"Let's Start at the Very Beginning..."

I’ve been bouncing ideas around in my head about where to start this blog. For years I’ve been wanting to share our story of this house, and the journey of making it our home. It makes sense to start at the beginning, right? So here is the story of how we fell in love with our house.

5 years ago, as newly weds, we were looking to sell my husband’s small 3 bedroom, one bathroom bachelor pad and upgrade to a family home, just as the market was on the downswing.

We looked online at homes for sale in our area, but nothing had the character we both craved – well, more so me. Being a designer, I wasn’t really interested in a newly constructed cookie cutter house that seem to be common around here. Now, I know, you can always add character, and put your touch on things, but houses just aren’t built like they used to be. And if you choose to build one like they used to, you’ll pay the price!

Fortunately for us, my mom was chatting with her neighbors one night over the fence, and they mentioned that they were looking to sell their house, as it was getting to be too much to take care of. Yes, you read that right… my mom’s neighbor. Some people probably thought we were crazy to be looking at a house right next to my mom, or really, next to my husband’s mother in law!   What is it about mothers in law, anyway? But you’ll understand why, as soon as I can write about that part of our compound. She really doesn’t bother us too much!

So, after trying to peek into their windows from my mom’s yard, we called the neighbors to set up a time to walk through their house. As soon as we walked in, I fell in love. The details, and built-ins, and stone used on the fireplace were just what I had been wanting! The master suite, situated on the main floor, was huge! The outside of the house is very deceiving. If you check out the photo above, it looks like a ranch. But once you’re inside, there are 3 good sized bedrooms upstairs, as well as a large bathroom, along with a finished basement.  I was smitten!

After talking numbers and figures, my weak point, we left. I was ready to move in that night. Have I mentioned patience isn’t necessarily my strongest quality?  After a week of bugging my husband to call the owners, they finally called us. They had decided the offer we made wasn’t enough, and that they were meeting with a relator to put it on the market. Now I was crushed…

In the months following, we browsed through houses, always comparing to that red brick house with the black shutters. Nothing came close. We tossed around the idea of building, but never pursued it fully.

Then, out of no where, months after our initial walk through, the owners of that red brick house called back. After meeting with a relator, our offer was about what they would have made – subtracting fees, and considering the affects of the market crash and what it did to the value of homes. I still didn’t want to get my hopes up. Some people call it being negative, I call it being a realist!

After meeting with the owners again, officially putting in an offer, and having the house inspected, I allowed myself to get excited! A month later we closed, and two weeks after that, the first weekend in November of 2008, we moved in.

Please follow along as we continue the endless exciting process of putting our stamp on this house, and making it our home!