The Rancher

So, this is our rancher. Casa Caudlee in all its glory. It is a modest, three bedroom, one bath ranch in the suburbs of Richmond. Penny has lived here for nearly eighteen. I moved in with her eight years ago. When I moved in, Penny had not done a whole lot to it as it started out as a rental. When I moved in most of the walls were white except for the bedroom and dining room. The dining room was painted an odd hue of colonial blue. The bedroom was...drumroll please...grape juice purple. I don't think we have any pictures of it back then, for good reason. We've spent the past eight years on project after project. I won't bore you with all the details, but I will add pics of what it looks like today. Most of these pics were taken after the house was staged, so most of the personality is stripped from it. It looks a little generic and a bit dull right now.

If you want to buy it, call my agent.

The Kitchen:



We updated it a year ago with resale in mind. The before was pretty awful with four different countertops and a mix of painted an unpainted cabinets and older appliances. We replaced the counters with granite tile, painted out all the cabinets, changed out the hardware, and put in stainless appliances. We also updated all the light fixtures. In all of our renovations we debated between going totally updated and more modern or recognize and respect the age of the house and maintain that integrity. I think we tried to strike a balance. In the neighborhood we live in, we were very leery of over-renovating as we knew we would never recoup that investment. That was why we decided to keep the cabinets we had which were good quality and solid wood, and to go with granite tile rather than a slab. We've lived with it for about a year now and I still think we made good choices. I particularly love the drawer pulls. They are my favorites.

While not grand in size, it functions beautifully and the layout works very well. It is not my dream kitchen, but it comes close. Lots of cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling, plenty of counter space and it has a good work triangle.

Utility Room
Just off the kitchen, a French door leads to a sunken utility room/pantry/mudroom/laundry space. We put up 65+ feet of deep shelving on the back wall which add loads of storage.



The washer dryer is off to the right. We recently replaced the flooring with a hardwearing VCT tile and a storm door with a built in dog door.