The Little Cabin in the Rockies that Did Not Happen - a Life Lesson

I found the above photo while surfing the internet last week. It reminded me of a time in the 1950s when I was a wee lad living in a western suburb of Denver. I was probably ten or eleven when my parents and I went to a trailer exposition like the one shown above. We were not planning on moving into a trailer. Instead, my folks had purchased a building lot in a Clear Creek County in the foothills just west of Denver that lead up to to the Rocky Mountains.  After finding out how much it would cost to build that little dream cabin they envisioned, they decided buying a trailer might be an affordable option.

For the less knowing, the foothills are the smaller mountains which lead the much higher Rockies that rise thousands of feet.  The foothills are less imposing and most were easily accessible by ca even back then.  In the 1950s the foothills were basically uninhabited except for small towns such as Evergreen, Conifer, and Bailey. That all changed with the construction of Interstate 70 cut travel time through the mountains to a few hours. The new suburban communities like Genesee sprang up along the "Front Range". The photo above shows US 40 looking back toward Denver in the 1940s.

Sometime before going to the trailer exposition, my parents had purchased a building lot in a subdivision called Harris Park. The developer basically cut roads on surveyed lots upon which new owners were supposed to drill wells, add septic systems, build a house, and live the dream life. I don't how much they paid for the lot, but I do remember they had a mortgage on it. The l price had to be in the high hundreds or very low thousands of dollars. The US Department of Commerce reports the median family income in the US in 1958 was $5,000. My family was normal. Buying a second home in the Rockies seemed like a dream that they could make into a reality.

I remember going trailer shopping on West Colfax Avenue with my parents.  I don't know how many times we went, but I do remember the experience. And I remember the trailers we initially looked at were long and looked more like the photos at the top than the Shasta they bought. While I don't have an actual photo of it, I found  many pictures of a red Shasta that looked just like ours. 

We lived on a large corner lot when I was a kid. My dad sacrificed part of his garden area to provide a parking space for our new trailer.  I sort of turned it into my little clubhouse where my friends could come over. I hooked up the garden hose so we could have running water. The trailer was laid out with two seats and a folding table at front. The table would collapse and the seat cushions would push together to create a sleeping space for two up front. The miniature kitchen had a stove, sink, and refrigerator. There was a bed at the rear with a single cot-like thing above. The trailer could effectively provide sleeping for five people.

The one and only time my family used the trailer was probably in the summer of 1959. My mother drove a pink and coppertone Plymouth Belvedre which had a trailer hitch installed so that we could take the Shasta up into the mountains. Instead of going to the lot they owned (the purpose of buying the trailer), we went up to some lake to go fishing with their friends. And instead of going to a recognized campground, they found some flat space in the middle of nowhere to park. I happened to have a cold during this trip. They took me along rather than leaving me with a sitter. They sat at the little table and played cars while I sat on the upper bunk doing who knows what until that moment I did what you might now see on Youtube or America's Funniest Home Videos (except we did not have videos back then). I put a used Sylvania Blue Dot flash bulb in my mouth. And for some damn fooled reason, I bit on it.  I think I may have expected to crack the glass bulb and make it crackle as opposed to shattering into a thousands of tiny shards of glass - in my mouth. Which is exactly what happened.

I remember there was momentary chaos and a lot of why did you do thats?. I got the glass out and learned to never do that again. Since then I have been more thoughtful about a lot of things I do, especially when it comes to avoid getting hurt.

After that I tried to go to sleep but my cough persisted. I was told to go to the car to sleep. I don't think I ever spent a more frightening night in my life. My mother was no June Cleaver.

I have reported here before  that my big brother often told me I was adopted. Sometimes I wish he was right. That would explain how someone would be so dumb as to buy a building lot in the mountains before understanding how much it would cost to build a dream cabin. No matter how small a place might be, construction costs money.  And it could also explain how a parent could make a child sleep alone in  a car in the wild Rocky Mountains filled with bears and mountain lions. I did, however, make it out alive.

Today I sell houses in Key West. A lot of my buyers are purchasers of second homes. I like to think I keep people from making dumb mistakes like my parents did. You can have your dream home. 

712 Ashe Street, Key West - Present Perfect

I have written about the house at 712 Ashe Street in Key West a couple of times for over the past three years. I remember the day I first set foot in the original house. I almost dare not write about the place for fear of any reader thinking that any part of the old house remains except for a few, and I mean FEW, original boards remain, because what used to be belongs in a creepy TV show. The place was a mess from floor to ceiling, front to back, and all places in between. It was scary walking around inside because the floors were so damaged I could have stepped through them. Below are a couple of photos of what used to exist, but mind you and read on to understand, all that was is gone. What you see as of today is all new and very well done at that.

The rear of the original house was torn down. The backyard was cleared all a metal outbuilding and decades of dead foliage. The front part of the house had been modernized sometime in the 1950s or 1960s when the asbestos shingles and windows were added to enclose the original porch.

The house was re-built in a two part process. The new rear section was built first. Only a few boards from the old front porch remain. And when the "renovation" was nearly completed, the boards from the front porch were ripped off.  I took progress photos during the rebuilding. They appear below. You can see more photos if you CLICK HERE.

The previously enclosed front porch is now open and extends west down to the front door - about twenty feet from the front. The front door opens into a vaulted hallway that leads to the great room at the rear. As you near the great room you're gonna be amazed at the height and breadth of the space which now includes a rear wall of glass. The ceiling height is 14 feet.

While the house looks like it is old, it is anything but. The interiors are clean, white, and modern, The new home should appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. The house has wind impact resistant windows and doors, Hardiboard siding, and all the other features you would expect in new construction including marble bathrooms, quartz counter tops in the kitchen, tongue in groove ceilings, and white ash solid wood floors. The pool is surrounded by Abaco decking and there is even an outdoor shower amid lush tropical landscaping. Finally, the house is located in X Zone so flood insurance is not required.

The new house has three bedrooms two of which share a Jack-and-Jill bath. There is also a guest bath located off the entry hall and adjacent to the laundry closet.

The listing Realtor is also a reader of my blog. He invited me over to see the house while construction was in process. As we stood in the front room before the drywall was installed, he described his vision of how the room would look. Remember I told you the old house was creepy. Below is a pic I took way back when. (I won't write why I called it creepy.) Remember as well the original house was taken down in sections. What you see in the two lower photos is all new construction from the ground up.

This house sits in a really great Old Town location. Ashe Street is a little known street that is tucked in between White Street to the east and Frances Street to the west. Frances is the east boundary for the Key West cemetery. White Street runs the distance between the Atlantic Ocean to Eaton Street. It provides quick access to any part of town to the east. Duval Street is a five to ten minute walk depending your pace. Ashe Street is more narrow than other streets and really does not lead anywhere except out. And because of this, there is not much traffic, no trolleys or conch trains, and few tourists. So a new owner can sit on the front porch and watch the world go by very slowly almost as if this house was sitting on one of the slow lanes of Key West. And remember this block has some of the prettiest little homes on the island. That is why I refer to 712 Ashe Street as being present perfect. If you are a cash buyer, this could be your home by Christmas.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet for 712 Ashe Street offered at $1,450,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to set up a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. 

Just Listed - 1307 Petronia Street, Key West

Longtime readers of my blog may recall that I have written about this Meadows Area beauty a couple of times during the ten years (soon to be eleven years) I have been doing this blog. It was thirty-three years ago that I first came to Key West and that is when I discovered this little island in middle of the ocean with so many old time houses that were stuck in time. Unlike north up in America, the houses here looked pretty much the same in 1984 as they probably did when they were built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. As more and more people discovered the beauty of what is now my island home, the old houses have been bought by new people who have updated them.  The home above is located at 1307 Petronia Street. It is one of the prettier houses about which I have written. 

I checked the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps to try to determine when this home was built. The earliest date it appeared was 1912. A smattering of homes appeared in earlier additions of the maps, but this entire block and two blocks were basically barren. Readers may recall that this area was called The Meadows for good reason - this is where the dairy cows lived back in the days before Key West had refrigerated milk. Dairymen would drive carts through town to deliver milk. The modernization of Key West the conversion for dairy land to residential housing. The black and white photo above shows this house as it appeared in 1965. The color photo immediately above was taken in 2013. The photo at the top of today's post is current.

The listing Realtor describes the home this way:

Located in the highly sought after Meadows, sits this 3-bedroom, 3 bath that has been recently modernized. A traditional entry foyer leads to the first floor living room with 5 large double hung windows and an elegant crafted wall of bookcases. There is den/bedroom with French doors that open to the pool area. The dining area is adjacent to the chef’s kitchen with massive granite counter top, and gas stove, wine cooler and stainless steel appliances. French doors lead to an outside eating area and nice size pool surrounded by decking and lush tropical landscaping. Upstairs there are 2 en suite bedrooms with walk a large master walk-in closet. The master has a very large sunning deck with a spiral staircase to the pool.

I'm pretty certain the original house didn't look or function quite as perfect when it was built as it does today. The formal entry offers guests a more formal entrance into the living area and at the same time allows the owners direct access to the kitchen at the rear or the stairway in between. The living room photos show off the Dade County Pine ceiling. The living room includes a new media center and built in bookcase. Modern touches include new wood floors, crown molding, and new HVAC. Two photos immediately above show readers the location of the first floor bedroom which is being used by the current owner as a den. There is an adjacent full bath on the first floor. French doors open out to the pool from both the kitchen and the den/bedroom.

Both second floor bedrooms are en-suite. The master bedroom shown above has French doors which open out to the sundeck. A spiral staircase leads down to the pool for a late night dip.

1307 Petronia Street even has a bricked parking space for your car. A lot of homes in Old Town and the environs don't. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and more photos. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing of this pretty special home offered at $1,400,000. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.