Finally home
After months of waiting, we’re finally in our home!
There’s not this much snow on it now, but I just love how it looks with all the snow!
Ahhhhh.
Entry gate to our home
It’s a loooooong story of how we ended up with our new home, and what we went through to buy it. I won’t tell it all today (that will come later!) but I do have to share some parts of the story (yes, there really is more than this long post)!
Steven and I had wanted to sell our townhome and move for a few years. We wanted privacy and more space (land, not necessarily house space) We also wanted peace and quiet – we had years of discourteous, disrespectful townhome neighbors. We decided last summer was the summer to do something about it. Finally.
Steven searched Zillow for houses with land and privacy. We’d drive around and look at them. There was only one house we were excited enough to consider asking an agent to show us around inside.
But we decided before we went and saw it, we should probably meet with an agent and see how realistic it was to sell our house – because we needed to sell to be able to buy. In August, we met with an agent who had recently sold a townhome in our neighborhood. After discussing our house, he asked if we were looking to buy, and we told him yes, and started describing what we wanted, and he said “I have a house just like that!” And lo and behold, it was the house we wanted to see! Wow! (That was a sign, right?! Ha.)
We toured the house in August and I fell in love with it and could immediately imagine myself living there. I stared thinking about it a lot. I talked about it a lot to my friends and family. I definitely became too attached. I drew the house in AutoCAD and sketched some renovation ideas Steven and I had. We even had an inspection done (since it was a foreclosure and had been sitting vacant for awhile). But I realized I was becoming too emotionally connected, with no chance to buy since our house wasn’t even on the market. So I stopped thinking about it (however, Steven kept thinking about it since he was there for the inspection and became much more attached to it then).
The back of the house in August. The top left windows are the master bedroom, and the bottom right ones are the room we’re using as a dining room. The little window is the kitchen.
The windows on the left are the dining room, and the rest are the living room.
We got serious about selling our townhome in the fall. We packed up a lot of stuff and put it in storage, staged the house, and listed it in early November. We thought the house wouldn’t sell, and we’d have to relist it in the spring. It sold in two days! Wow! But that meant we had to get out and had no place to go.
We drove around and looked at other properties in November. Amazingly, the house we looked at in August was still on the market! We weren’t sure about it though, because there were a few issues – it required construction work (we’d have to get a special loan for that), the price needed to come down because of the amount of work required, it only had 1.5 bathrooms, it didn’t have internet/cable access because of its remote location, the taxes were (ARE) really high, there were a lot more inspections to be done (well and septic…), and so on…
But we looked at a ton of other houses and none of them were for us. That house was the only one we both loved.
So we went back to the original house. And made it work. We negotiated with the bank, found a general contractor, did a lot of other inspections and research, got the special construction loan, and worked hard on keeping things moving forward…
And here we are!
The living room
It hasn’t sunken in yet – that I am living in the home I fell in love with instantly upon seeing, and even more upon stepping foot in. I feel so lucky. When I woke up there Sunday I thought “this is really my home!”
North side of the master bedroom
South side of the master bedroom
Yay!
And Data is doing well! We brought him over to the house early Saturday morning. He got to explore before the movers arrived and after they left. Data loves the windows. The ceiling fans still freak him the eff out. Sigh. And there’s a visitor he doesn’t care for that I’ll tell you about later (it’s NOT my parents, ha!).
I’m happy we brought Data in the early morning instead of late at night like the last move – this way he was tired and ready for bed (rather than running around like a nut all night). Sunday morning was the first day in weeks that he didn’t wake me up early to feed him – he needed his sleep!
My parents were a HUGE help this weekend! It was so nice to have an extra pair of hands and for Steven and I to divide tasks and do things with one of them. Bobbi came over and helped clean and unpack, too! I LOVE that she is only a ten minute drive away. Love, love, loooooooooooove!
The house is still in unpacking mode, hence the mostly empty pictures! We’re getting there though! A lot is unpacked and the appliances arrive today, yay! Expect many photos in the weeks to come!
Here’s the kitchen before moving in – it already looks a lot different – we removed a few cabinets and the weird wooden panels.
The other side of the kitchen – the dining room.
The room we’ll use as the office (outside of the kitchen)
Another view of the living room. And there is a garage, big basement, guest bedroom and 1.5 baths. But we can look at those another day!
Themocracy
SO HAPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYY for you!! And ME!
YAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS! 🙂
I love it and what an awesome story!!!!
Thank you! 🙂
Your new house is gorgeous! I’m so happy for you guys!
Thank you! And congrats on baby #2 coming! 🙂
It looks wonderful!! I love it!! So glad you guys are happy and feel at home there!! I looks like a beautiful home and I cannot wait to see more pictures after you get unpacked!! I’m very happy for you!! Hopefully Data’s new nosy neighbor will mind his manners and not visit unless he is invited.
Thank you so much! I am excited to share more pictures when it’s mostly set up and there aren’t so many boxes hanging out. ha! 🙂
Sigh. I hope so too. Haven’t seen him since this am 😉
I can see why you fell in love with it. I love the front door, the decks and the fact that everywhere seems to be spacious with lots of light. I hope you have many years of happiness in it.
Aww, thank you! 😀
Congratulations!!!
Thank you! 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS, I am so happy for you guys!!
BTW if your visitor has and puppies looking for a home please let me know 😉
Thanks!!!
Ha! I will inquire if I have to call his owner again, lol. Or do you want to come pick him up? 😛
I love seeing pictures of your new house – it looks so bright and awesome! I can’t wait to see it all put together! So happy you guys found a place you really love and can see yourselves in forever!
Thank you! 🙂 I can’t wait to see it put together, too! We are getting there!
Wow! That looks great! I’m so happy for you guys! Way to make your dreams come true! 🙂
Thanks, Pete! 🙂
Yay!! It’s all finally a reality. The next year will be so much fun; experiencing all of the seasons and holidays and small moments that make a house a home. So happy for you both and can’t wait to see it!
Thanks! It will be fun to have a lot of “firsts” here! 🙂
Sooooo happy for you guys! Your house looks like a dream 🙂 so peaceful and beautiful! Congrats on getting your dream house 🙂
Thank you!!! I hope you can see it sometime. Maybe during a northern Lake County summer ride 😉
Love the house! And how sweet that you have some land too. Lot the natural light and all those windows- and the kitchen is in great shape too! I bet it was a tough time trying to make sure the condo sold and buying this one. We are likely going to move sometime this year too if we find the right place and that is the biggest stressor for me– hope our place would sell as quickly as yours did!
Thank you! We never stressed about our townhome selling, because we just assumed it wouldn’t and we’d be there longer than we wanted! Ha! So the stress was finding a place to live after it sold and luckily this house was available.
I hope your place sells quickly too! I bet people will love the renovations you’ve made! Are you looking for something bigger in the same area?
CONGRATULATIONS, Kim!!! The house looks so beautiful!!! All the signs were definitely pointing at this house being the one for you. The universe made sure everything worked out for you. And the house probably feels that much more special because you did so much to personalize it for yourself!!! Can’t wait to hear more about other touches you add in the future!
Thank you! 🙂 I am excited about sharing all the things we do to it in the future! And all the construction that will happen in the upcoming months…
Congrats! Looks like a great place for snowshoeing. Now we just need some snow!
Thank you! Don’t wish too much snow on me… until we figure out our plow situation. HA! 😛
So exciting!!!! We spent all weekend touring houses (again) and i find it so disheartening. Everything in our area is absurdly expensive (I know everyone thinks that.. but seriously, this area is outrageous) so the only things i love so far are waaaay at the top edge of what we want to pay.
Curious what types of mods / renos you did before moving in! one place we’re looking at would require a pretty decent amount of upgrades before we moved in and i find that daunting.
Ugh, that sucks. I have heard that about that area. That is why we had to go so far north to get what we wanted and be able to afford it, you know? 🙂
We haven’t done anything before moving in – our general contractor couldn’t start work until after close! So that will start this week/next week! 🙂 I wonder if the type of loan we got would work for you – look in to FHA 203k regular and streamlined 🙂
Wow, congratulations! The house looks gorgeous!
Thanks! 🙂
I love the house and I’m so glad that you ended up in a house that you love! The yard is so nice- so my privacy
Thank you! It’s on 5 acres and feels really private now and I bet it will even more when the trees fill in in the spring! 🙂
That house was meant to be yours – and it’s so charming! Love the non-cookie-cutter outside, and the inside is just full of light! Can’t wait to hear more and see more!
Thank you!!! 🙂
That is so awesome! And what a great place – it looks really awesome, and it’s a great story about how you liked it, wanted it, and then it was meant to be. I know that settling in is a lot of work, but I hope that you enjoy that process too!
Thanks! I think I will enjoy settling in! I love to unpack and organize, at least 🙂
Wow! It looks great, Kim, congratulations!!!
Thank you!
Very nice!!
Thanks 🙂
Congrats on your beautiful home!!!!!! It has so much character, and lucky you are 10 minutes from Bobbi!!!!
Thanks!!! 🙂 I have already seen Bobbi a lot in the past week!
Dang… look at that place. How awesome. Congrats to you and Steven. And glad Data got to roam around and use his sniffer to know this was his new home.
I like all of the photos you took.
Thank you!!!! 🙂 Data is still having fun roaming and exploring!
It’s so beautiful! And worth the wait!!! I can’t wait to hear more of the story, since we’re going through a similar situation!
Thanks! How are things going with your house? :-/
SO beautiful 🙂 What awesome choices you made…the floors, the roof, the counters, loved it all. Closets…I dream about a closet like that 🙂 Congratulations!!
Thanks! It all came like this, too! We have a few projects in mind to change things over the years 🙂
Beautiful house!
Ack, I’m so behind on your blog. Thank you for sharing so many photos of your new digs; it looks so cool! I kept seeing them and thinking, “I can’t wait to see it in person!!” Congratulations on being in a new place!!
Thank you! I hope you do get to see it in person someday!!!! 🙂