South Seattle: An A For Effort

Ever come home after a tiring day at work and make a meal with whatever you’ve got left in the fridge? For me, it generally ends up being a kettle of completely edible, perfectly nutritious, yet undeniably incongruous ingredients. When I toured this house, it reminded me of that dilemma, as if the remodel motto might have been “work with it”.

The sideways layout is curious, considering the extra alcove built out over the doorway. The kitchen, dining room and living room are merged together into one large space with tall ceilings at the main entrance, and to the left is a long hallway that shoots straight back to the master suite. Despite smaller bedrooms and a bathroom budding off from the hall, the narrowness of the arrangement still feels noticeable.

There is a shiny new kitchen with plumbing in the island, but you’re going to get water all over the hardwood floors. It has pretty french doors leading to the deck, but the yard is unappealingly concrete. Not to mention, there are already two other doors opening to the deck. The basement is carefully refinished, but you access it through a big, open staircase in the living room. None of these decisions are bad per se; they just seem a tad constrained. I think the awkwardness I felt comes from the remodel struggling with pre-existing frustrating elements, instead of getting a coat on and trudging back out to the grocery store.

Nuts and bolts: $449,000. Last sold in 1998 for 75,000. 3 beds, 2 baths.