The Before Pictures of Our Home

We spent almost 2 years searching for our home. We each had a long wish list, but our main goal was to land in a centrally located neighborhood that felt safe. Kevin is a realtor, so location was important in keeping the commute reasonable. I fell in love with long walks in our last neighborhood and just didn’t want to sacrifice my favorite pastime. In short, we shopped for the things that we couldn’t change, and kept our fingers crossed that we could fix up the house into something we could love.

Sunday mornings were dedicated to a quick stop at our favorite donut/boba shop and then a meandering drive around our target neighborhoods. Of course there was plenty of online browsing, but that is no replacement for seeing what the neighborhood is like in person. We laughed at ourselves for shopping for homes “the hard way”.

We ended up finding our home by driving by and admiring what a great location it was in. We toured the property and it was in rough condition. Every surface was covered in dingy fingerprints, dog hair and pet scratches. It was the kind of place that makes you say “eewww”. The yard was covered in waist-high weeds and just screamed neglect from every angle. The thing was that it was a great size, not too big and not too small. If you squint your eyes and hold your nose, it felt sort of relaxing inside. The windows were covered in layers of old drapery and stained blankets. I opened them all, and the most beautiful light streamed into the house. The kitchen was too small and the ceilings were too low, but the main living area had vaulted ceilings. The lot was definitely neglected, but generously sized. It was also out of budget. Way out of budget. So we moved on. We figured an investor or flipper would buy it.

Briefly considered that fish pond/putting green life at another cramped house…

Well, from then on, every house was compared to that house. Too big, too small, crummy yard, bad location, just not as good location. We even considered a tiny house with low ceilings, a fish pond and a golf green and a wishing well. It was a rotten house with many yard features to distract you. We almost gave up and then “the one” reduced the price substantially. A price within our range. We made an offer and discovered that home was riddled with problems, basically the insides were just as crummy as the outside. We got bids, and more bids for the work needed. A repaired version of this house was just within financial reach. The scope of work was not ideal and very much out of our comfort zone. We went for it anyway.

Welcome home! We hope you enjoy the 70’s theme…

The mismatch curtains gave me all the feels… Just kidding.

Tiny galley kitchen and low ceilings. I thought maybe I could try to make it work. Haha, fate had other plans for this kitchen.

The high ceiings gave us hope. The beams were painted a dirty looking mushroom color and who could resist the orange flooring and fab 70’s brick accent feature.