Applications Submitted, Waiting Game

After a flurry of activity this weekend in the hours after we put the kids to bed-- filling out forms and such... get your minds out of the gutter!-- we finally finished the two applications for Maryland Historical Trust last night.  Abby did a TON of work, labeling things, going back and forth matching up numbers from one form to another, taking and choosing the right pictures for submission.  Then today she drove out to Crownsville, which is a suburb of Annapolis, about 45 minutes from here, to drop the stuff of in person.  Now we wait.

We already received confirmation that the packets (two of them-- one for the permission to do stuff, and the other for the tax credits) have been stamped as "received" by MHT, meaning we satisfied today's deadline to be considered in next Tuesday's Board Meeting.  We had one little oops: we forgot to pay the fee.  No worries... I ran to the post office in the late afternoon, bought a postal money order (because I don't keep a checkbook at work) and sent it in the mail.  Hopefully they'll get it tomorrow.  (Only ten bucks, although the application to receive the tax credit at the end actually costs 3% of the tax credit itself.  Don't understand why they don't just lower the tax credit by 3%... there's your convoluted taxation system for you!)

So now we wait.  Renee from taxation and Amy from easements, both of whom I met with and showed around the Bungalow a few months ago, are going to pore over our applications and let us know if we are missing anything or need to modify/clarify anything.  Then, next Tuesday the Historical Board meets, and hopefully they like our application enough that we get passed.  I don't know if this is an all-or-nothing proposition; if we have one thing they don't like, will they send it all back?  I seriously hope not, or that'd mean we'd have to go through this whole process again and wait again just to start doing simple stuff like demolition.  Fingers are crossed!  In the meantime, we're going to have to busy ourselves with other things (like finishing fixing up our current basement to get back out on the market) and ignore that we are nervous about the whole thing.  We really had no direction as to what to include or exclude, how much or little detail to put into explanations, and whether our pictures were good.  The directions were crazy specific, as in we needed not only to take multiple pictures but we had to submit them with certain specific labeling as well as with a DVD with all of the pictures loaded onto it.  (We spent an hour and a half at Target in Falls Church yesterday making sure it all worked out... I've already come up with a couple things that they could dislike about it... crap!)  But at this point there's no turning back.  Believe me, you'll hear when we hear how this thing turns out.

Patience.  

Argh!

Ganzo Has a New (Second) Home

Our new parking sign, with our house and future
barbecue area in the background.

We visited the Bungalow for the first time in a few weeks today, to take some pictures to put into our application for the Historical folks, and saw the first small bit of progress on the property.  We've got a new parking sign!  So hopefully now when we get to the house, people won't be parking in our spaces (under threat of being towed, no less) and we won't have to ignore aforesaid threat and park in the Windmill's spaces.  (Shhh: don't tell them our little secret!)

We also managed to keep the kids happy while we were there, which is a new feat for us.  It seems we always turn into the family no one wants to be around when we get to the Bungalow.  We're trying to pay attention to something/ someone, such as our contractors, and the kids all of a sudden become the neediest creatures on the face of the earth.  We have even gone so far as to consider the idea of getting a used portable DVD player solely for the purpose of shutting them up... er... entertaining them in situations at the house.  (Although I am still firmly in the anti-portable-DVD-while-driving camp.)  However, today we just needed to take pictures.  So Abby played photographer and I took the kids into the common area and we played with their pool table and foosball table.  (I'd say "we played pool and foosball," but anyone who knows even the slightest thing about either one of those games would likely not recognize either game from what went on around those tables.)  Took some pictures in the common area to show you all what we have access to.

Abby & the kids playing with the foosball and pool tables.
The Bungalow is located directly outside those windows.

The common area, with original fireplace and flat-panel tv.

One of several fitness rooms, just off the common area.

Two final notes for the day.  First, I met a new neighbor, Malcolm, who lives in one of the apartments directly across from us.  Seems like a nice guy, and didn't seem alarmed at all when my kids stormed into the common area, even though he was using his computer there.  Props to Malcolm!  Funny thing is when I introduced myself as the owner of the Bungalow, he said he knew.  Guess word travels fast in these parts! Second, it looks like the Windmill next door is undergoing its lead-abatement process.  There are warning signs on all the doors, and a bunch of stuff on the interior is wrapped tight in plastic.  I love that there's such progress going on there, and hope we can get some of that progress to come our way in the next month or so.  For Malcolm and our other neighbors, of course.  Purely an altruistic hope...

A Good Deadline

Abby & I are great with deadlines.  Give us a month, and we'll get it done in the last week.  Give us three days, and we'll get the same thing done in two, and maybe better too.  That said, we've got our next big deadline: Tuesday.  Spoke with Renee at the Maryland Historical Trust today, and she says if we want to have our proposed changes in for this cycle, we have to have everything turned in by Tuesday (8/16) so they can consider it at the next board meeting, which is 8/23.  Granted, we've got Lola's birthday this weekend, and were hoping to go to Six Flags to celebrate, but we can do this!

An historic picture of our Great Room, without the dividing wall

We've already got the plans, but what we have to get done over the next 72 hours is as follows: for every big change we want to make (and they are numerous...) it is recommended that we have pictures and narratives to back up the proposal.  Pictures, as in of current layout, proposed layout, and even any historical references (such as a picture of the great room as it once was, sans wall, to show that it'd be historically accurate for us to tear down the big divider).  This is gonna be a challenge, and will probably require a personal delivery of the packet to the MHT HQ in Crownsville (near Annapolis) on Tuesday, but I know we can do it.  We are, after all, (generally) pretty good with deadlines.

The best part is that if (when!) we get the packet in by Tuesday, we will likely hear back with a decision by around Labor Day.  And if (when!) that decision is positive, that means DEMOLITION can start.  Needless to say, if you try to contact us this weekend, and we cut you short on a phone conversation, you'll know why.  Wish us luck!

Plans!

So I finally have some plans to share with you all.  These are the latest and greatest, and are part of the set we'll compile and send to the MHT folks over in Crownsville for their approval.  There are a few kinks to work out, such as the absence of a dividing wall in the downstairs bathroom (separating the sink area from the shower and toilet, so the two kids can get ready for school at the same time... idea courtesy of Abby's experiences growing up with (as?) a bathroom hog on the same school schedule), but nothing major.  We've got five sets of plans-- current layout, proposed layout, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing-- but I'm just posting the proposed layout so you can have an idea of where we're hoping to head.  Progress!



Upstairs Floorplan




Downstairs Floorplan



Movement Behind the Scenes

So nothing's been doing, on the house or on the blog.  The absence of blog movement can be explained in that I was in Russia for work, and was hesitant to sign into anything from which I felt the Russians might grab password information; not being in Russia anymore, here I am, updating.  The absence of house movement is just a further testament to the patience we're all going to have to show during this whole process.  Believe me, there is movement; just behind the scenes!  Of course, we have been shown the drawings, and have signed off on the initial where-walls-go stuff.  While I was away, Rory put all of the HVAC and electrical stuff into the drawings, and says we should have the complete set by this weekend.  My hope is that, after we sign off on those, there will be a submission to the Historical Trust and the bureaucratic process can finally get moving.  We won't have picked tile colors or appliance brands by that point, but we will have been given the go-ahead to start demo work, which will feel SO nice!

The problem lies in that, having a federally-secured loan, we have to have a monthly home inspection.  We didn't have one in July, since, well, nothing was changed to inspect.  We are fast approaching our August inspection date, and our lender is requesting an inspection in no uncertain terms.  I'll leave it to Rory and Mark to explain to them what's going on-- I don't understand how they (the bank) wouldn't be familiar with this whole historical-homes-progress-slowly process-- but hey, that's why we pay Rory and Mark the big bucks, right?  So we don't have to deal with stuff. :)

So all in all, there's movement, but just nothing appreciable.  I'm looking forward to getting back to see the house very soon, and this time with a new set of eyes: my friend Dave, who's a State Farm Insurance guy, really wants to see the place.  He was very enthusiastic about stopping by while he's in Frederick for the month (or more), and was actually a great resource to have while we were rehabbing our current place.  I guess I'll just be holding my breath for him not to compare the Bungalow to the hurricane- and tornado-ravaged places he's used to evaluating.  Fingers crossed!

Firming plans, Parking signs

So we just met with Mark and Mohamed to firm up our plans, and it seems like everyone's on the same page now.  Some lines were moved around since the last time we met (I promise I'll get the plans on the site as soon as we get an electronic copy.) and, alas, I have lost my bid for a laundry chute.  It's weird because the front porch is much bigger than I had thought, and I just assumed a chute where I thought it could be would drop right into the laundry room... but instead, it would be a big hole in the family room ceiling.  Not so good!  We finalized that although Isaac will get a bigger room, Lola will get a bigger closet (Mark told Lola to remember this detail when she was in her teens), and we also now understand our bedroom will be a whopping 91 square feet.  Yeah, 9.5' x 9.5'.  And 7' x 5' of that will be our bed.  We went home last night and measured it out around our bed, and figured we'll actually have more space on one side than we do now, given the crazy placement of Abby's grandpa's armoire at the foot of our bed.  (I can't wait to get that thing outta my room!  I bank into it constantly because it doesn't close properly.)



Our poorly numbered entranceway

 So I was told by some readers that there has been all talk and no action lately, and although that is very much the truth, there supposedly was some action yesterday after I left.  Immediately south of the house are four pull-in parking spaces; the two on the right are posted as belonging to the windmill, and the two on the left have empty posts-- they're ours.  I went to the manager's office and asked when ours will go up on those posts, so that when we go there we'll actually be able to park (and not have to park all the way over in the common lot or steal one of the windmill spaces...).  Funny enough, apparently the signs were printed a while ago, but no one knew where they went, because they say "9618 Dewitt Drive."  Yeah, that's our address.  But the thing is, the house has two different numbers by the front door, and neither is 9618: one, 106, is the building number from when the house was part of Walter Reed; the other, in the 2800s, is an address on Dewitt Circle, which we front.  No idea when that went into effect, but it isn't our address, and now it's screwed up not only the local mailman but also the parking people.  Dave thanked me for checking something off his list and for allowing him to get random signs out of his office.  Can't wait to park in my own space next time we're up there... that is, if someone isn't bogarting it!

The four spaces behind our house.  Notice our car parked in one of the marked spaces... Sorry, Richard!

Finally, there's a debate Abby and I are having about the downstairs bathroom.  It's one Abby's probably going to win, mostly because it's not something that matters a crazy amount to me, but I figured I'd bring it up anyhow... What do you all think about seeing a toilet when a bathroom door is opened?  I had never considered that it's something that does or doesn't happened, that it's something people plan around.  Have any of you ever planned a bathroom so you can't see a toilet while standing outside the bathroom and looking through the door?  Do any of you have bathrooms that allow for prime toilet viewing from afar?  I'd be interested to know.  Anyhow, the real debate stems from this one: would it make more sense to halve a medium-sized bathroom so the shower and toilet are behind a wall (and door... gotta get in somehow) and the sinks and cabinetry are in a separate room?  Abby says when she was growing up, she would be late to a lot of stuff because her brother was taking too long in the bathroom (and it would never have been the other way around!).  Since Isaac and Lola will be sharing this bathroom and may be in the same schools and therefore on the same schedule, especially in high school, this is an interesting point.  I like a bigger bathroom, just to have more air, but I see where she's coming from.  Any ideas?

Floorplans! Finally! Kinda!

So I haven't written for a couple of weeks... I apologize profusely.  But you see, we were in Buffalo for a week for Courtney's wedding, and then we spent the last week waiting for Mohamed to finish up with the plans.  Happily, I got them today from Rory, so now we can change them!  (It does seem we can never quite agree with what's handed back to us...)  Things are mostly right, but there are a few things we still need to change on the plans, like the placement of the HVAC closet on the ground floor and the line of the bedroom wall on the main floor.  Little stuff, really.

The moment Abby gets new house info, she pores over it, generally forgetting things like her children, or good conversations skills... (Love ya, Abby!)

So with no further ado, I present to you the current plans!  So many of you had mentioned it was pretty hard to get a handle on what I was describing just through words and pictures of what was existing, so this should help you out.  Just know that there will be tweaks here and there, and then (hopefully soon) a lot of finger-crossing when it gets sent out to the good folks at Maryland Historic Trust.  (I love those people.  I should bake them some cookies.  Did I mention I was a History minor in college?  No?  Well doesn't that bring us together as more of a family than just plan old applicants and deciderers?  I think it does!  Love, Gregory)

Fun part about all of this is the extension of overall stats from how it is now.  The addition under the porch will add nearly 250 square feet to the house, and it'll be pushed up from 1 1/2 baths to 2 full baths, not to mention four bedrooms.  (The fourth bedroom is labeled as "storage" on this plan, but rest assured, guests, you will not be "stored," you will be "accommodated.")

We'll go back and forth with Rory and Mohamed over the next few days for sure, and hopefully I can get revised plans up here as soon as possible.  Until then, enjoy!