Seattle has buses. (Really, they're throughout King County, and reach into the neighboring counties, too.) Use them! In which case you might as well find a place to live along a line. One line at a time. Here's the next one, selected at random for the fun of it.
(Nearly) straight up and down, north and south, Route 316 drops from Meridian Park, rounds Haller Lake, and continues past North Seattle College and Green Lake on its way to downtown, and then bounces back up again. Very little pesky east and west action, but that also describes Seattle's geography, and someone's commute.
↑ Congratulations to whoever figured out how to find that balance between boredom-inducing white walls and mind-blowing color schemes. Whoever painted this 1998 5 bedroom, 4 bath house managed to use simple tree outlines and strong, simple colors to decorate and walls and rooms tastefully. For their asking price of $699,000, you get a 4,430 square foot house that makes good use of its space, fitting in an appealing and practical kitchen, a guest suite, and a theater that would look at home in much bigger houses. If only they could find some way to hide the wires.
↑ Either painted silhouettes or wall cling is a new thing because here's a house with more, including a dinosaur. There's also a painted clock, but buyers are probably more interested in the 3 bedrooms, 2.75 baths and 1,640 square feet for $520,000. The house sits on a 6,890 square foot corner lot with a flat, fenced back yard currently devoted to lawn and a few trees that pre-date the neighborhood. The house was built in 2012, so the appliances and systems are relatively new; and the materials are the ever-present stainless steel, granite, and decorative tile. Those are probably harder to paint.
↑ The brick fireplace and wood paneling may help mark this 3 bedroom, 2 bath house as a 1948 rambler. The size is period, too; 1,320 square feet was normal just after the war. But the best feature that remembers that era is a wet bar that is far more than a tiny sink and a cutesy sign. In this $340,000 property they've managed to maintain a full-sized bar complete with stools, too small to run a business from, but big enough for friends to enjoy. It would be interesting to know if the liquor is the first thing the next buyer will stock first.
↑ When you buy a house, you're buying land, and for some folks the land is the thing. Rather than paint a tree on a wall, the garden looks like it is overwhelming the walls of this 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 820 square foot house. Skip the ornamentals, the topiary, manicured box hedges, this garden is producing food and doing so on an 8,320 square foot lot. The house was built in 1953, but the owners advocacy of various herbal products wouldn't fit the image of the Baby Boom times; of course, this could be where the sixties got their start and kept going. They're asking $339,950 for the property, which includes landscaping that is going to be valuable to someone with a green thumb, and knees, and elbows...
↑ We all have to start somewhere, and sometimes start over. This 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1,060 square foot rambler from 1949 looks like it has led one life (or more) and is ready to live another. While some houses are bargains and will appeal as-is, this $225,000 property is more likely to be a collection of Before pictures waiting for dramatic repairs, remodeling, and renovation. The listing states that the house needs cosmetic repairs, which is understandable. Harvesting the moss from the roof is equivalent to trimming a beard then, right? Prepare the residential version of lipstick and rouge! It can be done!
· Route 316 [Metro]
· North Seattle College [NCS]
· All Bus Tours coverage [CS]
Written by Tom Trimbath