Google Street View

I played around with Google Maps' new(ish) feature, Street View, tonight. It's spooky. You click through neighborhoods and see 360-degree shots of every inch from a passing car's perspective. I felt almost voyeuristic when I was clicking through our block of Humphrey and saw our neighbor Mary Fran and her black lab, Rocky, strolling by their house.

We're really going to miss our great neighbors. It's nice to know that Google will help us keep an eye on them and their dogs.

Good Publicity for Our Neighborhood

Side view of house and neighborhood
Originally uploaded by ..Sally..

Yesterday, Crain's Chicago Business magazine published a story praising our neighborhood in Oak Park, the Harrison Arts District. This is good timing, as we are trying to sell our house and move to Texas.

"It's very trendy right now," says Ms. Bovio, 32, a stay-at-home mother, of
the neighborhood built around the Oak Park Arts District on Harrison Street.
"It's a little piece of the city in Oak Park."

If you're selling a place, I guess there are worse things to be than "trendy." Still, I hadn't seen it that way, or even as a "little piece of the city." These are 90-year old homes beneath a canopy of 90-year old elms lining brick-paved streets. Walking the streets, you feel tradition, not trend. Even above these atmospherics, the best thing about our neighborhood is our neighbors. We know and enjoy a lot of them, and that seems very un-cityish. Anyway, it's a great place to live, and it's nice to see Crain's spreading the word.

In conclusion, please buy our house.

Georgie's Room

Georgie's Room
Originally uploaded by ..Sally..

Last weekend, George and I took an impromptu trip to Amarillo. While we were gone, Sally and Francis painted his room AND had this fantastic antler light fixture installed. Browse this photo set, enjoy the cowboy/football theme, and marvel at my wife's ability to put a room together.

Goodbye Old Friends

IMG_1608.JPG
Originally uploaded by Sally Carns.

Tragedy has hit our street... Dutch Elm. It's a horrible tree disease that is highly contagious. The fifth tree to get it was cut down today... a beautiful GIANT elm tree. As you can see these beauties line our street, but now there is a big bare spot. So so sad. I actually started to tear up this morning watching them cut it down. We've got our fingers crossed that it doesn't completely wipe out the street.

I did, however, manage to convince the tree service guys to give us a 4ft. chunk of the tree so Matt's planning on turning some bowls with it. At least we'll have something nice to remember our old friends.

MOVIE: Back Breaking Work

In My Yard from gulde and Vimeo.
After almost 5 weeks of permit h-e-double-hockey-sticks, we got the piece of paper allowing us to dig 9 giant holes in our yard. Saturday, Dennis, Paul and Matt flat went to town. It was a sight to see. I wish I could fully explain or convey in video, however, this is the best I can do. It was back-breaking work in crazy hot weather with no shade tree in sight. Speaking of shade trees, a couple of the holes took HOURS to dig because they kept hitting tree roots. Apparently our sad excuse for a back yard used to have a beautiful giant tree in it. We miss you tree.
The good news, the inspector came out today and gave us the thumbs up to build the deck. I would guess we'll have a deck this time next week...hopefully.

Porch Resurrection

Porch Destruction
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

When we bought our house a year ago, we thought the siding on the front porch was U-G-L-Y. It had no alibi. It was ugly. We first planned on smashing out the siding and replacing it with windows all around. That may happen someday, but for now, we're just doing the smashing.

Check out this photo set for a progress report on our porch renovation. We have a lot more to do, but it's been a lot of fun so far. Notice Steve Bassett, who jump-started the project with some deft sledge work. Also, see Brian Breit, who brought his grinder to sharpen the chisels we constantly dulled trying to remove the paint on the stone.

Extreme Home Makeover in the OP

View from Front Door
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

I've been getting requests for photos of the recent work we had done on our house so I thought I'd take some photos while it was still decorated for Christmas! I've been dragging my feet to take it all down because it's so pretty! Ah...well at least now I can look at the photos.
So the work... we had all of the wood trim cleaned of all paint slop. (The previous owners had painted the side of every door and window frame and the edge of every piece of ceiling molding.) So my type A personality is breathing much easier these days. I walk in and see clean lines everywhere. Ah... much better. Other major improvements were having the wall paper removed in the dining room to reveal the original oak paneling. What a huge difference that was. We also had the entire downstairs painted (minus the kitchen - another big project) and the staircase and upstairs landing. Now onto curtains, light fixtures, furniture and a kitchen remodel...! Argh!!! The paint color in the entry in these photos looks bright yellow. In actuality it's a pale yellow, almost taupe color.

We refinished our hardwood floors

Entry Bookshelves: BEFORE
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Well, we hired someone to refinish them. Click the photo to the right to check out a set of before and after photos. The house is starting to really turn a corner. Now on to the kitchen remodel and the porch remodel...! Wew... deep breath. ;)

We did it!

condo
Originally uploaded by The Gulde Family.

Less than a week on the market and our condo sold! What a blessing. There wasn't a bidding war ;), but we are thankful that it sold. This makes our household breathe a big sigh of relief. We are closing on the new house on April 15 and the condo at the end of May so we'll have about 6 weeks to leisurely move in and get some work done... refinishing hardwoods, painting, etc. Ahh... so yes, that's all a big relief. We still have inspection though so I suppose it's not over till it's over.

Knock on Wood...

Original Stain Glass
Originally uploaded by Sally G.

Well, we made it. The inspection went great and by all appearances the deal is still on. Our inspector, Mike, was great and really walked us through the house slowly and we learned a ton. Our realtor, Dave is great as well. Matt and I truly feel like we are in great hands; every step of the way has been so comfortable and easy. Knock on wood.

Speaking of wood... how about the original oak trim throughout the house? So nice... I think that's what truly made us fall in love with this house. There are so many nice touches. Stained glass, built-ins, wood trim and ....drum roll... a laundry shoot. Now, who wouldn't want one of those? Certainly not a Gulde. We love laundry shoots.

Feel free to take a tour of the house. Just click on the photo of the stained glass window and you enter the house photo album.

Note: the owners were there the entire time we were there for the inspection...and they run a daycare out of their house, so there were babies everywhere!

We Made An Offer!

Our New House
Originally uploaded by Sally G.

Yikes. I can't believe it, but we did it. We made an offer on a house and they accepted! It's a red brick american four square. It has a great porch on the front and back of the house. Both of them are enclosed, but as soon as we have the means, I think the front porch will turn into an outdoor porch. It would improve the appearance of the house 100%. It's really beautiful on the inside... a ton of room. The only real downside is the kitchen. It needs to be completely remodeled which don't come cheap. So that will be a project a few years from now. Hopefully it's liveable until then. It's really funky.

Overall though I'm really really excited. I'm also really sad to leave Bucktown. I've really enjoyed living in the city. And...if we could afford it, we'd stay...but it's just not an option. "Goodbye city life!... Oak Park here we come!"

The inspection is Tuesday so who knows... the deal isn't done until the inspector comes. ;)

Breathe in, Breathe out...

It could use some work

TaylorHouse.JPG
Originally uploaded by Sally Gulde.

Okay, so it might actually be leaning a bit, but you can't beat the location. It's just steps...teeny tiny steps from a huge park with a brand spanking new playground and a sleding hill. Not to mention it is one block from the EL. So yeah, it may need some work, but who knows...maybe it would work.

I spent the day driving around the "Harrision Street Arts District" in Oak Park today and it got my heart racing. It would great to live in that area if we can afford it. It seems that every house we can afford... is leaning ;) or just needs a lot of $TLC. I'm a patient woman though so I'm just gonna sit back and be ready to pounce when our house goes on the market.