Tasteful Friends: remodeled bank in Conway, WA (no drive-thru)

I'm a tall person who likes sunlight. This is very nice for me. I wish the basement was finished and spic and span.

I feel like you’d get confused people walking up to your door and rattling the handle wondering if you were open. It does say “bank” above the entryway.

Lots of natural light. Surprising for a former bank.

I love it. It has a very solid feel, due to it having been a bank.

That bathroom is probably my favorite room. But where's the toilet? I think there's a separate water closet (toilet room). Too bad. You wouldn't have to worry about noises escaping from it, since it was a vault.

Love the bedroom and all the mouldings in all the rooms.

I have no idea where the fuck Conway, Washington is but this is very nice. It's always interesting to see buildings being renovated into homes.

Meh.

Where's the ATM?

Love it but it is kind of small, especially for a bank.

I wonder if it's a historical building. They would pay for upgrades.

Bar right next door with and outside dinning area, you better not be an early riser living in that house. You ain't getting no sleep in that house.

From the outside it looks like it should be larger than 950 square ft.

An earlier listing for the same house says over 1800 sq ft. Maybe that counting the basement and now it cant.

An hour north of Seattle. "As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 84 people, 28 households." I don't think the bar next door will be a problem.

[Quote] I feel like you’d get confused people walking up to your door and rattling the handle wondering if you were open. It does say “bank” above the entryway.

Yes because people do regularly just visit a bank where they don’t have an account, just to windowshop for money.

I’d do anything to live across the street from the coveted Sund Building.

Maybe I just missed it, but was their any kind of kitchen?

Yet again, you bitches are MISSING THE ENTIRE POINT. "Tasteful Friends" is intended to be the severest type of irony, as these threads were originally dedicated to eviscerating the pieds-à-terre of society matrons on the Upper East Side. Their apartments were, almost without exception, designed in utterly ghastly fashion: either severely dated or severely hideous. Oftentimes both.

What is the point of having this title if I can't use it? Deliver us unto CUNTINESS, bitches! I want UGLY houses! (And while it is certainly not my style, this refurbished bank is at least smart & refreshing.)

Didi, you're being a drip. You can die on that hill. Nobody gives a crap about your finer distinctions.

It's a beautiful little building, and a great candidate for conversion as a house.

Unfortunately the renovation did the building few favors. The shadowy grey monotone erases the great blocky mass and the crisp detailing is flattened out and all but lost. That's an easy paint job though. 8 The tacky, trendy details and finishes like the weathered barn wood siding used inside the house, the sloppily planned kitchen, that horrific raw wood fencing and deck and railing, and the finish details were all done on the cheap and ugly.

It's all the latest lowest common denominator trends mashed into what's in essence still a handsome building but tarted up on the cheap and with no sophistication or design knowledge - just shit bought from Home Depot and Target.

That fuse box is to die for!

R20 lighten up honey. It's a middle-class house not a design showpiece.

That was for R19

Fuck off, R17. Or start your own fucking Tasteful Friends threads, to which I would either contribute or not.

Post Tasteful Friends posts about Somers Farkas' summer cottage (and formidable sternum) if you like that sort of thing. No one is stopping you. But you can stick your repeated criticism of Tasteful Friends threads not being yo your taste for tacky up your shitter.

[quote]The shadowy grey monotone erases the great blocky mass and the crisp detailing is flattened out and all but lost.

I like that they left the original grey walls and didn't sheetrock over it. Looks pretty good.

R22 I was about to cut your power line; all forgiven now.

R24 I’m guessing he meant the exterior

I like it, but $650,000 for less than 1000 square feet in a dinky little town like Conway seems like highway robbery.

Or a bank robbery

650k would buy a shack in Seattle, this could be nice for someone who doesn't mind the commute, or could work remotely.

[quote] Yet again, you bitches are MISSING THE ENTIRE POINT. "Tasteful Friends" is intended to be the severest type of irony

Severest type of irony? What the fuck is that?

[quote] What is the point of having this title if I can't use it? Deliver us unto CUNTINESS, bitches! I want UGLY houses!

You want LOW-HANGING FRUIT that even a dimwit can mock and ridicule.

[quote]Bar right next door with and outside dinning area

Oh, dear.

^^ get fucked

^^ learn English

^^eat shit grammar nazi

Nazi! For CHRIST'S sake, it's a proper noun!

The price is a bit steep for the location.

um, grammar nazi is not in fact a proper noun.

Uh, yeah, you'd still capitalize the "Nazi" part. Just because it's "grammar Nazi" doesn't mean you put the "Nazi" in lower case.

Actually it does…as a compound noun, it takes the common form in this instance.

OK, just researched it. I guess you can bring the Nazi down to a "nazi" for "grammar nazi." I've never written or typed it out, before. It just seemed wrong to not capitalize it.

Is that an Apology

It's not really an apology, but if it makes you feel happy, take it as an apology.

It is if you lowercase "Apology."

Grammar trolls are such fucking losers.

Acknowledgment—

Judas H. Priest!

R44 the Nazis among them are the wurst.

Grammar trolls just epitomize the stereotype of gay men as prissy, pissy queens. It's embarrassing.

Mein Herr Schultz

^^WTF is that?

That’s a Nazi grammarian!

^^Put down the gin and go to bed. Mother needs you to get up early to give her her morning colonic.

And don't forget to feed the cats.

JD—the cats feed you

It's charming and solidly built but for $650,000 US I'd want cladding on the outside, updated pipes and a GFCI outlet in that powder room. An S-trap and a regular outlet is a disaster waiting to happen.

But why, R53?

Never mind

Everyone should put r18 on ignore.

Yeah, I hope they updated the pipes and electrical.

The Skagit valley is famous for its stunning fields of tulips. The backdrop of Cascade Mountains and volcanoes just adds to the beauty

Exterior is interesting. Interior is bland and uninviting. I'm so tired of the HGTV reno look.

R56 nice try didi, also R17, but everyone agrees with me. You're a humorless, control freak, hall monitor cunt.

Grammar and spelling are not the same thing. And there's no excuse for spelling errors when free spellchecking is available to all.

Tell that to Jennette McCurdy, Jennette Robbins and Jenntte Nelligan, R61. One site (can't find it now) accepted "Irregardless." "Woah" is acceptable here, but not on Google:

[quote]In US English, “woah” is still always considered nonstandard

Hah! R62, I've been having a now years-long argument (in good humor) about that subject with some friends of mine on a group chat. I'm strongly on the "whoa" side, but others are interestingly not, and note that all of us are dictionary bitches.

[quote]And there's no excuse for spelling errors when free spellchecking is available to all.

When you're quickly typing stream of consciousness style on a bullshit internet forum about bullshit topics, it's not really all that important if you misspell a word or two. This place isn't an academic thesis or a jounalistic article. So fuck off you prisspot.

Seriously, the spelling and grammar queens are such stereotypes of prissy gay men that everybody hates.

Love it at first - but as others have mentioned

1) No kitchen?

2) Toilet is in a separate bathroom in the bedroom

3) No partition for the bedroom - there's no wall - it's like a large studio.

I only just now got around to reading the description, and I noticed this part: "This building features a combination of thoughtful design and practicality, making it an ideal choice for any potential business owner." I'm entirely confused: why is it listed as a residential sale – and for a building with residential zoning – if its intended use is commercial? And why is it decorated akin to a home if so?

All that said, I think I know the point of the renovation: for use as an Airbnb. Conway is extremely conveniently located right off the 5 in-between Seattle & Vancouver. The revamped bank lacks a kitchen but *does* have plumbing (including sewer) and central A/C, meaning they could've definitely added a kitchen if they wanted. But they didn't, and using the building either as an office or Airbnb seems to be its only practical use without one.

R58 - I remember that! I took the train from Seattle to Vancouver BC - beautiful trip. Although, typical Amtrak, a lot of delays and it took forever.

Where are the gunshot holes?

Everyone here bitching about the price, somehow expecting to find a roomy, stylish, move-in-ready house for $300,000 in ANY CITY in America need a wake-up call. Welcome to 2024, where only millionaires can afford to be homeowners.

I don't want to live in a bank. WTF? I'm special enough. Dummies striking up dumb conversations, noise, bandits. There's a stooge born every minute.

R69. I am not even bitchin about the price. However, it needs one real kitchen and one real bathroom. I could deal with the rest.

Overpriced.

Honest question - can a stand-alone structure be listed as residential with no kitchen? I know a lot of states require window and exit features to be called a bedroom.

I thought most building codes require a kitchen - not that it has to be large - but something. I did a quick search on Google and it says WA state requires permanent provisions for cooking, living, sleeping, and sanitation.

How would you use this - or can you even buy it as a non-commercial building?

R73, that's pretty much why I commented on this bit from the listing: "This building features a combination of thoughtful design and practicality, making it an ideal choice for any potential business owner." You're correct that a kitchen-less house should, in theory, be impossible: property law varies significantly by state, but the literal bare minimum that a livable dwelling should contains are largely standardized. A housing unit MUST have – normally, at least – fully functional electricity & plumbing, sufficient heat to keep the entire home at least 55º year-round, at least one full bathroom (including at least a shower) and, at minimum, some type of kitchenette. I don't see how this place even got a CO from a code inspector without one.

Unless we happen to have a poster from Washington who's familiar with its zoning regulations who can offer a better explanation, I still think this house's only plausible use is as an Airbnb. No, I don't think the price is too high: PNW STRs go for BATSHIT prices between April & October, given the superb weather. It seems like a convenient, well-located place to spend some time – perhaps using the opportunity to check out the surrounding Skagit Valley, or even using Anacortes as a jumping-off point for exploring the San Juan Islands via ferry.

I'll confess that I'm biased: I almost always try to spend at least two weeks each summer in Washington or BC, to escape the heat. I always stay at Airbnbs when I travel, and I'm a sucker for quirky ones like this place. (And while I've never previously stayed in a former bank, I've stayed in a former brothel, a Prohibition-era speakeasy, and a "safe house" of sorts for HNWIs with bulletproof glass and automatic shutters for every single window & door in the place that can close simultaneously in under 15 seconds. (No, I didn't test it out.) If this gets bought up for Airbnb use, I'll very likely be staying there in the future! (The Skagit Valley is one of the few parts of the state I haven't yet explored at length.)

[quote]Honest question - can a stand-alone structure be listed as residential with no kitchen?

It worked for me.

R75. Shut up, Tubby!

I love it. You could put a kitchen in the basement.

You made me this way, mom! It's all YOUR FAULT!

R78. It's always the mother's fault! Look at you with that celery stick! No wonder you're as big as Shamu.

It’s neat.

One of my all time favorite living spaces was a large studio apartment with a separated, well designed galley kitchen and nice full bathroom. I loved it. They could have done that there but weren’t sure if they wanted a hime or an office.

/home

Inside is too colorless for me and I don't care for the walls but I LOVE the outside. It looks so clean and neat. There are very few lines on the front and it is like just one connected piece with two very large windows. I wonder if they have ever cleaned it. (the outside)

Love it. A great adaptive reuse of an old commercial building.

Talk about a money pit!

One bedroom yet two bathrooms? Overall, I have just one word... why?

R86. One is men's, one is women's, but you need a third for gender neutral.

R86, from the pictures, I see two half baths. One with sink and bathtub; another with sink and toilet.

R81, my own favorite living space was also an outlier: two large and mostly separate Manhattan loft spaces, but which share a communal kitchen & bathroom. I almost never cook, so I'd be fine with the Conway place.

R86, are you not familiar with the concept of a powder room? Do you really want your guests freshening up in the place where you take your shits? (especially in an older building with subpar airflow)

No kitchen? A deck that looks like a cheapie add-on abd has nothing to do with the architecture of the building? Decor that fails to pay tribute to the building's history--even with an antique store across the street which likely had old cash registers or calculators or vintage signs? Great bones, bad execution. My vote? BANKRUPT! OVERDRAWN! Send this designer TO A COLLECTION AGENCY!

Well, I suppose it's better than living in a remodeled shipping container.

Great place for a Bonnie & Clyde themed party. That might be tempting fate, though.

Don’t Airbnbs require a kitchen? At the very least if would make the place more appealing.