the perfect place.
Hugs,
Carolyn





~~Sew Happy Designs~~ said...

OMG...Avocado green and shag carpet...run run run!! It must have been a STITCH just seeing all of that!! It would have taken me down memory lane as well...lol. I hope you will find the one for you soon!! I can't wait to see the one you finally decide on. Good Blessings going your way to find it!
SewHappy Cindy in NY

Beth said...

WOW flashback. LOL Shag carpets, lovely green appliances, and spiral staircases, that really does say 70's. Like you I have fond memories of those days, but no desire to relive them. ;)

Centergranny said...

Thx for the trip down memory lane. Love the MGB! (No matter WHAT year). Happy busy Monday to you.

Betty said...

Beautiful views from the cabin! My house still had it's lovely avocado oven when we bought it several years ago. The former owners had "updated" with a white cook-top and a hunter green counter top, lol! I told hubby I could live with one of the greens, but one had to go. He painted the oven door white and it looked like a completely different kitchen. I'm still living with the avocado bathroom though.

tinker said...

In 1975, I was 24 and still cute and adorable, so 1975 was a Great time to be alive! I also rented a house with a vinyl floor like that one, except in red. It looked out-of-date even when it was 'In.' shiver...

nankc said...

I think what the mess was is because they were moving out--may not have looked like that in the kitchen at other times--it looked just cluttered, not dirty to me. It may have been like 1975 style because it was just a weekend getaway, not a full-time home. We just sold a 2nd house in the mountains that was like way back in the 1950s. I wouldn't have liked to live there full-time but it was comfy for weekends.

NeverBored said...

Your pictures brought back memories of our first house and the choices we made then (1972): I had harvest gold appliances instead of the avocado green; the shag carpet was deep rust; and my Mom had the identical vinyl flooring you pictured and I'd considered it when we renovated the kitchen. Thank goodness we aren't living with those choices now (but we are in our 4th house). 20 years from now will we look at our current choices and say, "what were we thinking?!"

Kathy Biggs said...

But Bonnie, all of your vintage machines would feel right at home in that cabin!

Julierose said...

Yikers, Bonnie--nope you do not need to completely re-do and restore a place. It's a "get-away" place not a "get-busy-and tear-everything-apart-away" place!! Julierose

Nann said...

The place is on the market and they leave dirty dishes on the counter? Yuck!

Tosty's Quilting Tidbits said...

Bonnie,
Had a 1973 MGB just like the one you had. Loved that car!!! Good luck on the cabin hunt.

Laurie said...

I grew up with that gold floor, but it was in the kitchen! Too funny. My husband used to sell real estate...you ain't seen nothing yet.
Good day from Salisbury, NC

mary e said...

memory lane, i had the orange (bittersweet)velvet chairs and the gold floor..1971!! thank goodness i never entered into that infested shag carpet craze!!

Unknown said...

Hi, Oh how the memories came flooding back!! I love the outside pictures of the cabin but I do agree, it's in desperate need of a make-over inside!! Perhaps the location and the view is worth it!!
Love
AMarie

YankeeQuilter said...

I think that would be a fun one to work on! Except for the stairs of course.

Bynancyoriginals said...

My inlaws had that same gold carpeting. I had the same vinyl flooring in a house built in 1981! That kitchen is enough to make you just turn around and walk out. Why do some people think it is okay to leave a mess of dirty dishes when they are trying to sell? It sure makes you wonder about their routine cleanliness. Having just built two houses in the last four years, I would not recommend going that way. Just keep looking.

woolywoman said...

they didn't even clean the kitchen! OMG! Yes, my childhood came back looking at the decor. Good to think about things like spiral staircases and so forth. Oh well. then will you run a retreat ? A girl can dream!

deelish10 said...

I bought a 1987 house last year and have the original stove! the kitchen is from hunger but I cant afford to fix it but it is better then most places I looked in my price range, but I love the floor plan and neighborhood, so I put up with the old stuff and someday I may win the lottery! It's not the "cabin" feel, so good luck finding a "modern" one!

Allison in Plano said...

Oh MY!! You'll be see everything when you are house/cabin hunting. My favorite house hunting memory was the BURNT popcorn smell when we walked into a particular house. The microwave was smoking and the smoke alarms were going off. We left without seeing the inside! 1975 takes me back to the summer when we, me and sibs, visited our Nana in Virginia Beach, VA and Love Will Keep Us Together was all the rage. I remember tuning it on my little portable transistor radio and singing at the top of my lungs while on the beach!! Okay, I'll admit I played the link twice today and did the SAME THING 38 years later!!! LOL Thanks for the blast from the past. Hugs, Allison

Leah said...

Hey, it's my kitchen floor again! I see that vinyl 'tile' pattern every day. No, wait. Mine's a LOT dirtier.

Fun post! I was born in late 1975. I remember a lot of those styles from childhood, but some of them were already 'dated' even then.

Mary Ellen said...

I had to laugh at your cabin photos. My parents had a "cabin" (actually a small house) in the Ozarks that they built after Dad retired. I recognized the carpeting and the vinyl goods on the floor.The furniture consisted of cast-offs from their "main" house, plus discards from others in the family. My parents were on the low end of the middle class and to have a second house at all was deemed a great luxury. Nothing was high end and everything used to furnish the cabin was very definitely second hand. Nonetheless many wonderful memories of vacations and stolen weekends resided in that place.

Unknown said...

Those did not look dirty to me - just ALL of them out of the cabinets & ready for packing. -- The style of those brown casserole dishes has a decorative spot on the side that you might be seeing.

Nancy said...

Well, I would laugh a little harder except.... that's my Armstrong gold kitchen sheet flooring you're poking fun at! Ha! I know.... it's time for it to go. But I steam cleaned it last month, put some shine back and a friend said..." it looks like new... why do you want to replace it"? It doesn't exactly look wonderful with my nice cupboards and new corian countertops. "Slightly" dated. :-)

Melissa said...

That looks a lot like our house when we moved in almost 17yrs ago. Shag, we had brown appliances, vinyl that I swear was identical, and those cabinets. We've been updating from our move-in date. One nice thing about having a second home, if there are things you that don't mind so much from your regular home, you can move it to the second. Or, with the second home being smaller, the cost won't be quite as high to replace :-)

TLC said...

OMG That's UGLY! Gag me with a spoon ugly. Oh but I think that saying was in the 80's. Loved seeing my picture though. Tennille, yup that was me with the bowl cut. TLC

Margery said...

Our house was new in 1979 when we moved in. I chose an avocado bathroom suite, and avocado in the downstairs toilet. My grown-up daughters may laugh, but I still love that colour .

kutiequilter said...

We had a green MGB convertible. Probably in the late 70-early 80's. My husband loved his MGs!

Tami C said...

Thanks for including us on your hunt for your cabin. Love the views!

Lynda said...

Hey, that's my cabin you're posting pictures of! How dare you?

Just kidding! I have to say my favorite part is the paneling in the kitchen.

Tammy said...

Bonnie, all of that is just aesthetics. If the home has "good bones" (built soundly) that's what you really need to consider. You can repaint, carpet and tile. Look what you did to your current home in one weekend with your new kitchen tile. Granted, the kitchen will take a bit more to redo, but I say think twice about it. It will be hard to find that view again and that wrap around porch is wonderful. Good luck.

Mary said...

Reminds me of our house we bought 18 years ago - everything was 1970s! And the lady selling it was lamenting that she couldn't find a new avocado bedspread for her new bedroom in the house she just bought. We found flocked wallpaper in addition to popcorn ceilings. The kitchen was bright turquoise, avocado and chocolate brown. We yanked this house into the 21st century by doing an almost complete remodel - I still have one turquoise sink in the upstairs bathroom :)

Pauline said...

I would have turned this down too. Yuk. Not the mess, but the way out of date decor. You've got a better sense of humor than me, I would have also been looking for a more sensitive to my wants Realtor! But glad you got a good laugh.

Margaret said...

Hey! I had that tile in the kitchen of our first home (bought September 1977). My lovin' late DH and I were married in August, 1975...and C&T's song was OUR song! Thanks for the memories!

Norma said...

Oh my gosh! I am having flashbacks to the summer of 2010. My father-in-law had just passed away and it was my husband's job to clean out and rent his house. It looked exactly like the pictures you posted. $15,000.00 later, it is much more up to date, including removing the coal furnace. P.S. I still own and use everyday, the beautiful avocado green electric dryer, 40 years old this year!

Loretta said...

OMG! I don't think I would have made it past the mess in the kitchen! LOL Good luck with the cabin-hunt! Can't wait to see what else you find! :)

Elaine M said...

Our house looked like that when we moved in, 3 different shag carpets, same vinyl floor, same kitchen cabinets, original 1956 tile bathrooms. We have remodeled everything including electrical and plumbing upgrade.

Ellsie320 said...

We had that vinyl floor, that's past tense. Our worst house was back in grad school 40 years ago with an aqua washer and dryer in the kitchen with aqua and pink vinyl flooring. When was aqua and pink ever popular?? It was a top/bottom duplex, where they converted the dining room to the bedroom. Unfortunately, a tacked on bathroom for the first floor did not have heat. In western New York state, that means frozen water in the sink.

Ellen said...

Those colors are older than 1975 try 1967 maybe even earlier...Don't laugh, we bought an avocado green refrigerator that year and had them paint it white...still in use and going strong...had it audited by the power co. and it is energy efficient...will replace the old girl when she quits. the avo.green shows through where some of the white paint has chipped off. My motto "If it ain't broke don't fix it" Works for me..

Farm Quilter said...

Sigh...that floor lives on here in the kitchen of the farm house!!!

Pamela said...

I have that vinyl floor in my kitchen - what a laugh! We really need to update our home, I guess, but I'd rather spend my money on fabric....oh well!

Unknown said...

Love the pic of you with your MG. I have a 1978 MG, bought brand new, and it is the same color!! I still have it, but it is stored in the garage because it needs mechanical work.I love that car.
Kitty

nankc said...

They were packing up to move. The kitchen wasn't dirty, just cluttered getting ready to pack boxes.

Laura said...

My MIL still has that gold floor. Her house was built in 1976.

Anne said...

Definitely a time-warp nightmare! Love the red convertible -- great photo!

Tamie said...

When we bought our cabin it looked very similar. Luckily my husband is ultra handy and we hastily ripped out the shag carpeting, vinyl flooring, etc.. We had planned on just painting the kitchen cabinets (we had renters coming in three months and we live four hours away) but by the time I got back up there the cabinets were in the drive. My husband said they were too gross to save. That is saying a lot. Now, it is my favorite place to go. Happy hunting.

Jocelyne said...

I think some of you are being much too judgmental.

Mess: They are in the process of moving... of course things are sitting around waiting to be boxed up. The place does not look filthy - just disorganized - EASILY understandable.

Paneling: If this was a 'cottage/summer residence, it makes sense to have paneling. Regular walls (Gyproc) would not survive winters without continuous heat (don't ask me how I know...)

SHAG RUGS: Easily replaced. My cottage came with the green shag rugs and I think it is rather quaint (and it hides the dust until it is vacuuming time...lol lol)

AVOCADO FIXTURES/GOLD CHAIR: Again easily replaceable.

If the price is right, I would certainly venture in updating this property. What a view to wake up every morning.

Just rally friends and family and you could get this place up to date in a couple of months of work. When do we all show up?

Carla said...

Yep definitely the 70's kind of cabin. Oh boy.
Obviously with the mess in the kitchen the owner wasn't too concerned with putting his best foot forward. LOL
So if the inside hasn't been renovated in a few years I might be concerned about the structural aspects of this place too. ;o)

But if it's all cosmetic then a little money can update the place to your liking if you could get the cabin at the right price.
Have fun looking

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