My home is located in North Portland and was built in 1938. It was designed by Ralph E. Panhorst, one of six modern homes in the neighborhood.
I purchased the house in June of 2009. It was a foreclosure that had been vacant for about four years and neglected for at least ten. There was half a garage door, a non-functional sink in the bathroom, a mildewing basement, the original furnace (which no longer functioned), a new roof but no gutters, and a cracked kitchen floor. Realtors called this "deferred maintenance."
The house needed a lot of work, which I gave it. Turns out it still wants more!
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| The previous owner's daughter drove through the garage door. Lucky me! |
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| There were a lot of wiring issues. |
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| A trivet was covering this hole in the kitchen ceiling. Free trivet, HELL YEAH. |
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| See the above note re: wiring issues |
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| The house was blocked in front by 11 arbor vitae. |
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| Skanky, unfinished basement |
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| Evidence of prior water seepage in the basement |
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| The window trim, picture rail, and baseboard were missing from this entire wall. |
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| Original furnace |
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| Original furnace door |
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| Awesome light fixtures abounded. |
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| There was more than a ton of buried concrete and brick debris in the backyard |
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| A section of the fence blew down the day I took possession of the house |
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| Hey, random hole cut into the floor of the closet! |
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| Outdated kitchen, cracked tile floor |
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| The sink doesn't work and the vanity is harboring black mold! |
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| Dirty, dilapidated bathroom |
Despite all of these issues, the house is great. I've been told over and over by various contractors that the house was built well, and has "good bones." It just needs a little more love.
My house is also an attention whore. It has been filmed for TV twice: on
My First Place and an episode of Portlandia ("Motorcycle") in
a sketch titled "Adult Babysitter."
