Sunday, July 20, 2008

Large Eat In Kitchen With Oak Cabinets



The large eat-in kitchen features oak cabinets, dishwasher, stoneware sink, and a full pantry and broom closet! The laundry is conveniently located on the main floor in the pantry.

Front Foyer features Large Open Stairway & Beautiful carved woodwork



Large Formal Dining Room


Dining Room features large bay windows, hardwood floors and built in hutch

Large Living Room Features Hardwood Floors, Bay Windows and beautiful woodwork


The Living Room features large bay windows! It is spacious and has pocket doors between the dining room and the parlor. A small plant room is tucked just off the living room.

Parlor



The "Front Room" or "Parlor" has a large bay area, and features an ornate fireplace that could be converted to a flueless gas fireplace easily. Solid oak pocket doors slide to close the parlor off from the living room. Beautiful oak woodwork and oak floors through the main floor.

Cheerful Old Fashioned Pantry

The Pantry has shelves and cupboards on both walls -- to the ceiling! It also has washer and dryer hookups, and the original laundry chute, antique flour bin swings out, and makes a wonderful clothes hamper.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Master Bedroom



The Master Bedroom spans the entire front of the house, and actually consists of two rooms, a large sitting room with big bay area, and the sleeping room. Five large windows give this room a bright sunny complexion! Hardwood floors and large walk-in closet.

3rd Bedroom



This bedroom has a big picture window and two other large windows, as well as a large closet with shelves to the ceiling. Hardwood floors and beautiful original woodwork, which has been taken down and restored, makes it feel as if you are stepping back in time to simpler days.

4 Bedrooms upstairs






Three of the bedroom's are very large! The smaller bedroom (formerly the "maid's room") is an average sized bedroom. Hardwood floors through the entire upstairs, all original woodwook, which is gorgeous! This bedroom has a large walkin closet with shelves that go up to the ceiling for lots of storage!

Back Porch Features walk out to Back Yard




The cheerful and sunny little back porch has another full set of cupboards from floor to ceiling!

Main Floor Broom Closet



This house really has a place for everything! It has a lot of usable storage space and spacious walk in closets throughout. This large walk in closet off from the kitchen offers floor to ceiling cupboards, plus a convenient area for brooms, mops, etc. I need to take new photos, as the cupboards were not quite finished here.

Small sunroom or plant room off from the LIving Room

This little sunroom has floor to ceiling windows, beautiful woodwork, and terra cotta tile floor. It is a great place to display plants!

Small main floor "guest" bathroom

This small "guest" bathroom has a Victorian pedestal sink and stool. It is conveniently located off the front foyer.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

A little bit of history


This photo was taken in 1892 by the Denison Review
What is amazing, is that in comparing the house as it stands today, and pictures of this house back in the late 1800's it has undergone very few changes!

This description of the house came from the brochure for the "Historic Walking Tour of Denison, Iowa" which featured architectural designs dating from 1870 to the early 1900's, and was sponsored by the Crawford County Historical Society:

The Ernest Riepen house was constructed in 1891 using Denison brick. Ernest Riepen had an ice house, and was also a saloon keeper, selling Standard Brewing Beer, and winning first prize at the World's Fair! He also had a "wild animal park. The property was purchased by the Catholic Church in 1910. Interesting features are the six sieded turret, ornate dentil treatment which is a small rectangular block forming one of a series applied as an ornament below a molding under the gable, Doric columns on the turret, wrap-around spindle porch and decorative brick dentils over the windows."



Denison is set in the rolling hills of Western Iowa





Yellowsmoke Park is located just one the edge of Denison, and has wonderful camping, walking and swimming facilities.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Victorian Christmas

This house attracts a large number of visitors each year to view the Christmas lights that decorate the porches, tower and yard. It was given a large front page picture on the front page of the Sioux City Journal, and won the Denison ligts award for best decorated house.