About that house

We spent the last four years in a 3500 square foot rental, and recently bought a 1900 square foot house. We went from 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and two living areas to 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and one living area.

Why? Well, the short answer is that God told us too, but I will indulge you in a bit longer answer too, just for kicks.

We began house shopping this spring. We'd been kind of in limbo for a time, not sure of a location etc and had been renting for a while. Renting isn't all bad, but it certainly has its limitations, such as living with a color scheme you dislike, and forking over money each month with no investment return. On the other hand, it was kind of nice when the AC or the oven went out.

We went and got pre-approved in a price range that would buy a very nice new house in this area, but we're open to older homes as well. We didn't really want to be in a subdivision and we wanted something unique with a charm of its own. While browsing online homes, this ranch style caught my eye. It was a bit on the small side, but we felt impressed to take a look just in case the layout would work for us. It didn't hurt that the price was less than half of what our budget "allowed."

When we walked in, this is what we saw....

It was ugly. Really ugly. And yet, somehow it beckoned to us and spoke "home." 

I need to say here, that God had previously given us a promise, telling us that we would know when it was the right house. Somehow I was expecting to know because the layout, colors, etc would be perfect. Haha! They weren't. Obviously. And yet, we knew...almost instantly. It just felt like home, and it felt right. Although ugly and outdated, the home, built in 1975, had been meticulously maintained and was cleaner than many of the newer ones we had viewed. Maybe that was what spoke to me so loudly. Haha. 

Carpets covered almost the entire floor, and we have since replaced much of it, saving what we tore out, for that master bedroom we will be adding soon. The carpet is soooo beautiful and luxurious. It is high end Mohawk in the color greige...a combination of gray and beige. 

The entryway now looks like this. We have plans for a little different style bench and coat racks here, but for now, we are borrowing the bench from our bedroom. This a large area, making the entry feel open and breezy. 

Within minutes of moving in, we were busy rolling on new paint. The yellow/beige walls are now skaters pond gray. We wanted tall baseboards, but didn't want to pay the price for them, so we emprovised by simply adding a narrow trim board  4 inches above the existing baseboards and painting the wall between the two boards the same bright white as the boards. 

We also replaced those old Amber colored light fixtures In the entryway with some more modern hanging pendant lighting.

Here is the dining room when we arrived, 

And here it is today. It's very large, and no longer has carpet on the floor! Yay!

The bedrooms were not bad, very nice sized, just Blah....

But not any longer, the walls and trim are freshly painted and the lighting as well, yes....I spray painted some of the  light fixtures too. The flower pendant you see below was a lucky clearance table find at Lowes. $12.

Kayla and Kalli enjoy their dorm-style room. There is a lot of room at the ends of their beds for Hope chests, bookshelves, and a dresser and ample closet/ storage space.

Kammy and Kaite have lots of room to play.

And a pretty view of the backyard from their windows.

Kaderick is currently sharing his room with mommy and daddy, so I will post photos of that room later. His room is large, so it works well. For now. I have to admit to missing that big master bed/bathroom, but ours will be completed before too much longer. We trust. 

There are two very large storage rooms off the living room side of the house and behind the garage, so we will be converting those into a master bed and bathroom. That will make this a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house and add a few hundred square feet of living space as well. This will not reduce the oversized garage at all either. We plan to have that completed within one year of moving in here. In dollars and cents, this means that for the first year, our "payments" including the remodeling and projects, will be roughly what they were while renting, but after the first year, they will be significantly lower. 

Here is a shot of the living room when we moved in.

Where those build ins are, is where our bedroom/bathroom door will be. I didn't get any pictures of the corner to the left and rear of this photo, but here is what you see there now.

I absolutely love the wood beams In the ceiling. I went for a mid century modern vibe in here. In the photo, it looks like the couch is right up against the piano, but there is actually lots of space between the two. The living room dimensions are currently 33x18 feet.

Another example of the quality workmanship in this home, are the champion windows. They open from both sides, glide smoothly and are so well insulated.

I've given the fireplace bricks a whitewash to tone-down the bright red and Rick is fashioning a very pretty mantel. We plan to remove the gas log and burn wood. I know....we're weid. I'll wait until the mantel is done to do before and after pictures of that area, but here is a sneak peek of the fireplace brick.

After the mantel is completed, we will be tackling the kitchen. The cabinets will be painted and some of them opened up and the countertops either replaced, covered or painted! We will also be putting in some tile backsplashes. We will be moving some of the living room build ins to the very large hallway near the laundry room to use as pantry and storage space, and then after that, the big master bedroom project will begin. 

So, why buy a house under budget? Well, it feels really good. I like not being excessively tight for money every month. What a concept! Dave Ramsey says that your house payment should only be 1/4 of your monthly income, and for the first time in forever, we are easily inside that percentage. 

We bought this house the first day on the market, it had other offers, one of them a cash offer, but our realtor was able to pull a few strings and get us in. We really feel blessed with the deal we got and are contented in God's will. Will everything go perfect? No, probably not, but that will just make knowing this purchase was right even more important. 

My garden and 42 rose bushes doesn't hurt either. Smile. Fresh flowers and food on the table every day!