Ballard: Tight Squeeze
Sometimes I gush when I find homes in original condition. Sometimes I groan. This house elicited the latter.
It was the kitchen and main floor bath that made me wince. To put it kindly, they’re cramped by today’s standards.
The kitchen has a fab period tile combo of yellow hex and maroon edges that make me think the room hasn’t changed since it was built in 1940. As much as I love the retro countertops, I hate the tight, inefficient layout. There’s only a short L for prep space, the stove and refrigerator abut one another along one wall and lack adjacent work space, a portable dishwasher sits in the corner opposite the sink, and the pantry is only one can deep. The owner keeps her pots and pans in a bedroom closet down the hall.
The main-floor bathroom was of suck-it-in-and-slide-sideways width. I’d worry about cracking my patella on the edge of the tub when I sat down to pee. And speaking of the tub, someone chiseled out the original tile surround and substituted plastic, faux-marble paneling.
They each share a wall with the aforementioned bedroom-of-cookie-sheet-storage. If you’re willing to sacrifice that room, I think you could knock down some walls and give each some breathing space. Or contemplate an addition that trades deck footage for kitchen counters. It’s even possible that gutting it to the studs and rebuilding cleverly could make the kitchen more functional. The bathroom, I’m not so sure.
The basement is outfitted with a pleasant mother-in-law apartment and the upstairs bedrooms are as I’d expect for being under the eaves. The house is located in a marvelous, quiet Ballard neighborhood, full of war-era housing, long-time residents, and busy in-fill developers. For the right price, it would be worth the trouble of updating.
STATS:
Neighborhood: Ballard
Asking: $625,000
Address: 7538 31st Ave. NW, Seattle, WA 98117
Bedrooms: 4 Baths: 1.75
MLS#: 27052008
Click here for detailed listing.
KCR DATA:
Living square footage: 1900. Lot size: 5568 sq. ft.
Last sale price: not available
