I am soooo excited. We've picked a house ... and I think (hope!?) we're going to be able to get it. We actually looked at it a week or more ago, but initially I had kind of mixed feelings about it, and wasn't that interested. (Greg always was hot for it, but I was kind of 'meh' - I should have listened to him).
We looked at some more houses, they were all disappointing, then I went back and looked at my pictures of this place some more, and last night I just had a sort of epiphany - it went something like, "What the hell are you thinking?" This place is perfect for us. It has literally every single thing I asked for in my initial wish list, that we hadn't found in any other house so far. Okay, with one minor exception - I hoped for half an acre, this is .33 of an acre. Big deal.
Yes, in a perfect world I would have loved to have a place with an acre or two of woods, but ... that wasn't on the 'necessary' list, that was on the 'dream' list. And it just wasn't happening anyway. As I'd mentioned, every place with a little bit of land was a dump that needed an extraordinary amount of work - and overpriced to boot. And we do only have so much money. But the yard thing was never a big deal to me anyway - I never complained about wanting a bigger yard, it was more house I needed - all I cared about was having at least some decent yard, with some privacy from the neighbors, and this place has that - a nice sized front and back yard both, with decent privacy in the back on two sides (privacy fence on one, a row of evergreens on the back), so the last side will be easy to 'privatize' with a fence. (And the lot and house both are about three times bigger than what I've got - my current lot is .14 of an acre, this one is .33 ... and my current house is less than 1,000 square feet, while this house is almost 3,000!).
Everything this house has far outweighs any yard issues.
For example ... one thing I wanted was a room of my own, I wanted to put my library and my sewing and craft stuff in there, have a little private place away from the hustle and hubbub that life in my house can sometimes become. A little sanctuary. I was even willing to use an average-sized bedroom for this, although I was concerned about whether or not it'd be big enough for all I hoped to fit into the space - and that required a 4-bedroom house, something we were having serious trouble finding.
In this place, you know what I get? Not just a bedroom - my own apartment! This house has a second-floor 'in-law suite' that my dear, beloved boyfriend has generously said I can have for my very own. (I say that because it was very important to him, and therefore to me, that we have a guest room so he can have family come and stay; we initially talked about how cool it would be to give guests not just a room, but a whole 'suite' - so when I changed my mind and wanted the upstairs for myself, I wasn't sure if he'd mind; but he didn't; and there are enough bedrooms downstairs that we still get the full guest bedroom for any family).
Anyway - my upstairs sanctuary has a kitchen, a living room / sitting area, a bathroom (a full bath, not a half!) and a large (20x10) bedroom. It does need a little updating, a little 'modernizing,' a little redecorating - but that's no big thing. That happens in almost any new house anyway, and it has some very nice features, like the beautifully shaped and textured walls. The decorating-update will just be fun stuff I'd have probably wanted to do anyway, to put my own fingerprints all over the place.
So I am going to turn the kitchen area ...
... into Hobby Central. I can store all my craft and hobby stuff in the cabinets, and have that large expanse of countertop for keeping things handy, and doing projects. We'll move the stove to the basement (where there's another kitchenette sans stove at the moment), where Greg's going to start up his home-brewing again. I considered leaving it, as I could use it to make myself tea when I was up there ... but there's easier ways to do that without needing an entire stove for it. And I'll think of an interesting and unique way to bridge the gap which opens in the countertop where the stove used to be. The sink (currently behind the Dread Reverend there) can certainly stay, as having that there could be quite handy for a lot of things.
I'll do something to lighten the cabinets, as I don't care much for dark wood - either refinish them, or paint them, I don't know yet. But sheesh, can you just see that area as hobby central? It's like a "craft room" on crack. (and will be even more so when I get done fixing it up)
Next, this is the 'sitting area' you first see when you come around from the top of the stairs. It's larger than this picture shows, I just didn't fit it in the picture very well. That cool little dormer window will be the focus for something. The green carpet is a little dated, but I actually like green, so if it's in good condition (I think it is, but didn't look at it very closely the one time we were there), I may just throw some rugs around to add color, and just leave it (unless it happens to have hardwood floors underneath, as the downstairs living room and bedrooms do - then I may want that instead).
Down this hallway is the bathroom on the right, a cedar closet on the left, and the large open bedroom at the end ...
... and I haven't even decided what I'm going to do with that yet! Maybe that'll become the library, or the music room, or both ... I mean, it's 20' long!
I didn't take a picture of it, but at the top of the stairs, there's an outside door onto a little balcony overlooking the backyard. Okay, it's a tiny balcony - but it's still a balcony! Right now it's a solid outdoor-type door but I plan to replace it with a nice patio-type door, all glass with window-pane type things all over it. Like French patio doors, except only one instead of two (unless I want to expand the doorway, which there's room for ... wow, a whole wall of French doors opening onto my private balcony ... ).
I was so excited about all the creative possibilities with having this whole top floor ... I'll have all the room and quiet I could want for sewing, knitting, weaving, drawing, music, writing ... the potential astounds me! With all that space, and not having a houseful of clutter constantly in my face distracting and depressing me, I think I can actually start working on projects again! I might actually get to go back to posting about knitting, sewing, weaving, and embroidery again for a change! (But probably not for awhile, with the whole moving thing sucking up every spare minute for awhile).
Then today while browsing around online I saw a reference to the movie "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus." I haven't seen the movie, but I loved that word, "imaginarium." That's what I decided to call my 'place.' It just sounded so perfect - I can see this whole top floor just being such a haven of imaginative, creative endeavors.
So anyway, one of the first things I'm going to do is make a very cool sign that says "Welcome To The Imaginarium" at the top of the stairway into my lair.
I can't wait ... more tomorrow (we're seeing the house again, having a hopefully minor issue inspected, and if all goes well, making our offer).
Oh - and to leave you with a picture of one of the nicer sections of the house (not all of it needs updating, some of it is perfect as it is), and other reasons it's perfect for us ... the living room ...
... and ... The Pub! Yes, a pub! We'd decided months ago we wanted to construct a pub in the basement of whatever house we got, and I desperately hoped it would have a fireplace as a bonus ... but how much better to have the pub already built in the basement, complete with wet bar (there's a sink behind the bar), and the beautiful stone fireplace. Okay, yeah, again with the updating, but who cares? It's a pub! In our basement! With a fireplace! (And that room is huge - as big as at least one actual bar we know of locally).
Yes, this place has our names all over it. Criminy, I hope nothing goes wrong with this one.
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