The House at Huckleberry Hill

House at Huckleberry Hill

We haven't talked much about the house other than little comments here and there.  Following is a list of some of the more negative aspects of the house that we are either planning to fix (or have fixed) or learning to live with:

• We hoped not to have such close neighbors
• Lots of spiders
• Roof was covered in moss and not salvageable.  It caused some damage to the inside of the house due to leaking.
• Dogs had run rampant in the house
• House was filthy
• House slopes a little to the back - not from slipping or settling it seems. They just didn't do a great job building on the back part of the house.
• Plumbing, plumbing and more plumbing
• Several windows were out and boarded up including the French doors
• Deck was rotten and falling down   
• All the floors need to be redone and lots of new sheet rock put in 

We've included some pictures of the house for this post.

Note the moss covered roof and the beginning of the debris pile from the inside of the house

French doors - We found fabulous new (to us) doors on Craigs List.  We'll show them on another posting.

Just some of the dirt and uck that was on the walls when we first arrived

My dad and Rich working on the bathroom - plumbing, plumbing and more plumbing

View from the bottom of the property when we first arrived

View after Rich pruned terribly overgrown laurel.

We will be posting some pictures of the work that has been done shortly. 

I had to include the following pictures of the maple trees leaves. They are beautiful this time of year.

Fall scene at Huckleberry Hill

 

Big Leaf Maples

The Red Maple Tree

Today, I’m sitting in the front room looking out our bay window and watching all the leaves fall.  Rich is outside clearing a little more.  We had so many overgrown laurel shrubs that were actually more like trees. Rich has worked hard to open the house up to more light.

I admit when I first saw this place, it didn’t really call to me.  I so wanted a little more acreage and no close neighbors, but it was an amazingly good buy and we felt some pressure to move as our savings was dwindling.  Rich really liked the property.  He loves the water.  We are so close to the bay that we love our walks in the morning towards it.  Sometimes the water is covered in fog, other days a bit choppy and some days, especially in the summer, it’s as smooth as glass.

Taylor Bay

At any rate, both the house and property needed a huge amount of work.  We will talk more about that as we go along.  We spent several months living in our old Southwind RV before we could move into the house.  That was an experience just getting the RV here.  It’s roadworthy, insured and all that, but it’s old.  Rich did a fabulous job getting it ready for us to live in for a while.  It definitely paid for itself, however I am glad we’re in the house now.

  

There were a couple of aspects about this property that did make me smile and think ….hmm…..maybe this could be a great place.  First, I loved the mix of open yard and woods.  (Just to warn you, there is a high usage rate of the word “love” coming up, and I meant to do it.) I love that we can walk back into our property and down a wooded ravine to a private little spot.  The ravine is covered with ferns, huckleberries, holly, cedar, big leaf maples and other greenery.  

Our Woods at Huckleberry Hill

 

I love the siding on the house - as silly as that may sound.  I can’t wait to stain it next summer and paint the trim white.  I love the deck off the landing upstairs where I work on our business.  It looks out over the woods and towards the bay. I also love that as we drive to our place, we go around a bend at the marina that has Mt. Rainier in the background.  It is beautiful. 

Longbranch Marina

 I love the trunks of the Laurel and the two wild roses we have.  

Laurel Trunks

Laurel Trunks

I love the lizards, birds, frogs, red squirrels, and deer (at least at this point until we have a garden – then we’ll see what I have to say).   

But the one thing that our old yard had that I was going to miss immensely was our red maple tree.  I loved that red maple tree.  As it turns out, there was a large tree on the west side of the house that was not leafed out yet when we first came to Huckleberry Hill, so we didn't know what kind of tree it was.  My heart sang when I saw it leaf out.  It was a huge red maple. Silly as it may seem...

The Red Maple Tree

 I knew then this could be home.

 

The Good Life

Welcome to Huckleberry Hill!   

We’re glad you took the time to look this over.  Be sure to check out our "About Us" and "About the Farm" pages.

We're planning on this blog being about life at Huckleberry Hill.  That will include fixing a dilapidated old house, preparing the open spaces for planting our herbs and fruits, maintaining our beautiful wooded area and learning about the community around us.

We're looking forward to the journey.  Although, we know it will be hard work and will take us a while to complete.  Our budget is tight, and we plan to pay as we go.  We don't want to acquire any debts because of our adventure here.

We'd be happy to have you join us on our adventure!