Presenting Framboise Manor

ahhh...Framboise Manor...the name itself has such a nice ring to it.

however, after you see the following pics, i am sure that you will agree that we should have named it Framboise Estate.

wait, a little history before the pics. i found Framboise Manor online. it was 1,000 miles away from where we were. and after several emails back and forth with the real estate agent who really did not want to sell this place to us sight unseen - we made an offer. we paid full asking price as the price had kept dropping over almost a year. when you see the pics you will understand why the price kept dropping.

we got this place at a steal. the cottage itself is definitely "manor"-like in that it has a kitchen, living room, two small bedrooms and a bathroom. that's it. we moved from a sprawling, huge, open-concept bungalow with a huge basement AND a sunroom. moving to this cramped little place has been a challenge.

back to buying the place. again, the real estate agent did not seem to want to sell it. we asked her to take honest pictures of the place for us. she did. her pictures follow.

she called this pic "the driveway needs grading". uh huh.





she called this pic "the roof needs fixing". uh huh.



this pic was called "back of house needs to be cleaned up". yep.



this was called "the backyard". yep - that's the backyard. and somewhere almost 1000ft down there is our 200ft of waterfront on the river. sure. i think i can almost see the river from this pic. nope that's just the sky.



here's the fancy kitchen cupboards - in all fairness they actually look pretty nice in the pic. they look much worse in real life. and i had left a huge kitchen with custom-designed bird's eye maple cabinetry that went from floor to ceiling. oh how i miss my cupboards!



THIS beauty is the previous owner's attempt at some kind of weird art. he smashed up a variety of tiles and then poured concrete or something. i can see what he was trying to do but it just doesn't work. the concrete stays wet all day soaking up all kinds of bacteria - thank god it has been replaced - but for several months we couldn't put a glass on the counter or it would tip over. ya - cuz the tiles and concrete weren't even a tiny bit even.



here's the other side of the counter and the stove that didn't work.



this is the hallway between the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. please note the horrible peach walls and god-awful blue in the bedroom. ahhhh....you are in for a real treat now. bathroom is coming up soon!



don't jump the gun - we'll get to the bathroom in due time. just wanted to share a pic of the "carpeted" stairs that lead from the kitchen to the living room. yep - we ripped up that carpet toute suite. it had been there for about 20 years and had never been cleaned. yum.

oh and i don't know if i mentioned this already or not - but all of the furniture came with the place! imagine - Framboise Manor came furnished! i kid you not!



the real estate agent called this pic "bad paint job". how about bad building job?



and as promised - here is the "ensuite" bathroom to our master bedroom. wait until you see the master bedroom. there is nothing master about it. nor is there anything ensuite about the bathroom. have a look-see for yourselves.



i must admit that the 20yr old duck shower curtain was a definite selling point!

and here is the "vanity". 'nuff said.



the red siding tape in the shower was a design inspiration that i had never seen before. the previous owner was a real artist. i think the shower looks very "arty". what do you think?



and i like the way that the shower head dangles from the wall - makes it easier to move it this way or that.



and, if i were a real estate agent and wanted to sell an albatross property that had been hanging over my head for a year - i would definitely take a pic of the flooded basement for prospective clients - flooded basements were the "in" thing that year!



oh and all of the junk in the basement came with the property too..what a deal!

this pic she called "bad wiring throughout the house". umm...ya.



this pic is up the carpeted *cough-bleck* stairs and part of the living room. sadly the computer did not come with the rest of the furnishings.



this pic she labelled "more stucco". yep. our whole living room and back bedroom were stucco-ed. very artsy. oh and classy.



this pic she called "living room window needs to be replaced". need i say more?



this is the hallway ceiling between the kitchen and the bathroom. appropriately entitled "no ceiling in the hallway".



this is the little storage closet. unfinished and not quite as artsy as the rest of the place.



this pic was called "you need a new front step". her powers of observation are mind-blowing.



here's the "master bedroom". yep. and a sickly shade of blue. oh, if you are curious, that box sticking off the wall is our electric panel. and you really don't want to see the inside of that!



so we bought the place sight-unseen. why you ask? it came with almost 10 acres, 200ft of riverfront (once we found it) and it is in a beautiful and remote area of cape breton. people called us crazy - the real estate agent who tried very hard not to sell this place to us called us crazy.

but we have been at Framboise Manner for 10 months now. it has been a lot of work. thank goodness for our friends Jimmy and Barb, who put some real hard work into the place so that when we landed here for good - everything looked different. they weren't able to get everything done - but they got a lot of this place fixed up for us. and we have been working like dogs since we got here, just trying to put this little crappy cottage - i mean, Manor -together.

and we are loving every minute of it. right now - jambaloney is halfway in one side of the attic and halfway in the other side. i will explain later. this house is nuts. but we love it. and we love being here.

stay tuned for updates on all of the work that Jimmy and Barb did, and the changes that we have made.