Yup, you read that right! We found a house!
If you’ve been here a little bit, you knew from this post, and this, and this…that Karl and I have been searching for our first home for a loooong time. This home was truly worth the wait though.
It is our dream home that we never thought we would be able to have. Completely unexpected.
We first saw this home online just a day after it was listed and “oooh-ed” and “ahh-ed” over the pictures. Built in the early 1900’s (the exact date is still not determined, but somewhere between 1905-1907 seems to be a safe bet given the dates on the newspapers in the walls) it has seen a lot of history and changes. We love old homes, and this home’s features and location was beyond perfect.
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| pic snapped on the fly this past summer – better shot to come once I get my own computer back up and running ;) |
One problem: it was above our budgeted price range.
Despite that, we asked our realtor if we could see it along with some other homes we would be visiting on one particular evening. This home was the last one of the night to see, and oh goodness, once we saw it, there was no going back. It was an immediate feeling of “we’re really home” for Karl and I and made me blink back happy tears as we stood in the kitchen.
Oh but the blasted listing price…
With a little research we learned the owner was definitely on the high end. With that, we made an offer that same night that was more in the area it should be priced and also comfortable for our budget. The owner, having just put the home on the market, rejected our offer.
That was this past May.
Over this past summer we kept looking at more homes but nothing piqued our interest, and always we were simultaneously still keeping a close watch on our “dream home” for any changes.
It went down in price mid-summer. But not enough. There were a number of open house showings, but no interest (to our relief).
We waited until at last at the beginning of Autumn the price was dropped significantly. We pounced and made another offer, this one lower than our first.
There was a little back and forth with the seller, but in the end we got an even better deal than our first offer! *high fives*
Very quickly we found ourselves in the crazy under-contract purgatory of “offer accepted but still not homeowners” area. Which hopefully explains why the past two months have been so quiet here on the blog as we worked with the bank, seller, appraiser, inspector…any of you who have been through it, you know what I’m talking about: it’s a lot!
Six weeks and a hundred signatures later, we are officially homeowners!
I am so thankful those other homes we put offers on did not work out! For all those searching right now for a home, take heart that rejected offers can be a good thing – it may lead you to the house you truly are meant to be in.
The entire home needs work, but it’s livable at the same time, so we’ve been sleeping with our mattress on the floor and living out of boxes since day one of closing a little over 2 weeks ago while taking on projects (some of which was posted on Instagram if you’d like a peek).
I don’t have access to my photos (borrowing hubby’s laptop for the time being), but here’s a quick tour of some of the home from when the former owner was still living there (I’ll be showing a lot more in the coming months!):
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This is the small living room that we’re converting to be the dining room.
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The large dining room that will work better as our living room. This is one “keeping the historic accuracy” I’ll make an exception for: the reasoning for the switch of the dining/living rooms is that we entertain and use our living room much more than the dining room, so to have the living room in the bigger of the two rooms makes more sense for our lifestyle.
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A look through the doorway into our kitchen. Dontcha all just love that faux brick…? (please hear my sarcasm). Through the glazed glass door on the far left is the original butler’s pantry. Technically it’s not a “butler’s” pantry as it isn’t between the kitchen and dining room, but it’s so fancy in there that I can’t bring myself to simply call it “the pantry”. I’ll also be stripping the paint off of the beadboard around the wall, which will be a task-and-a-half. The owners who painted these (and so many other things) applied the paint sooo thickly and every paint-stroke shows – it looks bad. Additionally, if the wood beneath this ugly paint job looks as good as the untouched beadboard in the butler’s pantry, I’ll be re-staining it.
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| the formal entryway |
This formal entryway just killed us when we first saw it. It was definitely one of the features that made this home stand out to us.
If you’re curious about our to-do list for the whole house, check out our master to-do list.
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| what we’ve dubbed as the “wallpaper room”, soon to be guest room? |
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| the “blue room” – to maybe be the office |
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| the “angry bird” room, which is the smallest bedroom. Not sure what we’re doing with this room yet. |
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| the “red room”, to be the master bedroom |
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| all of the upstairs rooms have their own transom window! |
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| I absolutely love the radiators! Learned that these are referred to as “dog-earred” radiators because of the “ears” on each row |
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| closer look at the detail in the newel |
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Close-up on the details on the vestibule door – yes, a vestibule! As you can also see from this pic tho, the former owner/s once again didn’t do such a hot job painting a lot of the doors (and I have to also ask why would you paint them?!), so lots of time will be spent correcting this and bringing the doors back to their natural beautiful wood, which I’m excited for.
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| the mudroom and laundry |
This old home has so much potential, and we’re excited to unlock it and bring it back to its historic roots. It’s gonna be quite the ride! Reinforcements and opinions will be more than welcome as we tackle each room. Be sure to subscribe and follow along! :)
Shared On: thatdiyparty, elizabethandcovintage, creativityunleashed
6 Comments
I am going to follow you for sure! Congratulations on finding your dream home. This adventure is going to be so rewarding. I just love old houses, have lived in a few, don't know because as you get older you needs change.
Hi Scribbler, so glad to have you follow along! Goodness knows I'm gonna need input! Also, I saw the Harvest Stew on your blog and it looks so delicious – I will have to try it out! :)
It looks like your long wait was worth it. I can't believe how beautiful your home is. Sometimes, older homes can have a not of wear and tear, not to mention the huge price tags. You were lucky that the price dropped down. Sure it needed a little bit of work but that is what makes this house your home.
Thanks, Julia! We are very blessed indeed to be able to call this house our home.
Hey Julia!! So happy to have found your blog!! I’m definitely going to follow you! Hahaha although my husband and I are much older then you two– we t00 are embarking on bringing a grand old lady back! Right now we’re in the the first stages of the buying process,hope she qualifies!
Hi Denise! (Kelly here – think you have me confused with the other commentor, hehe – no worries). How exciting to be in the buying stage for a grand old home that needs restoration! Hope everything goes smoothly for you’ins. Would love to learn more about your old home once it’s yours – any stories of past owners, the plans, etc! Happy to have you along for the ride here! :)