Our home is much smaller in scale than most of the homes built by Greene and Greene but it gives us a taste of how complicated their work must have been using simpler tools and having multiple projects in process simultaneously.
The speed with which they built homes is due in part to the large numbers of people working on any one project.
On the day our basement floor was poured I was ecstatic to see more than two people working on our house at one time!! We now have a crew onsite of 3-4 people most days and we hope to be weathered in by mid-October.
The challenges of living on a sloped lot
Because we are on the side of a hill with a sloping front yard there are many challenges, for me the biggest one is the fact that the basement has no windows so I don't imagine I will spend much time down there at all. The good news is there is plenty of storage.
We do have to walk up a lot of stairs to get to the front door BUT there is a sidewalk ramp on the south side of the house so we can be wheeled into the main level of the house if we are ever wheelchair bound. (no kidding, in these parts a level entry home can garner a higher than market price especially if all living areas and at least one bedroom are on the main floor)
We have big ugly retaining walls in the front yard (a common occurance for homes with sloped front yards) but we will minimize all that with plants to make it less imposing at street level. Other homes in the neighborhood have concrete walls and neighbors complain, initially, that they are eyesores. When a landscape architect is hired, the end result is well-planned and beautiful. Our goal is to wisely plant for seasonal color, wall coverage, and street appeal.
The Basement floor
The room in the back left side of this photo is a wine cellar. As many of you know I have been learning much about the world of wine. This room will be stocked full but it won't be a place we bring any guests so I am relieved of having to decorate a wine cellar. You may remember we recyled every piece of the original house and kept the front door which was commissioned in 1961 ---we may use it for the wine cellar door--it will certainly go in the basement somewhere (even though it doesn't match the G & G style it has to stay in the house). There is a short hallway to the cellar and a few steps down to make you feel like you are going into a "cellar".
 |
| wine cellar, back left
|
It used to be that the back stairs were for the help...well that would be me. I cook a meal every night and do all the cleaning so I guess this is my wing. Once you come up the steps the kitchen will be straight ahead and the laundry room is to the left. I had to argue for a laundry room on the main floor and am very happy that I won out (especially once I spent a year working on fall prevention for older adults we learned how important being able to live on one level can be).
 |
| stairs down from kitchen to our Costco room |
 |
| garage/shop |
 |
| main floor with a peek at Puget Sound in the distance |
 |
| metal support beams under entry |
 |
| chimney platform |
 |
| entry |
