Property showing Blair Witch House
The picture on the front page is not the house… but it is the namesake of this blog. As the photo shows, the dilapidated cabin is next to the home we are renovating. We understand the cabin itself was the original home on the property and was built sometime in the 1940s. We have learned the cabin was owned by a family named Glenwood – a name I vaguely recall from my childhood. Cousin Lisa gave the cabin the nickname of “Blair Witch House” when she first visited just before we closed on the main house in September of 2014.
The main house is in much better shape. It is a ranch style, [currently] one bedroom, 1,700 home built in 1976. It was designed and built for the Johnson Family who purchased the lot of land from the Power’s family. At one time the Powers owned a huge track of land on the lake, renting out small lots to those who wished to build summer cabins. I the 1970s, the Powers (along with several other owners of huge lots) divided up their land and created a series of 2-4 acre lots which they sold off.
The original architect of the main house was Carl Anderson and the date on the blueprints that were left behind in the house notes the design date of June 25th, 1975.
While we have learned that The Johnson family fully enjoyed their home on the lake, they did not do a lot over the many years they owned it to update the home in anyway – other than modernizing and building a second bathroom sometime (we assume) in the nineties. When we took possession of the house it is still full of (vintage?) knotty pine and ‘ship lap’ paneling.
Despite the very dated, soot stained, shag carpeted interior, the house has amazingly good bones. In all ways, the house is the most modern we have ever tackled from a renovation standpoint. When we had our home inspection prior to sale we almost laughed at some of the minor things that were pointed out to us (electrical junction boxes that needed covers, etc… ‘Oh that’s a deal breaker!’) Our first home failed inspection so badly that we were surprised they gave us an occupancy permit. No lie – the only thing that passed on our first home was the doorbell.
Our next home (and still our main residence) was built in the early 1920’s and had knob and tube wiring, outdated plumbing and not a square corner or plum wall in the house. In comparison, the Johnson house had real 2×4 construction (16″ on center for real!) with bonuses like insolation, PVC plumbing and grounded circuits.
This makes renovation easier in some ways, and harder in others. While historic homes already have an ‘established’ style – a home built in the 70’s is almost a blank slate (unless you’re really in to Mad Men and midcentury modern).
Dining Room view into Kitchen
Certainly the best feature of the house is the location. The main house was built long before the DEM mandated a 75′ buffer from the water…. something you can read more about in the backstory. From the water’s edge to the front of the house is less than 25′ – sitting on the deck you see nothing but water. While not isolated – the way the lot is laid out makes it very private. The new construction regulation forced our nearest neighbor to build far back from the water on the slope of the hill running down to the lake. Our other neighbor is a small cabin set around a slight bend in the lake making the home almost invisible from anywhere but from the road.
In short – as we sit out on the deck, taking a break from inhaling sawdust or nursing a cut and scrape from demolition we are easily reminded of one simple thing…. this doesn’t suck. But, despite the natural beauty of the location, and the good bones, there is still a lot of work to be done to make this house a true home. We hope you enjoy our frequent posts as we keep you updated on the progress of the Blair House Project.