Today, like just a few minutes ago, Orblogdo, who cracks me up every single time he posts, wrote about a fantastic house in Sonoma county listed for 300k (give or take) that needs a lot of TLC.
Made my spider sense tingle.
Has a kickstarter ever been used for something like this? I can imagine the whole blogging community coming together to save this dilapidated slice of California-y goodness, then holding fabulous blogger pow-wows and singing kum-by-yah and crafting and things. And the people who chip in on kickstarter get priority to reserve it once it’s done. Then everyone else can get in on it. Can you see it? Kind of like the ultimate blogger vacation rental. Obviously, the renno job on the inside would increase the price. But for a blogger/hippie mecca it’s a small price to pay, right?
I want it to have a sealed glossy concrete floor and put navajo rugs and sheepskins all up in there. And pull-out couches that you’d never dream were pull-out couches. And get rid of the bidet. Say it with me: “EW.” And the kitchen needs help, obviously. Maybe some people will lend time and energy in order for the fabulous publicity and recognition they’ll get for helping out? Maybe?
I am such a dreamer. I need money to make things happen.
Le Sigh.
Anyone willing to loan me half a mil?
Back to reality, though. Maybe I could find something like this in Fallbrook, CA? Oh wait. I just did.
My Friend Staci 
Fallbrook is gorgeous go there instead :)
Glossy, concrete floors. Welcome to my dream space. For YEARS I’ve wanted dyed, glossy, concrete counter tops that would, at some point, merge into the dyed, glossy, concrete floors.
I know CA is CA, and we’ve all got our own dream places, but there are some pretty incredible opportunities for a fixer-upper in Oregon (not necessarily Portland though) that could get pretty darn creative. One thing I do know is that a community buying a house can get extremely tricky. Even a group of friends could get weird. But, in my opinion, a community or group buying a series of houses (condos/townhouses/apartments) could be pretty awesome. Each person could put their own spin on their space, and create a really interesting experience. It’s like what some B&Bs do with themed rooms, only taken to a whole new level. Plus, it would then give some people the option of renting out the space, or using it as their own little retreat. I’d really love to see what some people could come up with to adapt places with full artistic license.
Ooooh, Portland would be a great environment for something like that. Unfortunately (for me) I think it’s too rainy for me to live there year-round!
I actually disagree. Portland itself has some really great old houses, but they’re mostly on the smaller side, or the Victorian side. I think they’re pretty limiting, to be honest. A lot of places have converted old houses into things like businesses, so you can see that it’d be pretty tricky to convert them into what you’d want. Plus, they’re *insane* expensive.
But, Oregon itself has a wide variety of climates, including a huge desert in the east (which most people don’t know about). There are also lots of places that don’t very much rain at all, within a 2 hour radius of Portland. Plus, there’s also the coast, which has some fascinating house architectural styles.