Drowning in Cardboard

Everything is set for us to close tomorrow! I've been spending most of my free time packing and watching American Idol and blankly staring at paint chips, so see you all next week?
 

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

And It Begins

We finally started packing. I'm expecting a slow un-packing process, as we figure out what works best in our new home, and also waiting until we can paint/redo the floors/buy new furniture. So I set aside several books to keep me occupied until it's time to buy a new bookshelf and unpack the rest. (Or at least until the new floors are done and the walls are painted.)

Mark Your Calendars!

We close Friday, May 28 at 10 a.m. and will be spending our Memorial Day weekend moving!

I guess it's time to start packing!

A Lot of Before Pictures

At the inspection today I took lots of house photos that you can see here!

Inspection went well. There were some issues, but nothing more than you'd expect with a 43-year-old house. Now we just see how the appraisal goes and start packing! I'm hoping we can close the end of May.

Week in Review: 4/23

WE HAVE A SIGNED CONTRACT ON A HOUSE!!!

Here she is. I think she needs some kind of name. Should we go with a normal name like Charles, my camera, or an estate name like Pemberley. Hmm...we should probably wait until we know her better to work on this.

Inspection's on Wednesday and once that has been blissfully dissolved the psychotic planning will begin!
On to Friday's links...

Adorable city prints via A Cup of Jo. A lovely idea for somewhere in the house!

I'm thinking about gray for our bedroom? Little Brown Pen knows the perfect shade. (Actually, I'm thinking gray, white and plum!)

New house means a house party is coming soon. Hopefully we'll be ready while it's still warm enough for a cookout. Party Perfect recently featured a lovely housewarming party.

I'm wanting to get a new bedroom set (since we're currently using the one I've had since 8th grade, which is lovely, but perhaps time for a change) and enjoyed this collection of bedside tables from oh, hello friend.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Thanks again for all your happy thoughts and encouragement throughout this whole process!

While We're Waiting...

The house and I had a lovely reunion last night and now we wait to hear from the sellers that they've officially accepted our offer. We should know something today though.

So while I wait to officially start making decorating plans (For my emotional sake, I can't start reorganizing my 100s of starred articles in Google Reader into things I actually want to do until we have a signed contract. Mood boards will not be disclosed to the public (you!) until we have a successful inspection.), let's visit someone else's decorated home!

In all the Keeneland and bachelorette partying this weekend, I got to spend some time with Jenn and her new house. I tpp a few pictures to share so I can pretend I'm almost as cool as Young House Love.

In the "man cave" the guitars get to have from the walls. I love it! We only have one guitar so I'm not sure how cool it would be to hang that from the wall. (And you're thinking, "Buy another guitar!", but neither of us know how to play the one we have!)

I love the start they've made with mantel and the white cabinets. So clean. The different textures of the brick fireplace, smooth ceramic, soft pillows and wicker plate and balls are visually interesting. (That sentence could so be on HGTV!)

Jenn has the best window over her kitchen sink! Love the bowl and I might steal the cow creamer some day.

Back to waiting...

Here You Come Again

House hunting (and job hunting for that matter) is a lot like dating. Or spouse hunting, if you will. And like all good love stories, there are songs to go along with the stages of the relationship's development. I've mentioned that I selected Michael Buble's "I Just Haven't Met You Yet" as the theme song for this journey. As the twists and turns continue, today's song is none other than Dolly Parton's classic "Here You Come Again". (Somewhat Secret Fact: I love me some Dolly. The music and the movies. Not so much the theme park.)

Remember that house we made an offer but we couldn't agree on a price? They needed to get the asking price to settle the rest of their mortgage and it wasn't really worth that. (Okay, we were arguing over $3,000, which isn't really worth it but we already offered $4,000 more than comps were selling for so I wasn't going to give them a penny more. And it's like buying a car, you don't pay full price.)

Well, we've been watching the house over the past month. It's still on the market. One house near it that's similarly featured and priced has given up and gone off the market. Another has dropped their price $9,000. So we asked our realtor to e-mail their realtor to see if they thought our offer was more appealing now. And it is.

I actually asked the realtor, "Should we see if they might consider our offer again? Or is a bad idea like calling ex-boyfriends when you're lonely?" Apparently in house hunting, this is a good idea. Not so much in spouse hunting.

Of course, because I'm a girl and this is what girl's do when relationships don't look like they'll work out, they vilify the ex. He doesn't have a fireplace. (I've had one for the past three years and never used it.) I can do better. (Not really. This is kind of as good as it gets for our price range.) We wanted to live in an easily walkable area. (I can bike to work, and Kroger is an easy walk.) One of the trees in the backyard is that tree with the sticky prickly balls and Lee wants a collie. (Lee's collie, Lee can cut them out.)

So I'm going to go see the house again tonight. See if the old feelings are there before we officially re-offer. I'm sure I'll fall in love again though. It's a pretty great house.

image: jsheehan200

Early Bunny Gifts

The Easter Bunny came early this year (or my parents came to visit this weekend) and I'm excited to add the Williams-Sonoma Message in a Cookie Cookie Cutters to my baking tools!

I'm already thinking of clever cooking messages, but would love your ideas!

P.S. The house we saw on Friday was a no. Thanks for the continued well wishes and kindly listening reading my excitement and frustrations. The search goes on...

My Empty Mood Board

Last Thursday Lee and I returned home from house hunting, gleefully calling our friends and family to let them know we had found the house. Once I calmed down (a little), I started making the mood board background that I had planned to make to use in home decorating. I was so excited about mood boards I even tweeted about it.

But a week later the mood board sits empty because the house didn't work out. And even though as I assembled the mood board last week I could not even think of the heartbreak that would ensue if this didn't work out, I'm actually doing just fine.

The sellers had to get the full price of the house to pay off the mortgage, but the house wasn't worth that much in this market, so we walked away and we're feeling good about it. So in a few minutes we're heading back out with our realtor. Here we go again!

Future house, I'd like to dedicate this song to you.

A Really Good Weekend (honest)

Friday night I had dinner with some of my very good friends from my sorority (Yay ADPi!). We had been at Centre earlier that evening to mourn celebrate our chapter advisor's retirement, and afterward we gathered to talk some more, gossip a lot, and split some pizzas. We've scattered a bit across the state and country, so evenings like this--when SIX of us are able to gather together--are rare and wonderful. As I left the restaurant at 11:30 on Friday night, I realized that already my weekend had been so great that it didn't matter how the whole making-an-offer-on-a-house went.

It continued to not matter all weekend. As we were signing the contract, UK was destroying Tennessee and I hate Tennessee. While they were countering our offer with the list price (for reals?!), I was celebrating my sister-in-law's 21st birthday. While UK played for the SEC championship (Go Cats!), Lee, Realtor, and I decided on our counter-offer plan.

So with all sincerity, I say that I'm okay with possibly not getting this house. We'll make another offer today, and I'm going back and forth over if this is as high as we'll go or not, but I don't need to worry about that yet. I've spent the weekend with people I love and Kentucky is a #1 seed. Life is pretty good!

Week in Review: 3/12

The Maple Syrup Festival last weekend was awesome (Even though I missed the llama!), as evidenced by me shoving waffles supreme into my face.

Those are my waffles! With syrup, blueberries, apples, strawberries, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate chips.


This weeks links are generally home related links because the only thing I can think about is the house that I think we might buy! Yes, you read that right! Lee and I saw the house last night, we're going to look at it again tomorrow morning with the in-laws and will very likely make an offer tomorrow afternoon! Say your prayers! Cross your fingers! Arrange your magic voodoo spirits in our favor! We LOVE this house!


I want need the kitchen island/table in the second to last picture here at dress, design & decor. Exactly what I see in my head!

If this pans out, I'll need to start planning the garden ASAP! Here's some tomato growing tips from The Kitchn.

The moment there is an accepted contract in our sweaty little palms, I will virtually move into the Young House Love How-To archives.

Have a wonderful weekend!

And the House Hunt Continues

Lee and I doodled our "dream house" while waiting for dinner at Macaroni Grill. If you draw it, it will come?


I hate to disappoint but the housing update is that there is no update. In fact, we have not (and will not) stepped into a potential house for the whole month of February because THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE.

*bangs head on anything I can find* (Actually, not really. I've been banging my head on things all month that it just doesn't matter anymore.)

On January 31 we saw a house that Lee loved and I was "shmeh" about. After further reflection, I came to see Lee's point that it has more than any house we had seen yet. How much more? It's painful to reflect, but basically: 2-car garage, pantry, walk-in-closets IN EVERY SPACIOUS BEDROOM, finished basement, deck, nice appliances, a master suite, on a dead-end street, most square footage we've seen (about 2900).

So who cares that it's at the top of the price range with all kinds of carpet I want to replace?! Plus had a kitchen that could use about $5,000 to really maximize the space but DIDN'T ACTUALLY NEED ANY ADUJUSTMENTS?! Apparently I do. Apparently that bothered me so much I had to stew on it and then it was sold about 3 days before we were going to see it again. Right as Lee and I were having daily conversations along the lines of, "You want to buy this house?" "I think I want to buy this house!" it disappeared from our lives forever. (And no, the financing hasn't fallen through yet. We've been hoping watching.)

I was expecting this. Everyone I know who has bought a house has had "the house that got away". But in the end they usually always find something better. So I'm sure at any minute now we'll find something better. It's just been a slow month. There have been some biggish snows that I'm sure have been slowing people down from listing my dream house. And rumor has it that March is the hot month to put your house on the market. And March starts in four days!!

I'm also consoling myself with the reminder that when we started looking at houses, I was more afraid that we would find something too soon than have to extend our lease (which ends April 27). I'm sure I said that I would rather extend the lease a month than move out three months early. And the longer we look the more money we save!

But oh! The anticipation is driving me crazy!

Week in Review: 1/15*

Oops...a day late.

sunset outside the apartment earlier this week

Notes from house hunting this week:

• The house I mentioned crushing on from its pictures is apparently a dud. My realtor didn't even take us to see it because she had already seen it and essentially described it as a big hott mess. It looked like it had some cute elements from the pictures, but apparently needed more love (money) than we can give to it. We did see a couple good houses last night though and are generally optimistic.
• One house, which lost points the more we looked at it, had pictures of topless women out in the basement bedroom, adding a whole new creep factor to the "basement bedroom". From what we could gather from the short period of time it was appropriate to investigate this, they were postcard sized and looked more than just printed home photos. But also didn't look a lot like classy nude art either. Really!? Do you think people will want to buy your house with naked pictures in it? I mean, that just doesn't contribute to good feelings.
• We somehow managed (It was dark!) to look at the wrong house. The house we looked at was so horrible we didn't look at all of it. We'll see the house we were supposed to see next week, but we've joked that this will probably be the one since it has an amusing anecdote to accompany its (potential) purchase.

Moving on...

Wishcake has the cutest duplex ever (and one of my favorite blogs ever).

Up Up has the cutest Valentine's Day cards. I particularly loved the "I love you so much..." cards. (I may or may not have told Lee about the one about the farts.)

It's disturbing the ratio between the number of nursery decorating ideas I have and how long it will be before I need them. Anyway, here's another from IS*LY.

I lovelovelove John and Sherry's new vanity.

This video makes me really happy. Which is its general purpose.

How Do I Know?

So Lee and I have looking at houses for months now. Some stay on the list, some we literally run away from throwing salt over our shoulders. But none have really floated our boats or what not. Our lease is up in April so we're thinking about this more and more seriously every day. The question that plagued me from preschool until I was 23 has returned: How do I know if a house is the one?

I keep thinking a lot about how I knew Lee was the one. Not that there was a lot to it, I just knew, but that was it. My mom had been right all that time because when I knew, I just knew. Before Lee, when I thought I might know, I questioned it. But with Lee I didn't even have to ask if I knew because I just knew and that was that and we married and are still living happily ever after. (Except we've just discovered that I'm ridiculously ticklish under my knees which means that Lee has been getting lots of retaliation clawing from my not-even-very-long fingernails and now he's whining about the scars on his hands. If he would just leave my knees alone he wouldn't have ugly scarred hands.)

So I've been telling myself that it's the same thing with the house. We'll just know. But with Lee, I made a lifelong commitment. I had to be super extra sure because there's no backing out now. With a house, that could just last ten years or so and then you get a new one, a better one. I mean, this one probably won't be my "dream home" because that would cost about double (at least ;) ) what we'll spend this time. So maybe I don't have to be so sure? Maybe this is more of an analytical choice. Does this house have what we need? Nice location? Not ugly? Sold!

Except I suspect that this is one of those "When you know, you know" situations and it's more than just a checklist but a warm gooey feeling that makes you feel better about signing the next 30 years of your life away.

We'll see more houses tomorrow. One of them we're really crushing on from it's online pictures.

My Dream Room

After a holiday hiatus, the home hunting is back on full-steam ahead! This time, with the added excitement of potentially buying a house for reals! (Our lease isn't up until the end of April, so it would take a super special deal to make us cancel our lease early.)

As the likelihood of us being home owners approaches, I am of course frantically planning how I want to decorate. There are many eclectic things I have starred in my Google Reader over the past year: bold colors, calm colors, antiques, modern pieces, eclectic clutter, minimal displays. I've been trying to define what it is I really like, what words I want to describe my home. While all of the above can be incorporated, which gets incorporated the most?

And then I was flipping through my Real Simple and I saw it. The bedroom that epitomizes my home style.

Hardwood floors. They got cut off in the picture but they are on the other side of the bed. You can see the rug though. Hardwood floors with rugs make me really really happy.

Light wall colors. I've debated this one, but I think I like lighter -- though not pastel! -- colors on the walls. It keeps things feeling light and airy and allows you to bring in brighter, bolder colors through easily exchangeable accessories. Imagine some eggplant curtains in this room! Yum.

Modern meets less modern. I appreciate the simple clean lines of the modern pieces like the bed and dresser, but I also love older touches, like the bedside table on the right, the clock on the other bedside table, and the perfume tray on the dresser. The modern and not-so-modern come together splendidly.

The right amount of clutter. I hate clutter, but then just a little bit of stuff can add some charm. This room is very clean, but has some interesting pieces grouped about, like the perfume bottles or the books, clock and flowers on the left bedside table.

Just a little fancy. I like fancy things (I'm a bit of a Fancy Nancy fan.), but I love my jeans and bare feet. I want a home where I can put out my china or everyday dishes and either choice would make sense. This is a nice, well-put-together room, but you could imagine that the person who lives here prefers to wear jeans with her pearls.

House Hunt Update

Awhile ago I mentioned that Lee and I had started looking at houses, and I feel it's a time for an update.

Things have been going well so far. We're narrowing down what we're willing to sacrifice (basement) and what we're not (two full baths), deciding where we really want to live and where we'd rather not.

And we've already fallen in love. Or at least serious like.

Let's call her House A. Honestly, she looks much nicer than what I thought we'd be able to afford. Two and half baths, two car attached garage, the only house we've looked at with an actual walk-in closet and a true "master suite." We're a little disappointed that it has only one living area, but it is a gigantic living area so we could definitely make it work. And Lee likes it. Lee doesn't often get excited about things, at least not to the crazed extent I do, and he loves this house. Oh, and by far the nicest neighborhood we've looked in. Excellent location.

But -- the roof is 15 years old, and the ac and heater are about the same age. The stove would need to be replaced immediately and the dishwasher soon after. It needs some exterior painting and replacement windows. That's a lot. Yes, we can get insurance. Sure, at the rate Louisville weather has been working we're due for another major wind/ice disaster to take out power and cause enough roof damage to blame it on the weather. Yet, that's a LOT of stuff due to be fixed in the next five years, especially when you consider that we're looking to need one or two new(er) cars, an MBA, and one to two kids in that time frame as well. There are aesthetic things I'd like to be able to do at some point, but with all our money going to windows and roofing, would I still be able to put down hard wood floors (probably laminate), new tile in the bathrooms and paint the front door and shutters? Oh yeah, a dining room table and master bedroom set would be nice too.

So after we looked at House A, we looked at House B. B is still in the price range, although $5,000 more and doesn't have a garage. However, House B has a basement, beautiful kitchen, about 700 more square feet, newer ac, heat and windows. It's not in my favorite neighborhood, but it's not a bad area and this house is in a nicer part of it. But, it just doesn't give us those warm-fuzzy feelings.

And once again, I remind myself that we're not buying a house today. It's a bit of money to get out of our lease, and I'd still like to have another month or so of saving's going into this, but it's getting closer! Once we get into January it will be cheaper to ride out the lease than to break it and at that point we should be more good-to-go if we find it. Maybe a newly roofed version of House A? *fingers crossed*

image: ulybuy

Announcement

On September 1, I casually commented regarding the size of our apartment and my cramped craft space:

The living area is probably large enough to make a craft nook, but since I hope to be moving into a house sooner than later (Does six months to a year classify as "sooner"?), I'm afraid this is it: a corner shelf in the dining room.

But on September 2 I found a house on the Internet that I really liked! Lee liked it too and so did mom and there was a semi-legit chance we could afford it! So I called the realtor who told us to call her mortgage guy who said that we could afford it so I called the realtor back and we were going to go look at the day after Labor Day but then there were six offers on the house so nevermind.

I wish...

However, now that we know we could have afforded that house, we are officially looking. Which is probably a good idea since our lease is up at the end of April. This gives us plenty of time to look around and get a firmer idea of what we want and need. If we find perfection we'll go ahead and make an offer, but we're casually taking our time, not stressing out...okay, I'm stressing out but that's just how I roll. I've been stressing out about this for months, even when we were no where near buying a home.

Thursday night is our official first night of looking, but I went to a couple open houses with my family over the weekend while Lee was at drill (for Army Reserve). Of the two we saw there is one I'm excited to show Lee. It's at the top of our price range and I don't know if we really want to pay that at this point in our search, or maybe ever for our first one. What's the point of giving up cable to own a house if you can't invite people over to watch ESPN? We can't give up cable going into football and basketball season. That's just ridiculous!

So yeah, we're officially house hunters. God have mercy on our poor realtor who has to deal with us me! During our first meeting she commented, "For someone who's so excited, you sure do worry about things a lot."

Yes, yes I do.

image:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rene-germany/ / CC BY 2.0