Takoma Park Home SOLD

Overview
This 1928 Sears bungalow has charm and personality to spare, and it’s located on what many call the BEST street in Takoma Park.   It’s also on the best side of the street – overlooking the gorgeous wooded valley you see below, which is all privately owned.  The garden, designed by landscape architect Holt Jordan and owner Susan Harris, is beautiful yet low-maintenance.  Details below.

The asking price is $619,000.  Seller will pay $1,800 to replace second floor carpet in the color of buyer’s choice.  (Or credit the buyer $1,800 toward any other change to the second floor.)  There’s more information, including maps, here on a real estate listing website.

To See the House
Email GardenerSusan@gmail.com or call Susan Harris at 301-270-5481.  Buyers’ agents are welcome.

The House
Sears kit homes purchased via mail order are highly valued for their top-quality materials, good design and historical importance, especially the iconic bungalow models, like this one (the “Conway”).  Improvements by the current homeowner include:

• Completely new kitchen (in 2003) with Silestone countertops (Silestone is a quartz composite.)
• Upgraded main-floor bath (in 1998)
• Removal of wall between small living room and dining room and addition of built-in book cases.
• Huge deck
• Sunroom overlooking deck and garden
• Finishing of large portion of the basement, with full bath
• Insulation of second floor master bedroom
• Conversion of smaller second-floor bedroom into walk-in closet
• Conversion of garage into workshop, studio or large tool shed

The basic features currently are: 3 bedrooms, large full-room closet (formerly a bedroom), 2 full bathrooms, hardwood throughout first floor, finished basement with built-in shelving, sunroom, detached workshop/tool shed.

The kitchen dimensions are 11′ 1″ by 9′ 3″.

The bedroom above measures 10′ 8″ by 10′.  A second bedroom on the main floor (photo coming soon) measures 10′ by 9′ 2″.

Next, photos of the second floor show a blue carpet that seller will replace with the color of buyer’s choice. Or seller will credit buyer $1,800 toward hardwood floor.  If buyer chooses to keep this carpet, seller will deduct $1,800 from the purchase price.

The smaller upstairs bedroom below measures 11′ 4′ by 9′ 10″.  It’s currently used as a roomy walk-in closet.

Dimensions of more rooms/features not shown (yet – photos coming soon!):

• Finished basement (work done in 1998)  has one large space with a wall of built-in bookcases.  The large room measures roughly 22′ by 13′ 6″.
• The full bath in the basement measures 6′ 10″ by 5′.
• The deck with privacy screens and refinished this summer is 480 square feet.
• The detached workshop/studio (formerly a garage) is fully enclosed and lighted, and has been used in cold weather with just a space heater.  It measures 18′ by 9′ 7″.

The Town and Neighborhood
Takoma Park is a small community on the D.C. border, a 15 minute subway ride to Capitol Hill (or 30 minutes drive, even at rush hour).  It’s known for its charm and sense of community; no surprise that it’s so beloved by its residents.

Woodland Avenue is widely regarded as one of the handful of most desirable streets in Takoma Park.  That’s because it’s quiet, safe, short (so no through-traffic) and filled with families.  Its Labor Day Block Parties and active listserv help neighbors get to know each other.

Woodland Avenue was once part of the Historic District in Takoma Park but its residents successfully lobbied to be removed from it – due to what are commonly regarded as overreaching and sometimes nonsensical restrictions.   Good zoning regulations still apply, of course.

Here on the woodland side of Woodland Avenue, our properties are what’s called “superlots” that sit on the edge of a beautiful wooded valley.   So to enjoy a walk through the woods simply meet up with the path that runs through the valley, and continue on to the newly renovated Forest Park at the end of the block.  Click here for a satellite view of the valley.

The Garden

This garden has been featured in several magazines – Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening and Landscape Architecture Magazine - and graces the cover of a new book about Lawn Alternatives (photo right).  Both the front and back lawns have been replaced with low-maintenance groundcovers that require no mowing, no watering, no feeding, and almost no weeding.  They’re super-drought-tolerant and most can handle some foot traffic.   If lawn is preferred, the groundcovers are shallow-rooted and would be easy to remove so that grass seed could be planted next spring.

The rest of the garden is also low-maintenance, consisting mainly of trees and shrubs.  The owner, who teaches pruning to her garden consulting clients, is moving to nearby and available to return during the growing season to “coach” buyers in pruning, at no charge.   Similarly, she’ll help with plant identification, et cetera.

Videos of Garden

Click here to see a 19-second video of the deck in summer, showing off the container garden there.

And here’s a video of the back garden in spring.  It’s 3:19 long.

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