Fingers Crossed

Andre and I have been looking at houses for, oh gosh, 9 months now. The first batch of time was spent looking online with a few sprinklings of open houses but in January we began to get serious. Within a month we had found a house with a dream backyard and enough room to renovate to get my Pinterest-obsessed mind spinning. We spent hours deciding what color to paint the shutters as the owners had settled with a hideous crayon red and matte blue combo. Made even more difficult by the red brick and brown roof

a) who chooses a brown roof?

b) you need some color in there but not those particular ones. 

We had two months to build these and other dreams around our first home. Only to see it crash and burn in a spectacle worthy of the 4^th of July. It may sound dramatic but I really felt betrayed and hurt. We had put so much heart into our planning and dreams (not to mention irretrievable money) for this to be the home where we would begin our family. And the way in which the whole business ended without any sort of closure still makes me burn.

Needless to say, I was definitely sulky as we began to look at other houses to fit our needs and dreams. I know you can’t imagine me sulky. Not at all.

We looked at houses that were too small, too expensive and even one that was so slanted that a quarter rolled in an arc around the polished wood floors.  We found one that had a great barn look but turned out to be slowly sliding into the creek on the property. We said no really quickly to that one.  We even went to see a particular one three times. The first time, we loved the yard but the house’s living main areas felt so small and cramped to us. The second time it felt more spacious, but I felt compelled to point out that my head almost brushes the ceiling when I walk downstairs. Since I’m not a tall person, I can only imagine how that would affect our taller family members and friends. The third time we went back, I resisted. We had seen another house in the meantime that I just fell in love with. We offered but a day too late.  Now my sulkiness was tinged with a touch of panic that we would never find anything that would work. So as we went back to the house the third time, I had a sinking feeling that we were going to offer. This time my eyes were more open to the idea of buying this house. Now don’t get me wrong, this house has very little room to open it up by knocking out walls and moving things around—not a point in its favor at all. However, I began to think that I could take it as it was (and still update it as we want).  It was built in the 50s and has a unique layout, so it had that going for it. So…we offered.

After a few rounds of negotiations, we have the house under contract and plan on closing in mid-June. Is it our dream home? Probably not. Will we be happy here? Most likely. Can it be our dream home? We’ll see and keep you updated. Is my sulkiness abating? Jury’s out on that one folks. You’ll have to tell me.

The worry that keeps nagging at the back of my mind is: when is too early to start planning what we’ll do with it? I honestly don’t want to have our dreams crushed again. So I think I’ll play it safe and open Pinterest/hit up Home Depot when we’ve got that shiny new key in our hand.