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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Embarassing! We went to an Open House that wasn't OPEN!

OH well, we really did it this time!

Yesterday, as we were sitting out on the front porch, sipping our coffee.... we noticed a new little sandwich board type sign out in front of the mansion across the street from us saying it would be Open House from 1:30 to 2:30.  We knew the house was on the market again, as the previous rental occupants had moved out once their home was built.  We had been anxious to see the inside of this fabulous house.... so we ran our errands in Appleton early in the day and made it home in time to attend.



Besides being a "nosy neighbor" I am trying to convince a friend to retire here and extolling the virtues of our wonderful little town of Chilton.  So I wanted to take more pics of the inside than what is on the website:
Here is the link to the realtor's page with more info:


At 1:30 we walked on over and went up the front walk, 
quite excited to see the inside
 of this huge almost 5,000 sq ft home that was built in 1880's








We rang the front doorbell as a courtesy to let the realtor know we were there... but nobody came to the front foyer.  We removed our shoes as there were some dropcloths on the floor.  We entered into the home and as we walked through the first floor, we thought we heard someone out by the garage.  Figuring the realtor was busy with another couple, we wandered around the home on our own.  

We had done some previous reading up on the history of the home. Originally it had been built by a man named Christopher Hugo, from Bavaria, Germany, who owned a prosperous cigar making operation in the small city of Chilton. He also was a city mayor and alderman.  From there, other important city forefathers owned the home, including the Knauf family, the Engler family and the Elliot Family. 

Through the foyer, music room, parlor, grand room, library etc. we found ourselves just enamored by the wonderful charm and classic style of this amazing home.  Such workmanship and skill features built in the bygone era of craftsmanship!










In some of the rooms, there are hand painted murals all around the borders of country scenes, 
perhaps from the original owner's native lands of Bavaria?  




Many of the rooms had fireplaces and huge windows letting in the light.


We wandered up through the second story... 
admiring the six bedrooms, and a sun room that would make a great studio.


 Most of the bedrooms have their own sinks and vanity area.  


We enjoyed looking at all of the old fixtures... and 
marveling at how THICK the walls are (look at the depth of this windowsill) 

Still not hearing anyone come into the home yet from the backyard, we went up a twisty staircase with FIVE turns on it's path upwards....  up to the third story which I imagine were the maid's quarters, nursery and children's school and play area.  The windows at the end of this big space overlook the front lawn and across the street to our house. 




As we wound our way back down the stairs to the second story, we finally heard someone come in downstairs, so we went down to make ourselves known. 

Imagine our surprise when we didn't see the expected lady realtor from out on the front sign... oh no no no------ We saw a gentleman garbed up in painting clothes and working tools in his hands!  I think he was even more startled than we were!!!!    (good thing he doesn't carry a gun, eh?)

Soooooo adding insult to injury, I asked him if he was here WORKING ON THE HOUSE????  NOooooooooooo

 he was the OWNER!!!!!!

and to make matters even worse ..

the added little sign out front?  it's for 
NEXT SUNDAY!!!!!!

"DUH" on us.... it hadn't occurred to us that it was Monday- Labor Day- 
and it didn't dawn on us that the sign said SUNDAY!  
We had only looked at the time listing when it was open, 
and didn't think of the day......

In our defense, I guess in all my years of selling real estate, I never placed an additionaql sign out front A WEEK IN ADVANCE of an open house... especially without a DATE on it?  We just saw the additional sign and time and thought it was meant for that day.  


He graciously introduced himself, and soon after his wife came in and we explained our horrid faux pas of coming into their home uninvited and walking around like a couple of oogling idiots!  He had been out cutting some trim wood in the garage and she had been out running errands and just came back.  

The house is vacant right now, as they have built another home out of town. They were using the extra long weekend to get more things done on this in time for the Open House NEXT Sunday.  ARGGGHHH!

We chatted with them for a bit about the house and tasks of selling a house in this market and all about the wonderful town of Chilton.  They gave us their blessing to share the photos and even post this on my blog.  Who knows, someone who reads this might be my new neighbor!!!

(and we promise to never go into the house again unless we are invited) 



12 comments:

  1. What a beautiful home. And the price !!!!!!!!!!!!! That just blew me away. I expected it to be around the 1 million $ mark. If I lived there, I'd snap that up in a second. It's a steal.

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  2. I notice that you put your promise (and we promise to never go into the house again unless we are invited) in small letters. Kinda makes me think you are not sure of that statement. . . (grin).

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  3. If only we were starting our family instead of fulltime travel,,,,just might have been tempted. I'm a sucker for old homes with style.

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  4. Because I post a link to my blog on Facebook, sometimes I get comments right on there too. So I thought I would copy and paste some of the comments here:

    Linda Guelig Hilarious! But what a great home.
    · Unlike · 1

    Heidi Lotter The house is awesome! Can't touch something like that for 299k in NJ.
    · Edited · Like

    Rosalyn Russell Norris Wow, Bob is ready to retire, but, can you bring it down to our other lot where our Park Model Camper is parked on 11 acres? Beside one daughter on her 11 acres and we gave 11 acres also to the other daughter............ BLESSED
    · Edited · Like

    Tina Hilton Great story! And a beautiful house.
    · Like

    Sarah Kopf Aha! Such a cute story! Nate and I are giggling! I've always wanted to own that house....
    · Like

    Paula Freund Hey, thanks for letting us know, always wanted to see the inside of that house.
    · Like

    Donna Werner Boehm So funny...love the story and the house
    · Like

    Brittany Wiegert Very funny!
    · Like

    Rebecca Smrcina Love it!
    · Like

    Lois Staton Tee-hee.
    · Like

    Arlene Burditt Sullivan wow..
    · Like

    Ruth Cox Schlemmer Whoops!
    · Like

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  5. Yep, just a little embarrassing but oh so funny!

    They have a beautiful house, it looks like it should be a museum.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  6. That is so funny! It sounds like something I would do. In fact I have done. I took my son to a birthday party a week early. LOL In my defense, my dad had died recently and my brain just wasn't working properly yet. Anyway, it was a good way to meet a new neighbor and by the time the real party came around, we were already good friends.

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  7. I can just imagine how I would feel if I got caught in the act of wandering through the house. You must have wished you could go through the floor! It is a gorgeous house.

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  8. No harm den except for your red face.

    Years ago in Milwaukee thy posted the closed sale price and addresses of homes sold. A few days after the closing on our first little house we were there cleaning and working on it when a strange couple just walked it. No door bell, no knock. They said they wanted to see what you could get for the low price we had paid. Now that was rude! Your entry sounds like an honest mistake. The sign attracted you.

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  9. Oh, how embarrassing! It is a pretty cool house. Maybe you should buy it. I'd love to see what you'd do with that house since you've done such a great job with your current house.

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  10. only you Karen, or maybe Donna Cave too. Wonderful house, would love to own that if I had a couple of bucks extra laying around. As others have said no way you could get that much house here for that price.

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  11. Good day! I could have sworn I've visited your blog before but after browsing through many of the posts I realized
    it's new to me. Anyhow, I'm certainly delighted I stumbled upon it and I'll be book-marking it and checking back often!

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