We have been on hiatus for the past four months while we prepared Crest Avenue for sale. It took three months to sell. There were four contracts written. The first three, of course, did not proceed for reasons unknown. You do not always know … , in fact, you do not know why a contract doesn't move forward. Your realtor does not always know. There could be any number of reasons that a potential buyer backs out; financing didn't go through; they found another house that they liked better; price drop on another property they looked at and wanted, but passed on that is now in their price-range; or the home inspection. Home inspectors can be, and many times are brutal in their reporting. To a young, inexperienced buyer, a home inspectors report can make the difference between signing on the dotted line or not. I had Crest Avenue for seventeen years and I can tell you when it came time to sell, I found that the process of selling and the potential pool of buyers was a great deal different than it was 17 years ago when I bought. Thankfully, I had a great realtor who did a superb job of marketing and eventually selling the house in a somewhat volatile market. For those of you in the DC greater metropolitan area who are looking for a top-notch realtor, contact Tracy Trammell at dcsuiteheartrealtor@gmail.com.
Here are some pictures of Crest Avenue just prior to sale.
When I was house shopping in 2001, I knew immediately when I saw the house that I wanted it. Of course, it did not look like this when I first visited. It was in terrible condition. There was a white shingle roof that was well past its usefulness. And there were two huge Canadian Hemlocks on either side of the front porch. I did all of this landscaping. And installed a new Pella Storm Door to replace the rather unattractive one that was there on closing day.
Any free time in the spring, summer and fall was spent primarily on the deck. I tried to make it as inviting as possible. There were many evenings spent here grilling and having cocktails. The front of the house is brick, but both sides and the rear were white aluminum siding, I suspect, from the early seventies. It was in bad shape, so we removed it and replaced it with these beautiful cedar shakes.
Here is the living room after it was emptied of furniture. Actually this room served as the dining room for several of the years I was in the house. It worked well either way. I painted the fireplace dark grey and installed a gas fireplace insert and tempered glass doors on the front. The accent wall was the same color grey as the fireplace. The latest addition to this room was the new ceiling fan. The blades extended five feet from the light. The light was a fiber optic light, so there was never any need to replace lightbulbs and you controlled the whole thing with a remote - fan direction, speed, light on/off and dimming. A beautiful fan and a nice look.
The kitchen was comfy cozy. This whole room was completely redone. New cabinets countertops and door/drawer pulls, new appliances in black, new slate floor, new recessed lighting. The entire length of the wall you see here was torn out and rewired to add in all of the outlets and switches you see. When I first moved in, there was one outlet in the kitchen that I used to prepare some rather stunning meals. How I did that I'll never know.
Another view of the kitchen from the doorway leading into the living room. The sliding glass door was added in the rear to replace an existing hinged door and storm door and a rather obtrusive metal framed casement window from many years ago. This opened up the kitchen and brought in plenty of natural light. Plus it gave this back wall a nice clean, open look.
Looking from the kitchen into the dining room (which was previously a bedroom) and beyond into the hallway. You will notice the stippling effect on the walls. I did this throughout the house for continuity.
From the kitchen and looking again into the dining room I had the floors refinished shorty after moving in in 2001. There was very old and very dirty wall-to-wall carpet throughout. We ripped that out immediately to find lovely hardwood floors that just needed a good sanding and varnish. They were and still are quite beautiful. I let the wall hanging and the dining room table go with the house. There simply will not be room for them in the apartment, so I had to part with them. That dining table is from Horchow and I was sorry to let it go, but I had to be realistic about what I could keep and what I could not.
Now, from the dining room looking into the rear of the kitchen. The wall sconces went with the house also. From Pottery Barn, I had two of them flanking either side of the main entrance into the dining room. Again, I loved them but did not take them. They fit the room so well and added such character that I included them in the sale.
My office, which was actually a spare bedroom just off the main hallway. The desk, chair, printer, monitor and all things computer related went with me. The cactus stayed and the circle sculpture with glass votives stayed.
In the basement, there was a major bathroom makeover. I really loved how this turned out. The light, the mirror, the sink and hardware on the sink turned out better than I could have expected.
And this shower stall was also a major improvement. Actually, I have to give credit to my realtor, Tracey, for finding this. It is very unique. I had never seen a shower surround quite like this one. A deluxe look.
A new floor and a new commode finished off the bathroom renovation. Oh, also a new light and exhaust fan which you see in the center of the picture at the top, above the window. The color choice for the basement renovation was Wet Pavement from Valspar. So beautiful.
And finally, the redone extra room in the basement. This could be used as another bedroom, a den or an office. If I had stayed, I would likely have used this room as my office. It is quite spacious and it would have worked perfectly for my office. I would have then used the spare bedroom on the main floor exactly as that; a place for guests to stay when they visited.
So there you have a view of where I spent all these years writing blog post after blog post. My years at Crest Avenue were happy and productive, but it was time for a change. The house was somewhat manageable, but the lawn and garden maintenance was overwhelming. I had one of the larger lots in town and keeping up with that in each of the four seasons became more and more difficult. If I had a staff of three or four people it might have been doable, but I was doing it all on my own. Occasionally I would have a lawn crew come and cut the grass, but that was all they did. Pruning, bamboo maintenance, leaf removal, weed management - that was all left to me. Not to mention the constant time and expense of replacing shrubs that for one reason or another did not live but for a very few seasons. Our lives move forever forward and you know when it's time to make a change. That time had come for me.
Here are some pictures of Crest Avenue just prior to sale.
When I was house shopping in 2001, I knew immediately when I saw the house that I wanted it. Of course, it did not look like this when I first visited. It was in terrible condition. There was a white shingle roof that was well past its usefulness. And there were two huge Canadian Hemlocks on either side of the front porch. I did all of this landscaping. And installed a new Pella Storm Door to replace the rather unattractive one that was there on closing day.
Any free time in the spring, summer and fall was spent primarily on the deck. I tried to make it as inviting as possible. There were many evenings spent here grilling and having cocktails. The front of the house is brick, but both sides and the rear were white aluminum siding, I suspect, from the early seventies. It was in bad shape, so we removed it and replaced it with these beautiful cedar shakes.
Here is the living room after it was emptied of furniture. Actually this room served as the dining room for several of the years I was in the house. It worked well either way. I painted the fireplace dark grey and installed a gas fireplace insert and tempered glass doors on the front. The accent wall was the same color grey as the fireplace. The latest addition to this room was the new ceiling fan. The blades extended five feet from the light. The light was a fiber optic light, so there was never any need to replace lightbulbs and you controlled the whole thing with a remote - fan direction, speed, light on/off and dimming. A beautiful fan and a nice look.
The kitchen was comfy cozy. This whole room was completely redone. New cabinets countertops and door/drawer pulls, new appliances in black, new slate floor, new recessed lighting. The entire length of the wall you see here was torn out and rewired to add in all of the outlets and switches you see. When I first moved in, there was one outlet in the kitchen that I used to prepare some rather stunning meals. How I did that I'll never know.
Another view of the kitchen from the doorway leading into the living room. The sliding glass door was added in the rear to replace an existing hinged door and storm door and a rather obtrusive metal framed casement window from many years ago. This opened up the kitchen and brought in plenty of natural light. Plus it gave this back wall a nice clean, open look.
Looking from the kitchen into the dining room (which was previously a bedroom) and beyond into the hallway. You will notice the stippling effect on the walls. I did this throughout the house for continuity.
From the kitchen and looking again into the dining room I had the floors refinished shorty after moving in in 2001. There was very old and very dirty wall-to-wall carpet throughout. We ripped that out immediately to find lovely hardwood floors that just needed a good sanding and varnish. They were and still are quite beautiful. I let the wall hanging and the dining room table go with the house. There simply will not be room for them in the apartment, so I had to part with them. That dining table is from Horchow and I was sorry to let it go, but I had to be realistic about what I could keep and what I could not.
Now, from the dining room looking into the rear of the kitchen. The wall sconces went with the house also. From Pottery Barn, I had two of them flanking either side of the main entrance into the dining room. Again, I loved them but did not take them. They fit the room so well and added such character that I included them in the sale.
My office, which was actually a spare bedroom just off the main hallway. The desk, chair, printer, monitor and all things computer related went with me. The cactus stayed and the circle sculpture with glass votives stayed.
In the basement, there was a major bathroom makeover. I really loved how this turned out. The light, the mirror, the sink and hardware on the sink turned out better than I could have expected.
And this shower stall was also a major improvement. Actually, I have to give credit to my realtor, Tracey, for finding this. It is very unique. I had never seen a shower surround quite like this one. A deluxe look.
A new floor and a new commode finished off the bathroom renovation. Oh, also a new light and exhaust fan which you see in the center of the picture at the top, above the window. The color choice for the basement renovation was Wet Pavement from Valspar. So beautiful.
And finally, the redone extra room in the basement. This could be used as another bedroom, a den or an office. If I had stayed, I would likely have used this room as my office. It is quite spacious and it would have worked perfectly for my office. I would have then used the spare bedroom on the main floor exactly as that; a place for guests to stay when they visited.
So there you have a view of where I spent all these years writing blog post after blog post. My years at Crest Avenue were happy and productive, but it was time for a change. The house was somewhat manageable, but the lawn and garden maintenance was overwhelming. I had one of the larger lots in town and keeping up with that in each of the four seasons became more and more difficult. If I had a staff of three or four people it might have been doable, but I was doing it all on my own. Occasionally I would have a lawn crew come and cut the grass, but that was all they did. Pruning, bamboo maintenance, leaf removal, weed management - that was all left to me. Not to mention the constant time and expense of replacing shrubs that for one reason or another did not live but for a very few seasons. Our lives move forever forward and you know when it's time to make a change. That time had come for me.
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