HERE IS THE BEGINNING HOUSE

So, folks, this is the house. As you can see, surrounded by lots and lots of lawn. It is a split level ranch style structure. In a moment, I will show you the rear view.

This how it was when I found it. The front faces to the North. The two windows on the left of the picture look out from one of the two bedrooms on the east side. The other looks into the back yard. On the west side, we have the window of the living room. Behind is the kitchen/breakfast room. Between the kitchen and the rear bedroom is a bathroom.

Entering through the front door, on the left a short staircase leads to the lower level while the right hand stairs ascent to the entrance of the kitchen and also the living room. Taking the stairs down, one enters a short passageway. A second bathroom is to the left front and, on the right front, is the utility room. Turning right takes you to a large recreation room running the width of the house. Going to the left leads to a third bedroom at the front and a laundry room to the rear. So there you have it...three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a recreation room, and a large laundry. Way too much house for me.

Quite by accident, I discovered the house during my first serious week of house hunting. It wasn't on my list. This bit of Corning is a little 'higgle-piggly' and my GPS has fallen from its attachment to the windscreen. I turned into Sterling Street and there, up ahead on the right, I spied a For Sale sign. Cruising by, there it sat, well back from the footpath, surrounded by lawn, on the largest block in the street. This how the house looked from the rear alley.

The yard cried out to me...'Help, make me into a beautiful garden.'

I had to see inside.

Which I did that very day. I fell in love with the possibilities it offered me. Structurally, it is very sound, so not quite the fixer upper. Nonetheless, lots of work and creativity lie ahead.

It has an interesting history. Built in 1973, it is at least a hundred years younger than the surrounding homes. The former house may have been one of the farm houses. It may have been quite large. However, soon after the Great Corning Flood of 1972, a catastrophic gas leak led to the house exploding. By this time the four children had pretty much grown up and a more modest home was built for their parents. First their father died and then, some two years back, so did their mother.

When I saw it, the house had not been lived in for two years. But I have dreams for it.