Have You Ever Wanted To Paint Your Hardwood Floors? 3534 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview
This 2-bedroom vintage unit at 3534 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview just came on the market.
It is bank owned.
The building was built in 1924 so this unit has the pre-war features like tall ceilings, hardwood floors, crown molding, generous room sizes and a big entry foyer.
The kitchen has white cabinets and stainless steel appliances.
There are no pictures of the bathrooms.
But you’ll notice from the pictures that some of the hardwood floors are painted.
Would you be okay with painting your hardwood floors?
Ron Ehlers at Jameson Sotheby’s has the listing. See the pictures here.
Unit #12D: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1500 square feet
- Sold in June 1993 for $150,000
- Sold in December 1995 for $160,000
- Sold in September 2006 for $430,000
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in August 2010
- Bank owned in April 2013
- Currently listed for $299,000
- Assessments of $894 a month (includes water, cable)
- Taxes of $5036
- No central air
- Washer/Dryer hook-ups in the unit
- No mention of parking
- Bedroom #1: 14×14
- Bedroom #2: 14×13
My best guess – the homeowner was a faux finish painter and needed a place to practice. I have never seen anything like those moldings.
I would consider painting hardwood floors, but only if they were pretty beat up.
This place is definitely….unique….to put it kindly. The floors don’t bother me but the moldings and walls are another topic! My eyes are sore from looking at those pictures and my head hurts.
I would not paint hard wood floors. I wonder what it would cost to have the paint removed – whether it would be cheaper to replace all of the floors or to have the paint removed.
“I have never seen anything like those moldings.”
What could be done with them? Just paint over them with white paint? I can’t imagine stripping them all.
I think you would have to paint over them. Given the age of the building, there is a very good chance that some of them are plaster.
Definitely some of the design decisions are going to turn a lot of people off, but I don’t see too much that will be that hard to reverse. Bathrooms might need the most work. Floors probably just need to be sanded and restained, assuming there is enough thickness left (which is a relatively big assumption). Someone may be willing to take on the work in order to get a deal here, if you want to fight with the REO for a year or so to get the deal done.
“Bathrooms might need the most work.” That’s a whole lot of yellow to contend with, yet a coat of paint would make that bathroom easier to live with than the other one.
At least the kitchen is in good shape so a buyer can put the $$ into repainting.
I love this building, the apartments are HUGE, but the assessments make it a no-go for me.
As for the unit; it’s mostly awful, but nothing that couldn’t be reversed. I DO like the bathroom; it would have never occurred to me to paint the wood trim black instead of white – I think it looks pretty cool (I probably would have gone with black & white subway tile, instead of black and yellow, though).
the foyer feels like entering a bathhouse.
i’d think nothing of seeing a man in a towel walk by me while i was at the open house.
I like the yellow bathroom! Everything else is absolutely hideous unfortunately.
Would look at home as a ‘backroom’ at the Caligula club coming soon to a Stone Park near you.
I would’ve liked to have seen this with furniture in the place. I really like when people have some courage in decorating, even if it’s not my style.
Jenny, it would be much cheaper to strip those floors. All this place really needs is to be stripped and repainted. The buyer will get a bargain price because of the garish decoration in this place.
I’m familiar with this building and it is the best deal for the money on the drive, IMO. The rooms are huge and the floor plans work really well. Someone will love to strip the floors and moldings, and repaint this place at this price. It is a very large apartment for the price, about 2000 sq ft, and the HOA is pretty reasonable for the amount of space, and relative to the HOAs I see on much-smaller units of the same vintage elsewhere.
I’m glad I read all of the negative reviews before I looked at the pictures. Maybe it’s because you lowered my expectations, but I think this unit is amazing. It’s not my initial taste, but I think it’s artistically incredible and if I were a single person, who could just buy all new furniture, the only thing I would change is the the beige carpet in one of the bedrooms and make it dark hard wood floors to match the molding. I get so tired of looking at the same old same old…anyone who is interested in something unique, this is your place! I LOVE IT!
Faux painting often has texture, so think a whole lot of sanding and prep work before painting, with possible lead issues. Hopefully someone likes the look.