This one isn’t quite as old as our last one but quite unique in it’s own right. It’s main distinction being that it is mostly made of cinderblock. Before we get into the specifics about the house, I’ll share a little about us and how we ended up finding this little gem.
Robert and I are both PNW natives, having lived here our whole lives (well Robert moved up when he was 3 years old, so we’ll cut him some slack.) We currently live in Sydney, Australia but still have a crash pad in downtown Bellevue. We had owned another MCM home that we lived in for 13 years before heading off to Chicago for a few years. After renting the Enatai house out while in Chicago we decided to sell it when we made the move to Sydney. It was a wonderful project that we put a ton of time, energy and money into which made it tough to part with but the timing was right.
We still spend quite a bit of time in the Seattle area so our Bellevue condo has been a great way to keep a home while being able to lock it up and leave for long periods of time.
About a year after selling the house Robert and I started talking about building a house for retirement. The idea being finding a lot on the Puget Sound and building a modern concrete and glass home that we could make our own. We started renovating homes right after we married back in 1989 and have done almost a dozen homes now together. Mostly as our primary residences though we have also done a cabin, a rental and an office condo conversion in downtown Seattle as well. So, building new, instead of remodeling was the original goal. But as with many things in life, sometimes opportunities just find you.
So, as you might have guessed by now, the Hilltop house isn’t on the water on the Puget Sound. In fact, it’s not near the water. But during my Redfin property searches I also kept up on what was going on in Bellevue as well. And this little gem popped up. But it felt a little over priced and needed a TON of work. Interestingly, it was listed by my brother-in-law’s brother’s old girlfriend (got that???). Small world! I toured it and thought it was pretty unique. The large, heavily treed lot was very private. The peek-a-boo views revealing Mt. Rainier and Newcastle Golf behind the heavy foliage and trees. I told the realtor that I thought it was over priced by about 100k and moved on. It’s uniqueness certainly magnetic, but one thing Robert and I have learned is to not over pay because of an emotional reaction to a property. And he was in Sydney while I was looking anyway.
Long story short- the price dropped 100k after it languished on the market for 3 more months and my Redfin price drop notification came in. Now it was interesting. Robert and I discussed going off plan and doing this instead of the new house on the water. I told him we could do it as a long term live-in remodel project or even flip it if we decide we don’t want to live in it after all. He seemed game and since he couldn’t get back to see the house trusted me to make the call. I toured it again with my son, Zachary, and he thought it was “right up our alley.” So, we offered and here we are!
We’ve begun the journey to turn this little gem into an updated, modern home, that maintains its roots but with higher energy efficiency and more livability. We’ve also decided that we are going to share our journey for other MCM lovers out there to see how we tackle the unique challenges of renovating a CMU block home.
HilltopMidMod 