South Seattle: Tudor-ific

This 1931 home is on a quiet and pretty street in Mt Baker.

The kitchen is quite sweet but I am puzzled about the “family room” space that lies between the breakfast bar and the French doors leading to the back yard. In the listing photos you see two armchairs and a couple of lamps, which really are all that can fit there. It seems to be an attempt to follow the new construction trend of combined kitchen and family room, which so far as I can tell only offers one a way to watch TV and your kids while preparing meals. The French doors lead to a deck that serves simply as a way to the yard; even one chair on it would be too tight for the space. The yard has a lovely patio and a woodchip area currently housing a swing set.

Both upstairs bedrooms have custom built in cabinets, which are great space maximizers tucked under the north eaves in each room. You’ll find the same specialized cabinetry in the downstairs bedroom and in the kitchen/family room. I appreciate the effort to tart the place up a bit but the touch up paint in the street-side room is really splotchy and I think it would have been better to have just repainted the whole space. I found the bi-fold door at the entry to the second floor bath to be impractical on many levels. The shower enclosure in this bathroom has seen much better days. The caulk is old and showing mold, and when I opened the door for another look, the whole structure rattled fiercely and it took some effort to properly secure the door in place again. As other improvements to the house revealed themselves, it was ever more evident that the bathrooms received little more than superficial upgrades. The main floor bath has an older tub and what looks to be the original tile floor – both are in serviceable condition but they start to look dingy rather than vintage when measured against the other improvements.

The living room and dining room are two places that haven’t been bettered by the renovations as they are absolutely fine in their design and condition. At the bottom of the stairs is a set of original built in cabinets and I was most gratified to find that the doors and drawers opened and closed smoothly. Years of use and paint usually render them much less functional. The carpet in this hallway is quite plush but it didn’t stop the floor from squeaking underfoot.

Something about this house felt off to me – a lot of it feels constricted in a way that 1,840 sq. ft.* shouldn’t. It could be the narrow and steep stairways between floors, it could be the weird transition from the living room to the back hall and bedroom, or perhaps it’s the slanted ceiling that greets you at the top of the stairs to the second floor. I doubt my discomfort will be enough to ward off the buying hordes, however, and at $659,000 this place is ready and waiting for that ambush.

Beds: 3
Baths: 1.75
Lot Sq. Ft.*: 2,658
$/Sq. Ft.*: $358
Last Sale Price: $329,000 (April 1999)
* Information from sources deemed reliable but not guaranteed.