My sister and I were talking recently and decided we kind of like a little excitement in our lives. Not family catastrophe kind of drama or course, but we both love a good challenge that keeps us busy. Life is boring without trying to tackle something that isn’t easily done.
I had a love-hate relationship with my last house. I loved the challenge of making a dated, historic house work for our family without ruining it’s character. However, I didn’t care so much for the amount of time it took away from my kids and the expense of all the not so creative repairs.
In spite of the work involved when we first started house hunting last spring we (really, I) wanted a big, beautiful, old house with land in the country. One that didn’t need anything other then cosmetic work, had all new pipes, completely updated electric, was well insulated, fairly easy to heat, in the right community. LOL! Even if we added a few hundred thousand to our budget those houses were nearly non-existent. After realizing we weren’t going to get that, Damian convinced me to give a new house a chance. And by new, I mean built within the last couple of decades. Afterall, we have 4 children and caring for them is a full time job. We decided we would rather have more time to enjoy our children while they are little and not spend these years fixing up another fixer upper. The more I thought about it the more it seemed liked the right choice.
So we found an 11 year old house we liked, put an offer on it, it was accepted and we were thrilled. We got an offer on our house about the same time and set a date to close. However, the deal fell through on the new house after the owner refused to negotiate on an item that made the house uninsurable. We were a little concerned at this point because we were due to move out of our home in 3 weeks! We set up a day to house hunt with our awesome realtor, Leigh Turner, and prayed we would find the perfect home.
I made a list of every available house I liked, combined it with the ones Leigh had found, and we started early in the morning. By dinner time we had seen 7-8 houses and were panicking because we didn’t fall in LOVE with any. We had one house left to see and when we pulled up I was hopeful. It was in the country, it was oh, so quiet there. A gorgeous drive, fields all around, the few neighbors there were also had large lots so no development would ever be built there. Yet it was near shopping and not a bad drive for D to get to work. The house was totally what Damian wanted-a big brick home. I prefer a more country style house, but I had to admit it was pretty. As we toured the house it was obvious this was the perfect home for us. Plenty of bedrooms for our brood, a big kitchen, perfect open floor plan for parties, wood floors where we wanted them, nice finishes and a pool. Plus tons of land, a large barn with horse stalls and an office.
So fast forward to now. We’ve moved in, the house is amazing and I have to pinch myself to believe it’s ours. This down market allowed us to buy a house that 5 years ago would have been out of our reach. God is good and we are so very blessed.
So what is the challenge you ask? Why did I buy a new home when I like projects? Well, we have plenty of projects, but instead of gutting rooms these projects are the kind I love. Adding the cosmetic touches that will make this house an amazing home. Some wainscoting, crown molding, building a gazebo, a deck, granite in the kitchen, making the cabinets more “custom”, painting, decorating, replacing the lights, maybe a pool house, flower beds, a kitchen garden, adding a chicken coop, sandbox…etc. And the main challenge is making this traditional American home fit my vintage-shabby chic-with touch of modern thrown in-style.
Here is the house before we moved in. Stay tuned for updated pictures as I work my way through the house.
Wow, it looks so bare compared to now, lol.
