The Rattlesnake Annex when purchased in 2013 by Lee and Sue Ann. Funny how none of us could know they had just started the process of me buying my dream home!

The Rattlesnake Annex. This was a project house of Sue Ann’s that was going to house horse people, be a retreat center, or serve as a guest house once grandshildren arrived. This house means a lot to Sue Ann. It is not just some wood and nails.

[From Sue Ann: This house was across from our ranch property, and was empty at the time, having previously served as the area’s main party house and HQ for “interesting” activities. Our neighbor noticed it was going up for auction for failure to pay taxes, so Lee rushed to the courthouse to bid. We got the house and seven acres for $19K. It was a HUGE mess. We spent 6 months hauling out trash (conveniently, some of it got removed, we assume by the previous owners), tearing up the interior and preparing it for renovation. Then we started work on our main ranch house and the Bobcat Lair project, so didn’t have funds to continue.]

Anyway, I feel the same way about it. When I asked about buying it, I was looking at a house with rotten subfloors, no drywall, and basically just a shell of what was a house. Everything had been gutted to replace bad electrical work. “Bad” is putting it mildly. The previous owner was a “master electrician,” which meant there was a lot of “creative” wiring, and wires that went all over the property from when it was the party house of the neighborhood.

Sue Ann and Lee decided to do away with some walls and doors to make it a more open concept, which added much more room in the house. Not to mention the helpful change they made to the stairs. The top half had been installed upside down, so they were much steeper than the bottom half. That may explain all the holes there were in the stairwell. Now the stairs are open and the window there lets in lots of nice light.

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