Home Tour // a Rundown Historic Home becomes a Charming Oasis in the City (our Dexter House!)
THE DEXTER HOUSE
Today’s home tour is one you might recognize…our very own Dexter House! This past week, Garrett and I moved all the furnishings out of the home and converted it from an Airbnb to a long-term rental. So this is the very first and likely the last tour we’ll be sharing of our 1905 brick Spanish-style home in Seattle. The Dexter House has always been full of charm and character, but when we bought it in 2015 the home was a short sale and in rough shape. We spent the better part of 9 months renovating it and then spent 4 more years making small improvements while it was an Airbnb, and I’m excited to share the finished home with you today.
The Dexter House has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1100sf. When we bought it, the house was in such rough shape that almost every square inch of it needed work during the extensive renovation. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC…it all needed redone, replaced, and brought up to code. The illegal unit in the basement had mold and had to be demo’d. The original hardwood floors needed patched and refinished. And the kitchen, which was definitely the largest project, actually needed to be made smaller in order to find a workable floor plan with good flow.
Speaking of the kitchen, we were able to keep some of the original cabinets - I lobbied for more, but they just didn’t work with modern appliances. The interior vestibule door was removed in order to gain an interior mudroom. And the dining nook was walled off and turned into a master bathroom, which gave the kitchen a more functional layout with additional cabinets.
psst: you can find all sources for the Dexter House here.
You can see what this extensive kitchen remodel cost in this budget breakdown post.
What drew us to this home in 2015 was the charm of the small house, the overgrown secret backyard, and the home’s proximity to the city (it’s only a mile from South Lake Union and walkable/bikeable to everything!). At the time, Garrett and I were living in the Ravenna House and looking for just one more house in Seattle. Home prices were starting to recover from the recession and when we saw this short sale pop up in the $400,000’s, we knew we had to check it out.
Long story short, we loved the home, thought it would make a good rental, and put in an offer. Six months later (buying a short sale is a long process) the keys were our’s! We started demo in the kitchen that very day! We had originally planned to rent out the Dexter House when the renovations were done, but it quickly became apparent that we’d be better served financially by moving into the property ourselves and renting out our existing home. So that’s just what we did.
One thing we love about the Dexter House is it’s efficient floor plan. The home has great flow! The bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry closet are all on the north side of the house and accessed by a long hallway. And the living spaces are all on the south side of the house, opening onto one another in a classic old-home-but-slightly-open floor plan. It’s efficient and livable. And we left much of the original floor plan alone, we did add the second bathroom by annexing the dining nook from the kitchen and turning it into a master bathroom.
The master bedroom is highlighted by a 7-foot-tall vintage headboard that I found on Craigslist for $195. It’s a one-of-a-kind beauty and still one of my favorite Craigslist scores ever.
We welcomed our second son at the Dexter House a few days after finishing the renovation. We planned a home birth, which turned out to be the ultimate incentive to get the renovation done, and he was born in the guest bedroom where we had a rented birthing tub. There’s a strong tie that connects me to the houses where I’ve birthed our babies (our oldest was born at the Bryant House and Daphne was born at the Farmhouse). These homes hold a special place in my heart and no matter what comes of the properties in the future, they’ll always be apart of our family in a tangible way. Anywho, here is the guest bedroom, the third bedroom (which was our oldest kid’s bedroom when we lived there), and the main bathroom.
We remodeled the main bathroom for $1,000 and we shared the process and budget breakdown in this post.
The backyard at the Dexter House is definitely the crowing jewel of the property. It’s not large, but it’s tucked away like a secret garden, and completely unexpected in such an urban location. It’s private and feels like a mini oasis in the middle of the city. We added the fence, arbor, pea gravel, and wisteria and other plantings but the patio and stone work is original.
You can see just how urban this property is from the last photo of the back door. Hundreds of apartments line the next block, making this secluded backyard that much more special.
