The other day I was on Zillow and for kicks went looking for the house my family lived in from 1972 through 1981. It was where I spent my "formative" years and I have many fond memories of the place. I may have in fact, written about it at some point on this here blog thingie.
It was up for sale a few years ago, and the few photos posted of it at the time showed that it had gone downhill. Very downhill—matching the rest of the neighborhood. I knew the pool my folks finally put in as I was just about to move out (how convenient!) had been ripped out years ago, but I was unprepared for exactly how rundown the place had become.
I was kind of surprised to actually see that the house was once again on the market, but this time it looked damn good. It was obvious it was a flip, and while not a complete remodel, it looked like all the basic amenities had been replaced or repaired. More importantly, it looked clean—unlike the last time I was able to vicariously peek inside via the internet. And this was the first time I'd been able to see multiple views of every room in the house (save one) since my folks moved out in 1981.
I almost cried.
Sadly, for some reason neither I or my family took many pictures of the inside of the house while we lived there, but I was able to find and post a few "then and now" comparisons.
Mom was an interior designer, so when we lived there the place had a definite…look…about it. I think the only room that managed to remain the original white walls all those years was my dad's study upstairs. I knew from the last time I saw inside the house everything had been stripped, but it was even sadder to see the place now, looking almost like it looked the day we moved in back in 1972.
Of course, it's now 46 years later and decorating sensibilities are different. Carpet in all the living areas has been replaced by ceramic tile and there are now ceiling fans in nearly every room (something we did not have back then but definitely could've used). Thankfully the popcorn ceilings have been removed. While they slapped up a ceramic tile backsplash in the kitchen and replaced the major appliances (the GE "Americana" range is gone), they didn't replace any of the cabinets or countertops except in the master bath. So the nasty faux butcher block Formica countertops that were original to the kitchen are still in place. So are the fiberglass one-piece tubs/showers in the bathrooms.
At some point since 1981 the wet bar (how 70s, am I right?) had been ripped out of the lower level family room as well, leaving a weird, empty, closet-like opening in one wall.
My old bedroom is now being marketed as a "study" with a ceramic tile floor like the rest of the main living areas.
I suppose I should be grateful that they didn't simply reconfigure the whole first floor and knock out the wall between the kitchen and living room as has been done on countless other homes of the same model in the old neighborhood.
Out back, the wood deck and self-supporting "floating" lattice deck cover my dad built was long gone, replaced by a concrete slab and solid patio cover with posts to support it. All the landscaping was gone except for a couple palm trees that had been planted at some point after we vacated the property.
I sent the listing to my sister. We're going to schedule a tour with the agent, since it's probably the last time we'll ever get the chance to step inside again…
this was a lovely bittersweet post. thank you.