^^ Yes, our house really is that green. I have gotten used to it and now find it quite useful. I just tell people coming over "It's the green house. You can't miss it!" Easiest directions ever.
We weren't even looking for a house. In fact, we were starting to plan a major renovation on our house…and had put new flooring in the bathroom literally a week before I found this place. Sure we had looked at a couple of houses over the past few years. But none of them were right and we weren't in a search mode. All I knew is that our must have list included a guest house of some sort (for coffee stuff) and a master bedroom with bathroom…can you believe that in our 13+ years of marriage this is the first house we have lived in with a master bedroom?! And we have lived in a lot of houses.
Pretty much everything that has come on the market in the past couple years in our area with a guest house has been crazy expensive. Like completely out of our reach. Hence why we were planning a major renovation. Then, somehow, this bright green house on the market caught my eye. I'm not sure why it did when it did. Especially since it had already been on the market a couple months. We bribed Ian's friend with a bad of coffee to show us the house. We liked it. We went back a week later for the open house. Still liked it. So we put in an offer…well below asking price.
Then the back and forth began. We were squabbling over a couple thousand dollars, which I realize is just a drop in the bucket when buying a house. I remember being at my nephew's baby shower talking to one of my parent's friends, when she reminded me of that very fact. Then I told her, "What if something better comes along?" To which she told me the truth, "There will always be something better." In that conversation, she essentially convinced me to jump in with both feet. At this point, Ian wasn't having any reservations, just me. So we went for it. Even when the inspection report came back with something scary…which ended up really not being scary. And I'm glad we went for it.
Since home buying always feels so delicate, like it can fall apart at a moment's notice, I didn't allow myself to get excited. We had to sit there with signed documents and not fund because their tenant refused to leave! It was a bit of a roller coaster. I didn't really start packing until a week before our move. Stupid decision on my part. But, post move, I cannot be more excited about our house.
It has just the right amount of character and charm. And it has just the right amount of updates to make it easily livable. It was built in 1939. It has a storage basement! And an attic with lights! It's four bedrooms, three baths. It really is only about 350 square feet bigger than our last house. But, it has a traditional layout and that has been amazing. Instead of having 1/3 of our space as a massive room, it's all spread out. We have a bigger living room, bigger dining room, bigger kitchen. The bigger dining room is probably my favorite because it makes it easier to have people over…and not make the kids sit in another room.
We are still working on making the house ours. We have repainted almost the whole inside. All the same shade of light grey. There is just a little left of the hallways to go. We are putting baseboards down everywhere. All the bedrooms and the dining room are done, but we still need to do the hallways and living room. We have changed a bunch of light fixtures. And I changed the curtains in the dining room and all the bedrooms. We are slowing making progress and decisions on how to make it our own. But, I know it comes with time.
Either way, in the short two and a half months we have been here, we have already made plenty of memories. Connor started first grade. Both Connor and Isla have made great strides in the pool in that time. Callum cut his first tooth. This is the part I enjoy…taking a house and turning it into a home.
In case you want to see, our living room and Connor's room. I will be sharing more of the house as I get things done.
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