Garage - Might as well have big dreams...
Our house is on a pretty steep incline as you can probably tell from the pictures. The sidewalk is after the first set of steps up from the street. We would love to put a garage in the side of the hill someday, but we have no idea if this is possible. (Okay- we know it’s possible, we just don’t know if we would be able to afford it!) Nick had several criteria when he was looking at houses: one of them was that it had a garage and another was that there was an alley in the back. We’ve got neither, but we still love our house. Seattle is supposed to be putting a new monorail in which will have a station a few blocks from our house. Maybe we can just sell our cars in about 10 years if it’s finished and live without a garage! I’m always keeping my eyes open as we drive around the city to look for examples of garages that are in a hillside like ours. I’ll let you know if I find any and I’ll post the pictures. If you happen to have a similar garage, or better yet have put one in, please let us know! For now we’ll focus on the mantel and the walls of the staircase. We know we can finish those!
4 Comments
Jeremy·February 19, 2005
Hello! You’re house looks beautiful. We bought a house down in Portland last year that is in the same situation as yours - high up on a hill, with no driveway or garage.
http://ohdog.org/pics/porch1.jpg
It turns out that the no garage was what made it possible for us to buy the house - it would have been priced out of our range any other way. The neighboring house has 2 garages built into the incline (I’ll take a few pictures if you’re interested.) So it can be done. I take the bus to work and rarely need a car (except to go to the hardware store, which is always.) But now that I live in the house, I’m so glad it’s so high up because when we sit on the front porch, we can watch all the action on the street, but feel safely tucked up away so high up.
I just wish the crumbling retaining wall stairs weren’t so treacherous…
Trissa·February 20, 2005
Your house is adorable, Jeremy! I totally agree about being able to sit on the porch up from the street. Now that we have the porch, I don’t think I’d trade it for a garage (but would love to have both)! I’m looking forward to summer dinners outside again soon. If you get a chance, I’d love to see the pictues of the garages. Is your sidewalk at street level, or half way up the hill?
Nice work on your landscaping!
Jeremy·February 20, 2005
Hi Trissa. Our sidewalk is at street level. I went out and snapped a few pictures to give you a better idea. It’s so unfair this guy has two garages, while others have so few…
http://ohdog.org/garage.html
I don’t know if I would build one in our front yard now, even if the city would let us and we had the money. 3 mights just be too much. If the garage doors were made of beautifully stained wood, I might think differently. Occasionally, I’ll see wooden ones in the neighborhood and they look fantastic. I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys decide. Your blog is a great read!
Trissa·February 21, 2005
Thanks for the photos, Jeremy! The garages don’t do much for street appeal- I’m imagining more wood and possibly a deck on the top, but it’s good to start collecting ideas! The tricky part will be the sidewalk- I think part of the garage would be underneath it.
It’s still a ways off- for now we’ll continue to work on the inside of the house & keep dreaming!