I’ll try to make a long, painful story short. We begin in the late 1990’s when my ex and I purchased the acreage and then subdivided it into 4 lots. We, of course built this house on the best of the 4 lots which has became 1 of the most desirable lots in Evergreen, CO. Because it was our dream home we built it as we wanted including an indoor riding arena and the 6 stall barn as my passion was training horses. The house was more about my Husband and our two children.

The original house complteted in Summer 2002 had all natural wood of which was beautiful, reclaimed, and completely hand done and customized by a local craftsman. It was not stained any color, just sealed as the natural wood was beautiful on its own. The lower level was designed for kids complete with a gym ball pit. There are a ton of specifics that I could say on here but that’s not what this website is about; it’s about the pictures and what the house has become in these pictures!

Sadly, my ex and I divorced shortly after the house was finished. The new buyers decided to renovate immediately 2005. I was a bit baffled but hey it was thier house, right? They stained the beautiful natural woods, yep you guessed it, a bit of a orange hue. Put in new cabinets or stained the existing ones. Added to the master bedroom, put in built ins of wood everywhere, painted the walls which were originally textured to resemble old, Italian architecture, even replaced the natural colored granite with, yep brownish, orange colored stuff! The list goes on but the house was one of a kind and unrecognizable afterwards.

Fast forward 2008, new owners and now even more wood added but also the new owners I guess didn’t like the taste of the previous owners yet again so this time around they completely re did the kitchen with antique biege cabinets and all around new granite throughout the house. Again repainted walls, bye bye gym pit in the lower level, completely new bathes all the way around, re did the master, more new built-in”s, added patio lower level, added exterior, architectural accents, stucco, pretty much you name it all red done complete with the furniture to match.

We were minimalist when it came to furniture in the house because the house spoke for itself. I actually like the saddle stools as it is a top notch equestrian property with a beautiful meadow which is very rare in the area. For those of you who commented about fires: the property was fully mitigated for Forrest fires so not one fire at all. We built the house around the environment rather than just cutting down trees to suit our needs because there are 200 to 400 year old Ponderosa pines throughout the property and we didn’t want to cut those down.

Additionally, great research, studies, and effort went into assuring we didn’t build where the Elk caved in the meadow. The only things that remain the same are: the indoor riding arena, the barn and paddocks, and the beautiful view. Hopefully, the old Ponderosa trees still stand tall.

Truly, the house to me at least, represents the painful, uncontrolled growth of Colorado. The place of my birth, 5 generations of family, a place I called home my whole life up until 2021, a magical place that one could find quite & peace. It was and is likely still a awesome property but like the rest of Colorado everyone wants to change what is already perfect in itself!

Look at the living area in photo 18. I guess that’s how you do minimalist steam punk. I didn’t know there was such a thing.

The architecture is dated, but could be nice if it were… um …completely re-done.

Otherwise, it’s a nice little bit of peace and quiet surrounded by a small state refuge with Bemiji, Fargo, and Grand Forks all within driving distance. I’m going to guess that the state refuge, though, means that you can’t hunt those deer you are trying to keep out of your orchard. So much for a freezer of venison for the winter.

Street view shows window units upstairs as well as plastic behind the windows in the cupola over the entryway (which is a point of maintenance that exceeds it’s aesthetic value IMO). It definitely needs a new air system. It probably needs several new windows. That’s probably just part of what it needs to make it efficient to cool and heat.

I’m sure it needs reno inside. The outside doesn’t look too bad for the most part.

But those two acres had me wondering. A look around the property from the various street views show that it’s probably mostly a flood plain that is overgrown and eaten up with kudzu. That parcel needs some serious work and it probably won’t be worth it if it floods on a heavy rain.

I say, though, in the case of this condo I think I could have put together a better solution than this for the poor tyke.