The House

• Craftsman bungalow
• Built in 1930
• 958 sq. ft.
• 2 bedrooms / 1 bath
• Detached 1 car garage plus shop space
• Purchased from Mrs. Alvina Dube (yes, “DOO-bee”) in 2000

According to a 1930 cross-reference directory of Houston residents, Charles and Emma Kingsbury were the original owners of the house. Charles’ occupation is listed as “secretary to the sales manager of the Texas Co.”  (Texas Co. later became Texaco.)

Alvina Dube and her husband Carl bought the home from the Kingsburys in 1938. Carl passed away in the early 90’s and Alvina moved to an assisted living home several years later. When we purchased the home in 2000, Mrs. Dube came to the closing with her sister. She wanted to see the check in her hand. (Our closing attorney shared that the Dubes purchased the home for $3500.  Suffice it to say that we paid significantly more.)

The Dubes had no children, which probably motivated their wise decision to knock down a wall to make an adequate master. That was a nice selling point since the original three bedrooms were each small enough to be dwarfed by a queen-size bed. Mrs. Dube’s nephew added some updates after she moved out including a cove ceiling in the master, complete with fluorescent recessed lighting. (Imagine having a dental exam while lying in bed.) Shimmery rose wallpaper plus carpet in the only bathroom lent some…um…charm.  Peach paint in the living/dining combo and pink in the master…err…mistress.

The tiny, sad kitchen was just that. Original cabinetry we freshened with hardware and yet another layer of paint,  glossy white. Stock laminate, prefab particleboard countertop in offends-nobody almond.  A circa 1980’s Maytag freestanding range sat unvented. In order to give the room some bohemian appeal, in 2000, we installed new Armstrong vinyl flooring in a speckled archival pattern from the 1940’s. And since we’re lazy, we sacrificed one of the only three base cabinets to make room for the home’s first dishwasher. Just past the TSK is what Joel calls the “laundry tumor.”  Not quite a room, it’s an added bump-out presumably because Mrs. Dube was fed up using the outdoor “system” for drying laundry. Housing the water heater, washer, dryer, and some utilitarian shelving, the tumor served as a glamorous passage to our backyard.