For more than two years, anyone driving own Cape Arago has seen a historic home in the Empire District being brought back to life.
Step by step, construction on what has become known as the “Blue House” was seen by the community, with few knowing what was going on inside. Well, any questions about the house have now been answered after Wayne Schrunk hosted an open house to show off the completed home.
In rebuilding the home, Schrunk combined the home’s history with the newest in technology to build a home he calls “a gift to the community.” But to get there, took divine intervention - literally. “I was driving by, the house was for sale and the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Buy this house,’” Schrunk said. So, he did, closing on the dilapidated structure on Dec. 31, 2019. A contractor for 48 years, who is now semi-retired, Schrunk than began the job of restoring the home. And through most of the work, he had no idea what his final plans were.
“Ninety-five percent of the work I did myself,” he said. “It came at a great time during the pandemic. We couldn’t travel. So, I would go surfing in the morning and come work on this in the afternoon.” At one point, he even brought his granddaughters to the home, taught them some basics of woodworking, and let them pitch in a little.
He said one thing he was determined to do was to save as much of the original home as possible. The wood floors and much of the wooden interior was sanded down to raw wood and brought back to life.
For a while, he thought about making the home into a vacation rental, but during the middle of construction, the city of Coos Bay changed its rules for vacation rentals, so that plan went out the window. Now, Schrunk isn’t 100% certain what the long-term plan for the property is. But he knows one thing for sure.
“I’m glad it’s done,” he said. “It’s not going to be a vacation rental. I may do a 31-day rental for nurses or business people. Right now, my daughter and her family will be moving in and staying here while we build them a brand-new home.” The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home includes a state-of-the-art kitchen with a dining room and family room downstairs. One bedroom, or possible office is downstairs with three spacious bedrooms upstairs As he showed off his home, offering guests hot dogs and drinks during the open house, Schrunk said keeping as much of the home original was a personal goal. “Any of the lumber I used in here, I salvaged out of it,” he said. “All of the wood was taken down to raw wood and then refinished.”
The end result is an eyesore on one of the major tourist routes around Coos Bay is now a gem, so maybe it is a gift to the city after all.
Post a comment as
Report
Watch this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In