"Birchwood" one of our beautiful Victorian homes in Dallas Center. When you hear "Victorian" do not be fooled. We fully renovated and restored the interior of this fine home in early 2017, paying homage to its fine historic features, but giving it new and modern touches for today's lifestyle. A beautiful brand new kitchen with real birch cabinetry, solid 3 cm granite counter tops, new high-end Whirlpool Energy Star appliances including dishwasher, refrigerator with ice and water in the door, as well as a gas stove and garbage disposal. It's large eat-in kitchen has ample space for your family in the east bay window, or you can dine in the formal dining room. Built in birch bookcase cabinetry and colonnades separate the dining room from the living room. Laundry is on the main floor, just past a butler's door and adjacent to the downstairs full bath. We installed a brand new matching washer & dryer fall 2017. Three period stained glass windows grace this fine home, including a missing one which we traveled to Minnesota to find and have reinstalled. 

Upstairs you'll find three large, large bedrooms, foot tall pine baseboards, original doors and door and window casings, and solid wood capitals over each door. We have restored this woodwork to its original glory. Also on second floor is the second full bath including an original claw foot bathtub and faucets. The basement of this home is dry and very serviceable for storage or recreation, although not approved as a bedroom space. A large screened in porch covers the entire south end of the home, looking out at real peach trees in the 100% fenced in back yard. I have installed a 20' rolling gate to allow access for off-street parking, and there is a 10' x 16' yard barn for your mower, bikes, and tools. 

We are restoring the exterior of the home at this very moment, including its original Victorian fretwork and fish scale siding. These beautiful hand-cut and hand made details were covered by a layer of siding for over 50 years until we recently uncovered them. I have sent to a special mill in Canada for duplicate cedar shakes to replicate this intricate work. A beautiful covered front porch is being restored at this time, and we are duplicating the original cedar spindles in our woodshop for installation this month. We have water-blasted the building and are restoring its original redwood siding, covered over for so many years. When completed later this month, the house will sport an original four color Queen Anne Victorian paint scheme. For the practical minded, you can rest assured that the home has high-efficiency central air and furnace with 95% efficiency. The current resident tells me that his utilities were a bargain, never exceeding much over $100 in the worst of months. The house is fully insulated. I have several of these great homes, and none circulate the air better to all of the rooms than does Birchwood. That includes the upstairs sleeping rooms, which are notoriously hard to heat and cool in older homes. The air vents will blow your hair when fully open! Ceiling fans are included in each of the fine bedrooms. 

I guess I am partial to these homes, where so many lived so gracefully and comfortably for so many generations. I cannot imagine living in an apartment in our neighboring town where you would have less floor space, no fenced in yard, none of this style and quality, and pay more! We'll be posting more photos of our exterior painting this month, with a completion date of 10/1, your new move in date! Dallas Center is our home town, and we offer these fine homes to fine people. This house is literally less than a block from the Middle School in the famed Dallas Center - Grimes School District. Because we cherish these homes so much, and to restore them "eats a lot of hay," we are completely nonsmoking in our offerings.

Birchwood

"Birchwood" - This home is currently rented.