Open House: Queen Anne Craftsman

A new listing at 4 West Raye Street ($824,500, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2,320 square feet) is open from noon – 4 this Saturday and Sunday. Here are some extra details:

Favorite room: the basement family room is built into a hillside so the back half lets in plenty of light. We’re into the wall-to-wall carpeting, which feels nice under bare feet. It’s wired for sound, and cool in the summer, but also surprisingly warm in the winter because it’s next to the furnace. We like the orange walls. We put our ugly furniture down there, which we like sitting on better than anything else.

What we like about the neighborhood: the neighbors are friendly, delivering wine and cheese when we moved in, but the best feature is probably David Rodgers Park, which has a jungle gym for toddlers, and tennis courts, and nice big trees, and a soccer field too. The bus stops there every morning for the driver to have a smoke and he often lets you on in the interim, which is nice. You can run to Kerry Park in just a few minutes, and all the Queen Anne shops are two blocks up the street. There’s a swimming pool a few blocks away. Unlike some parts of Queen Anne, it’s easy to get there and back from Fremont or to 99, but the street is still nice and secluded, with trees that bloom in spring. Sylvia likes the view, especially the neon signs of Ballard, and the Fremont Cut at sunset.

Favorite area restaurant: Ototo sushi is delicious but the take-out service can be agonizingly slow… they start cutting when you show up. We also like hanging out at this Cuban coffee shop, or Caffe Ladro, or Macrina Bakery. There’s a dozen restaurants within walking distance, and now just two blocks away this place that prepares healthy take-home gourmet meals that we started to get into. Plus a fish market, and Metropolitan Market.

Recent remodeling: We put in granite counters, replacing this grimy white tile, and also expanded the stairwell to admit more light and allow us to get big furniture upstairs.

Most romantic spot: The deck in summer is very nice, because you can enjoy the view and it’s right next to the kitchen, so you can get more food. The neighbor has this gigantic, prehistoric rhododendron that gives you pretty good privacy.

If you want to promote an open house on Redfin’s blog, send an e-mail to sweetdigsseattle (at) redfin (dot) com. Anyone can apply, regardless of which brokerage you use.