House No. 3

(MLS 474273)

Uh-oh. House No. 1 has a contender. Granted, the list of (comparative) Have-Nots is long: no French doors, far fewer windows, no wood-burning fireplace (actually, make that no fireplace); no slate-tiled kitchen floor. The trees consist of three spindly maples; the fence is not board-rail but chain link (truly one of the most hideous inventions of house-designing mankind. That and pine-paneled walls). The bathtub is not claw-foot, but tiled in a hue of pink not fashionable since 1964. The siding is vinyl, so we'd be stuck with white. Not an offensive color, to be sure, and, certainly, Jane and Anne both would rejoice over the white siding and green shutters. It's just not my taste, and I think Emily would agree that grey houses are the best.

There are also two fairly major structural snafus. The deck is three or four years past being up to code, and the basement is only accessible through an outside entrance, which requires one to trot out the front door, around the house and to the backyard to enter.

Did I mention the washer and dryer are sandwiched in a corner of the only full bathroom in the house?

But ... the "but" is big.

This farmhouse, built in 1925, is at the end of a residential street in Woolen Mills. It's a 5-minute drive to work, coffeehouses, restaurants, friends, the farmers market, etc. It has heart-of-pine floors; the rooms are large and well-proportioned. There's a nook in the dining room that would just fit the piano. The stove is gas. There's a cupboard under the stairs, and I think Harry would appreciate an old-fashioned door knob to get In and Out. The bedroom upstairs has no closets, in keeping with the popular use of armoires back in the day, but there is an alcove that would easily convert into a generously sized walk-in closet. And our Shepherd pointed out that it would be possible to put in a small woodstove, where the plastered-over fireplace graces a wall. The basement's finished (a little too finished; there is a stove and sink we'd want to move out of there). The backyard is a nice size --- plenty of room for Bucket, a Goldendoodle and even a swingset one day --- and gently slopes away from the house.

There's no magic, but there is potential. We could plant some. And then take a stroll to the Downtown Mall or the Rivanna River.