While on a search for our first house, the Mister and I viewed a total of 15 houses before putting in an offer on the one that is now ours. Did we buy house number 15? No. We bought house number four.
When we walked into house number four, I fell in love with all of the character and immediately started planning things. Bookshelf here… bed here… I’ll put my plates in this cupboard…
Mister and his Dad, our renovation expert/ house inspector extraordinaire, were not so sure. There is only one closet in the entire house. Some structural work would need to be done. We would need to sacrifice some of the back yard so that we could park the cars. But at the same time there was so much good going on: new furnace, new shingles, mostly new windows, and a good floor plan.
I was getting increasingly whimsy about the front porch and the french doors, planning and dreaming away; I knew that this was going to be my house. And then we decided to say no. It was so exceedingly right in many many ways, but it was just not right enough.
Our team moved on, and saw other houses. We started to see houses that were more expensive than we were hoping our house would be, but we did not fall in love or be enamoured with them either. We saw houses with all of the bedrooms in the basement, and houses with water in the basement.
We made an appointment with a foundation specialist, to go back to house number four. And he said that the house was sound (!), though there was some other work to be done.
And so, with no more further ado, I would like to introduce you to our house:
We’ve had it for two weeks; we’ve made our first payments. We don’t live there yet, as work is still being done, and we have an unexpected bathroom reno to do. But we will live there soon, and I am so excited. The house above is why August was so slow around here.
When we move in fully, though, I’m going to be straight into the kitchen, believe me. I love it’s old European feel. A friend already gave us a planter of organic basil for the window sill, and another friend made us this gorgeous cutting board out of maple and walnut wood.
This is going to be quite an adventure, hopefully it won’t be too bumpy of a ride.
What a gorgeous cutting board! That’s one heck of a housewarming gift.
There’s nothing like cooking to make a new house your home, and I’m sure you’ll waste no time in getting down to that. Congratulations on the beautiful place!
What a great house I love it lots of character. The kitchen is great you should have lots of fun there!
Congratulations on your new home!
Congratulations! I can’t wait until we buy our first place, but that won’t be for a while. I’m sure you’ll be cooking up lots of tasty dishes in your new kitchen!