The "New" "House"

Well... we closed on the "new" "house" today. I put both in separate quotes because it's actually very old and we bought it for the lot, not the house. This is the view from the pier:

Yes, you're counting correctly - SEVEN steps to the lake!! It's going to be a lot different than our current 40+!! I don't know what we'll do with all our time saved from going up & down steps to the lake.

We're going to donate the house to the fire department to do a training burn after we completely gut it & reuse/sell/donate as much as possible inside & out.

Kendall & I decided to celebrate with a couple free scoopies from Culvers. Brett celebrated by going to the Brewer game.

She has to make sure to get every last "nem nem". It's a good thing it's bath night! She went to town on this dish!

Our week hasn't been the best as our meeting with the Town of Dunn regarding building on the lot went very bad. Actually, it probably went as bad as it could have gone. There were at least 6-8 GROUPS of neighbors there opposing us! Since the house sits on two lots, we were looking to build on one and sell the other. The neighborhood thinks that will result in a great loss in greenspace & too much house on those lots which would be non-conforming to the neighborhood. The reality is that if we were going to build what is allowed on both lots, it would be an 18,000+ sqft house! Talk about non-conforming!! They are very protective of their neighborhood - most have been there for 20-30+ years.

We have a meeting with Dane County tomorrow night (which I'm not going to) but the DC rep basically told Brett we're going to get denied at that one too. So, we have to rethink our plan. At this point, it's such a great lot, we'd rather build one house on both than have to give it up. If we did so, we wouldn't have to go through any of this approval process, it's all just administrative. So, that's the route we're leaning towards right now. This, of course, could change.

In the meantime, here are some pics of the place - and some things we are selling from it. Let me know if you are interested!

Most of the appliances are in pretty good shape! Washer:

Dishwasher:

Check out the retro hoodfan over the stove!

There's also a dryer, water softener, fridge & stand-alone freezer that we're going to be putting on craigslist too. I'm sure many other items will be on there too, including the kitchen sink. :)

We LOVE this wood in the living room - would make a great ceiling for our screenporch (great idea, Spanos!) or...?? trying to think of other ideas. There's so much of it! The dark door you see in the bottom right is really old & has a ton of character. We're going to use it as the door to our under-garage storage area.

Also LOVE the beams & wood on these stairs! It's in GREAT shape, and we will hopefully be able to reuse it somewhere in the new house.

I forgot to ask if there's hardwood under the carpet (which is also in good shape & will be reused in Brett's rental properties) I hope there is so we can use that too!!

There's also a TON of landscaping that I'm not quite sure how we're going to save through the winter, but if we can't then there will be a plant party & everyone can come over with their shovels & take whatever they can use!

Thank you, Mother Nature! Look at what happened to the boat hoist canopy during yesterday's storms!! Completely ruined! At least the hoist is ok, which is good because whoever ends up buying our current house is getting it!