5 reasons why we bought this house

After seeing the before pictures you may be asking why we bought this house.  Well, we HAD spent a long time looking at homes, in many different areas and in many different states of move-in-readiness.  We came to the realization that 1) we didn't really want to leave our neighborhood and 2) we didn't really want a move in ready home, as all the ones we found in our budget had too many 'quirks' to them, and were't necessarily done to our style or, to be honestly snobby, standard.

There are so many details about this house that won us over.  So, aside from the right price, the right size, the right location and the right opportunity, here are my top 5 finer points of the home that convinced us to buy.

1) this ceiling:



i just love the original plaster coved ceilings in the living and dining rooms.  It's hard to capture in a photo, so i'll keep trying, but when i'm asked what i like about our new home, this is always one of my first responses.  I'm glad we'll be able to preserve it with our design plans.

2) doors and 2a) doorknobs



This house is not short on charming paneled wood doors with intricate door knobs.  They may need some stripping, and painting and polishing, but i know it will be worth it.

3) separate basement entrance

one thing we wanted in a property was potential for an income generating space.  We feel that with this extra basement access, we may be able to build out a nice little guest suite or rental that can help cover the cost of more renovations

4) hardwoods

there are beautiful hardwood floors throughout the house, including upstairs in all the bedrooms.  Those may have been hidden under cat-pee-soaked-carpets, but they are exposed now and ready to be refinished.

5) old fashioned flow

I may be an outlier in my generation for this one, but i am NOT a fan of the great room style of homes these days.  i don't really like ubiquitous open-concept where all the lounging, cooking, eating and tv watching happens in one big room.  i like those activities broken up and organized into their own neatly divided spaces.  This farmhouse has just the kind of old-fashioned divided layout i'm into.  That's not to say it feels choppy, there is definite flow to the space, but each room has a separate purpose, and each purpose has a separate room.

Hello

Hi! As you all probably well know, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

We think it is adorable and full of potential.  It took nearly a year of searching for the right place, and it will probably take another several months before we can move in, but we are very excited about our new home.

This blog will be a friendly place for us to share the progress of our house renovation adventures.  We hope you'll pop in on occasion for a quick update and maybe even to lend an opinion or two as we go along.

The house is a farmhouse over 100 years old, so we have our work cut out for us bringing it up to date and making it a happy home for a couple of city dwellers. Thanks for joining on this adventure.