I was shocked. I had expected the prices to sky-rocket -- so I kind of ignored some of the pieces that I should have been bidding on! And of course, the piece I really wanted was the very last item on the sale. It was a glass front kitchen cabinet -- two drawers -- 4 doors. Perfect china cupboard. Had a dirty rough finish --but no paint on the exterior. Was advertised as walnut but it is chestnut. I have seen them go for $800-$1000 years ago in far worse condition. The market has dried up a bit in the midwest but I got it for a steal at $300. I saved a lot of money but I sure missed out on some real bargains! Cathy

uroboros, I have to ask this, because I can too easily believe that you were just casually scanning the real estate listings when this decrepit charmer reached out and grabbed your heart. (This has happened to me, although with a less expensive and more readily fixable house, so I know it is possible.) Here's the question: When you fell under the spell of this enchanting crone, were you actively looking for a smallish house in an lively urban neighborhood? If so, and * the size of the overall investment could be made clear by consulting with a contractor before making an offer, and * anyone can conceive of a way to render the house livable without completely erasing its preserved-in-amber decrepit charm, and * your DH magically became sanguine about the feasibility of what is needed and why it would be not completely financially foolhardy in the medium term, WOULD YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE THERE? To me, it looks like urban nirvana. Having rooted around on Google Earth and various Montreal sites, I found a lively and lovely urban neighborhood with quite nice street trees and a Metro station only a long block away. Also, there is a restaurant nearby named Aux Derniers Humains, which has a menu as cool as its name. It looks as though the only room that is preclusively small (for someone used to rowhouse-scale spaces) is the kitchen. It is is a first floor-only extension off the back that is narrower than the body of the house, which is basically wide and shallow compared to other rowhouses in the neighborhood. The kitchen may only be a bit chopped up, as it is listed as 9 x 13, which could make for a nice galley design. If one did want to enlarge it, however, I see two options. Because the house is actually detached on one side, rather than part of a row, you could build out sideways to fill in the dogleg, which is exceptionally wide. Pop out some bricks, reinforce the new opening(s) with angle iron, et Robert est ton oncle. You would still have windows on the side of the house and if you created deep windows at the back of the new bit, you would have a nice perspective over what could be a charming garden. Alternatively, you could move the kitchen to the basement, having it go back further toward the front of the house and having clerestory windows. You might need a dumb waiter, but who wouldn't want one of those? I suspect that either of these options would not be extraordinarily expensive in the context of what needs to be done in the rest of the house, which to tell the truth is going to be more because you don't want to gut it. If Montreal is anything like DC, however, pictureseque urban neighborhoods are gaining value just because people are so tired of getting stuck in traffic. Sorry to be so pushy. This house is haunting my dreams. Cheers. hbk

Some quick updates a month later: The buyers on our current home should be closing as I type this. Our closing is scheduled for Wednesday, then we move everything in between then and Saturday, when the professionals are scheduled to move the big items over. At the same time all of the carpet in the house is getting pulled and everything is being given a good cleaning. The most uncertain part of the move-in so far is that we need to have various locks repaired and re-keyed. That's going to be essential to the move-in since the front door is currently locked with no key and the back door is currently unlockable and secured only with a padlock. We have to trust our locksmiths have ordered the correct cylinders to get both doors working again. Finding parts for 100 year old locks was definitely one of the unanticipated challenges in buying a historic home. Luckily no part of the actual mortise locks seem to be damaged, but they are of a size that has made ordering replacement parts difficult, total hardware replacement is basically impossible without making major modifications to the door.Here's our back door. This lock set is completely functional except that the city tried drilling into the cylinder before finding they couldn't break a mortise lock that way and kicked in the door. What's especially frustrating, is just finding people who can and will do the work. Many declined the job knowing that mortise locks or old doors were involved without even seeing pictures. And several times in the process we've been told that we are better off just replacing the door, even when we were just looking for someone to replace or repair the door frame. I suspect this will be a reoccurring theme as we continue to work on the house. On the subject of trim, while repairing the aforementioned door jamb (a project that we've started before closing knowing that we need to get the doors locked right away), the casing that was pulled off is most definitely walnut. Since this was in the service stairs down to the basement, I can only assume that all of the woodwork in the house is walnut, with the exception of the front door, which appears to be quarter sawn white oak, I presume chosen for it's ability to stand up to the exterior elements. When I get a chance I still want to make a post on the research that I've done so far on this house, and what I've found about it's style and potential architect. Someone that we ran across who knew about the house had the same suggestion that we create a blog on our work and experiences.

We in the north where this is a fairly common solution. Here is the description from a local stucco company's website: " This stucco refinishing is often called a “re-dash.” The stucco refinishing basically applies a new two-coat stucco finish over the existing stucco. Often, stucco repairs are necessary first, and when the stucco refinishing is completed, the home looks brand new. Foley Exteriors would never recommend painting stucco. Stucco is naturally porous, so paint prohibits the stucco from “breathing,” as it seals the pores that allow moisture to escape through the stucco. We have found that a refinishing the stucco might initially be slightly more expensive than a quality paint job, but the stucco finish requires little to no maintenance. Paint requires frequent maintenance, and might only last a few years. A new stucco finish should last for decades, making it a much better value than the alternatives."