Project #1: Operation Bedroom Door

As soon as we moved in, we knew we wanted to switch things up enough just to make the farmhouse feel like our own. I love walking through the rooms and picturing C's aunts as young girls, whispering secrets in their bedroom, which is now our guestroom, or his mother giving voice lessons at the piano in her music room, with baby Chris in his nearby play-pen, in what is now our bedroom. And I love putting a new spin on the old. Right away, we decided to make the "great room" our living room. It previously was a more formal sitting area. Then, we opted to move the left-behind baby grand piano into the former tv room, making that the new music room. That left the old music room/office to become our master bedroom! We like this arrangement because the room is larger than the three tiny sleeping rooms upstairs, it stays much cooler, and both of the bathrooms are on the first floor, so no sleepy tumbles down the stairs in the middle of the night!

Our new master bedroom has high ceilings and huge windows which pour in beautiful sunlight, but it had no doors since it was never used as a bedroom before. Actually, when the house belonged to C's grandparents, it was their formal dining room (our current dining room served as their master bedroom). There is an extra wide doorway separating it from our music room, and a regular size doorway into the back hallway. For a temporary fix, we stopped by Pier 1 and picked up this plantation style room divider for the wider doorway.
It matches our bedroom perfectly, and complements the dark piano in the connecting music room. We have some ideas for a more permanent solution (more on that later), but for now this is perfect. We are the only two in the house so privacy isn't really as issue. The smaller doorway made our bedroom visible from the kitchen and living room, so we felt a real door was necessary. Luckily, back when we moved in C had been poking around the basement, and found an original door (albeit in very sad shape), down in the potato cellar. Yes, we have a potato cellar! It's scary and dark and dank and if I never go in there in my life I'm okay with that. Here's what the door looked like upon discovery:


We think the black comes from some renters before my mother and father-in-law bought the house. How lovely! C and Mike worked for hours scraping off the multiple layers of paint and sanding the door to its original state:

The three of us worked all day and into the night on this one silly door. Finding the right hardware proved impossible, but C was able to modify parts we did have with new parts and you can't even tell the difference. We found a good option for the door handle, and primed and painted two bright, shiny coats of paint.

As we giddily went to hang our beautiful (better looking than all the others in the house) door in it's new resting place, we were startled to find that it was TOO BIG for the door frame. Gah! My dad would be appalled that no - we didn't measure it to begin with. We were blinded with our excitement at finding an original door in the basement! It was meant to be!

So, we remeasure, sawed, sanded and hacked our way through the perfect door until it fit. We broke every rule in restoring a historic element of a home I'm sure, but hey - it worked!

Chris learning his lesson.

(Bye!)

The Ah-ha! Moment

I'll just write this post for the sake of keeping a record of the major moment when C and I knew we had to buy his childhood home. We had initially moved in, and agreed that we would give it three months as renters. We'd either find something else to purchase in that time, and/or know if we wanted to live in the farmhouse for good. And we felt productive - knowing we were getting to sample a house, so to speak.

From the moment we moved in, it felt peaceful. Something we have needed and longed for during the previous months of indecision and instability. I knew as I was unpacking that it wasn't going to be temporary, but neither of us declared that at first. It felt like home. We loved the space, the quiet, the convenience, the history, the stories...We explored the dog park, walked the neighborhood, got our hands dirty in the yard. Then one day as we pulled into the driveway (past that pesky For Sale sign), we saw a number of cars - a very nice Lexus, a landscape designer's company car, and a construction company vehicle. They were all outside, walking the yard. We rolled down our windows and apologized - the realtor hadn't told us there would be a showing, and did they need to get into the house? They quickly answered they weren't there to see the house, just the property, and asked if they could come back again with another contractor? We nodded like little bobble-heads, rolled up our windows and faced each other. "We're buying it," Chris said. "I know," I answered.

It was that simple - faced with the prospect of someone tearing it down to put up another giant, generic McMansion, we knew staying there was the right thing to do. So, we will put our best efforts into the house, and hope that our improvements will be enough to make the next buyer see the charm and sweetness in this little house, so that someday when we move on, we can drive by with our kids and point out the house where their childhood memories live as well.

Sold!

I sheepishly admit it - I forgot I had a blog. Okay, that's a lie. I remembered, and I mentally 'wrote' many many posts since my last one. But I've been busy! I peeked at my last post and was surprised to see that it was from when we moved into the house - as renters! To spare you the lengthy post, here's the summary:

1. We bought the house!
2. I know! I can't believe it either!
3. We filed the offer cancellation papers for the bungalow about two weeks after we moved into the farmhouse.
4. We closed on our house on Good Friday, April 2nd, 2010.
5. I told my husband and GG that the three of us need to stay away from any real-estate based decisions now for a very long, long time.

The end! Oops - I mean...the beginning? It looks like I very aptly named this blog. How cool! More posts to come on our progress as home owners thus far, and the event that helped C and I make our decision.

Mission Move: Completed.

(p.s. that's not us)

We did it! With lots of help from my brother-in-law Mike and his good buddy Garrett, and many many back and forth trips, we are all moved out of the ranch and into the farmhouse. I'm actually quite impressed with our moving skills - C and I went from completely living in the ranch to packing, moving, cleaning, and unpacking - in essentially 5 days from start to finish. Of course, I won't go into great detail about the number of boxes in the basement, but what we actually live with is all set up! (Note to self: what IS all that other crap in the boxes in the basement?!)

Anyway - so far so good. It feels very much like 'home' - more so than I thought. We've been enjoying the space, having two bathrooms, early morning coffee with occasional glimpses of deer in the yard, and even the commute hasn't been bad - carpooling rocks. More time with my love in the morning and the evening to catch up on our days, evening if it is while sitting in stop-and-go traffic. We went for a run yesterday after work (thank you Daylight Savings Time!) and found a great, semi-hilly route that should prove challenging. Tonight we are going to take the pups to a nearby dog park and check out the situation there. Purchasing this house is definitely on the table, and GG has been praying for it...we'll see!

One of the things I love the most is how many little anecdotes and stories C has been recalling - it's so cool to be in the space where his memories live.

From Bungalow to...Farmhouse?

It's hard to keep up, I know.

1. Summer - we sold our house to my mother-in-law. She thought she might like an income generating rental property, and we were ready to move on. She sweetly allowed us to stay until we found our own house with the promise that we would help her find some good tenants when the time came.

2. November - we put our offer in on the 69th street bungalow, knowing short sales can take a while to close. We thought it would be convenient to close sometime after the holidays. Chris' mom decided she didn't want to be a landlady, understandably, as she had found a perfect house for herself, and that was going to be enough to care for. We thought - it can't hurt to put our house on the market now then, as it will probably take a while to sell. Go for it!

3. December - my m.i.l purchased her new little perfect home, and put her farmhouse (minus the farm) up for sale, along with our house, hoping one would sell relatively soon (that's a lot of real estate for one lady to keep under her belt!)

4. January - farmhouse still for sale. Our house still for sale. Still waiting on the bungalow. Tick, tock, tick...

5. Sudden interest in our house - showed it twice, got and accepted the decent offer. Score! This will be perfect! Just in time for us to close on the bungalow.

6. Tick, tock, tick, tock....

7. Times up! We have to move out of our house, the closing is quickly approaching, still no word on a closing date for the bungalow, where to go? The OTHER house in the family that is for sale. Nice.

So - that's the "short" version. And I am excited!

When GG, which I was I will call my mother-in-law from now on because typing that out is getting annoying - first decided to sell the farmhouse, Chris immediately pitched the idea that WE should buy it. I was firmly against moving into my husband's childhood home. I didn't want to live the same life his parents lived, and his grandparents. Too many memories, too much history, too far away, and on and on. And suddenly, unexplainably, I have had a major change of heart. We've been praying for God's will to be done in this entire house situation, from the beginning. And we kept trying to interpret what that might be - but I think I'm learning...it's not a foreign language. His will is apparent, and as Chris always says, usually -if you have peace about something in your heart, you are heading in the right direction. As soon as we put the idea of moving to the farmhouse back on the table, all of the anxiety and question marks in my mind disappeared. It just felt right.

What's so wrong with history and memories? Those walls have seen a lot. His grandparents, who are beloved to me, raised each of their children there when it really was a farm. Chris' father grew up in that house - raised Chris in that house. I'm suddenly feeling the value of all that history - realizing it's something that is hard to come by. Not to mention the space - it's on an enormous lot, by our standards - we are used to living on a postage stamp parcel within the city limits. So maybe we move in and live there for two weeks, or two months, or twenty years. Who knows? The fact is, it's a new option and it feels good.

p.s. I am way more excited about modern farmhouse decor than I am about decorating a bungalow. I already have a folder started on my desktop of inspirational imagery. More to come!

Cue scary, psycho laughter....

Hahaha! Hahahahahah! Hahahahahahahahah! AHHH!!!!!

You can just hear it, can't you? It's me! Laughing at this whole entire house situation! What happened to the good old days when we pulled up to a for-sale sign in front of a cute little house, called the number, met the lovely homeowners selling by owner of course, took a peek, quickly threw in a respectable offer, and BAM. We're in??!!

Well, those aren't my good old days, but I imagine that's how purchasing a house was before this whole "housing crisis." Maybe I'm fooling myself, but it had to be easier than this, right?

Let's backtrack.

My last post? "Could it be"? Well, it wasn't. Our offer expired on February 17. We drove by the house shortly after for one last hurrah, and decided smugly that we didn't like it there anyway. Pashaw. On to bigger and better and faster-closing houses. Then, the for-sale rental house we live in currently (the house we formerly owned who my dear mother-in-law is now in possession of) received a sooner-than-anticipated accepted offer. Great news for my m.i.l. and we are truly thrilled it happened so quickly, not so great for us - the two extremely picky home shoppers with a 'must-have' list the size of Kentucky, including items that I am pretty sure are mutually exclusive, who now have to find a home, purchase it, pack up, move out and move IN all before the set closing date of March 19. Cue that scary, psycho laughter again....

So C and I were sent scrambling. We went to one house and nearly put an offer in on it, but just couldn't settle on - settling. It didn't feel like the right one. We kept comparing everything we looked at to the bungalow - location, room size, character (or lack of), yard, amount of work needed, and so on. The pro's and con's on the bungalow are fairly matched - it's not the Dream House. But that is not what we are going for with this purchase. We're looking for a house that is a great deal - a house we can fix up and be proud of, that won't hang us out to dry when it comes time to sell it. Somewhere we can grow into for a little while, but not forever. We want to be able to live there and start a family and maybe live on one income, if that's what we decide. So the limitations we've set up are our own, and I'm comfortable with them. Besides, what 20-something semi-urban couple doesn't long for a bungalow at some point in their early homeowner days? (Dreamy sigh).

So we are back to waiting on the 69th Street house. And it's okay. I am happy wherever I get to live with C. We took looking for something else off the table, and breathed a sigh of relief. It is kind of like being back at square one with this house, but it feels good for a lot of reasons. And hopefully, we won't be homeless come March 19.

Let's hope one of these closing dates actually sticks. Until then...

Could it be?

Is it really happening? 22 days after my last post (feels like 2,200) we might have a closing...this coming Monday! I'm not even nervous or excited or anything - not even really thinking about it - because we've been there, done that, and had it all fall apart with one really annoying phone call.

Last week Chris and I came to the conclusion we would wait until the 17th of February, when our offer expires, and if the date came and went we would move on to another house. Then Friday rolled around, and one of the women who works at the bank dealing with our lending called Chris to tell him that our interest rate expired that day, and if we still wanted to house on 69th street we had to pay to extend the rate (Does this sound like a scam or what? The rates are the SAME as when we locked!) But I digress. So Chris called me, and without any hesitation I said - let's forget about it. This house is in rough shape anyway - we can do better. So in turn, he called our real estate agent who by some persuasive magic talked him into just thinking about it before we make any emotional decisions. We've been. Thinking. About. It. Forever. But we did. And concluded, again, that there are no better deals out there right now, and we love a good DIY project. So, $800 later we're locked in (at the same rate - ugh) and tentatively have a closing scheduled for Monday, although we have not received anything officially confirming this.

I vaguely remember all of this runaround from the first time we purchased a home, when three offers prior to the house we got had all fallen through. I found this old email from Chris as I was cleaning out my old emails the other day. It said, "This is what I think of our house buying experience! I love you! -C" Here is the mobile photo he sent...

...and I totally get it.