Inspired By...

I pinned an image over on pinterest several weeks back and after seeing that one room, I really wanted to take the full tour of the house. The photo originated from a real estate listing for a home in the Sonoma, CA area. The home must now be off market now because it's no longer featured on their site, and I wish I had taken notice of the square footage and acreage when it was still active. It comes across as a smallish house, and probably serves as someones vacation home in the Napa Valley.  So, who wants to snoop around with me?

The rustic country entrance is a little bit farmhouse, and a little bit mountain cabin.

The kitchen was the original image that peeked my interest. 

It is tiny, but quaint. From the white planking, galvanized barn light, 

roman bamboo blinds, and the gray-green cabinetry

(I would love to know what paint color that is!), I was kind-of, sort-of, swooning.  

The mix of the refined marble countertops and the antique butcher block island: Bravo!

Oh, what's that you say? 

More white planking, more roman bamboo blinds, 

contrasting dark window casings, nautical sconces 

and the mix of textures. Yep, smitten.

Who wouldn't want to settle into this room for their weekend retreat?

Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind having a glass of wine (okay, bottle) in this backyard.

I wish the tour they provided was longer! What eye candy. So what do you think? Does this place strike a cord with you? As I try to define and hone my design taste further, I'm always interested when I find an entire home that hits on numerous design choices that I'm attracted too. This one just does that. Happy Monday y'all!

Year One of being a Homeowner: What I've Learned

I've loved being a homeowner. It's been satisfying.  This place is imperfect, lacking, and still so far from completion, but WE'RE CREATING A HOME! Jon and I always felt restless as renters, frustrated by our want to tackle home improvement projects but unable to do so. While the year long process of updates and renovations have been tiring, it's been rewarding for us to see the change that we can create.

It's also been a learning experience. I certainly have a better understanding of what people think of when you hear "first time home buyer." That would be us. The "we'll just fix this, change that, knock down that wall and build those, and we'll have it all done in a few months. Lickity, split." Yeah right. 

Here are a few of the things we've learned in the past 365-ish days:

1) You won't get it right the first time, every time.
And that is totally and completely okay.

Case in point. I have this wall in our dining room and I had planned a nice big blog post about the evolution of this wall, but I never posted it. Because I didn't like what it evolved into.

It started like so, many months ago.

And today looks like this.

Is it better? Yeah. Is it great? No. Am I happy with it? Nope. The lamp was a bad choice that I set there for the time being. I'm not convinced of the turquoise tray, and in general, I'm thinking of replacing the console table and baskets. And the wall sconce has yet to be updated. But it will, soon-ish.

But it's okay. I tried. You're not going to love every decision and every choice. But you have to let it go and decide to move on. I'm really excited about the new plans that I now have for this wall, I just need to borrow someones credit card. Any volunteers?

2) The design decisions that I thought through the most, are the ones that I'm the most happy with.
For the first six months or so, we didn't do a lot on the house. We were re-adjusting our finances to account for this giant new expense of a house, and we were just trying to get the place functional. Meanwhile, we were game planning for what our first projects would be. For some reason, I randomly decided that we'd set out on my planked wall project first. I envisioned that wall for months before it was completed and styled, and in the end it turned out just how I wanted it.

Conversely, I was eager to jump into our master bedroom project immediately after move in. What I am left with is a bad choice of paint color, and an incomplete space. Now that I've pondered and lived in our master bedroom for twelve months, I have a much clearer vision for the space. I can't wait to get out my paint roller and start getting the room in gear. I think I'll be happier with the final product this time.

The too blue walls of our master bedroom.

3) Saving a buck, makes you like an outcome all the more.
I believe that it's okay to spend money and I'm not afraid of doing so.  But, I also feel more satisfied when I know I've saved a buck. For some reason, things that are affordable, look a whole lot better to me. 

My side table, inspired by a more expensive option, 
ticks all my boxes at a much lower Ikea price point.

4) Not having any furniture, can be a great opportunity.
For years, Jon and I were fortunate to be offered second hand pieces from my family, and we welcomed any hand-me-down furniture that we were offered. What we were left with was a mish-mash of things that we didn't love. They weren't us and they didn't fit with the direction we wanted to go in.

While we haven't had many places to sit for the first year, this has enabled us to shop with purpose. We can consider each piece that we buy, ensuring that its proportional, functional, and meets our style requirements (our leather sofa's FINALLY shipped this week, and I'm dying for their arrival-which is still weeks away).

In another year or so, that should mean we'll have ourselves a furnished home, filled with only pieces we like, love, appreciate and value.

It also makes it very easy to cleanse and let go of your older pieces. We're regulars at posting items on craigslist, and usually let go of things for free, just to get them gone.

5) Progress and Change are possible with focus.

A whole home can be overwhelming to transform, but by staying focused on the rewards of the end result, the change you want is possible. And it will be worth it.

For months, I thought we might be stranded in an outdated, blue carpeted abyss for years to come. I didn't know if what I had in my head could actually be translated to our home. But little by little, staying focused on one project at a time, each piece has started to come together to form one big changed home.

Our small entry shelving nook was dismal when we moved in.

The small update of some shelves and bins,

is now super functional, and in tune with the rest of our house.

6) Stick to your guns and vision, and don't be swayed by trends and opinions.

When I told some people that I was painting our main living floor white, some looked at me like I was crazy. White is not a go-to paint choice in the mountains.

When I wanted to plank a wall, folks didn't get it.

Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about the project halfway through.

When I said we were removing the whole fireplace, people thought I was devaluing the house.

There goes the fireplace.

But I'm really happy with each and every one of those decisions. By following our gut instincts and making choices that make us happy, our home is evolving into the place we want to be.

Between pinterest and blogs it is very easy to convince yourself that you like something. When you see it done in home after home, you begin to think you should do it to. Come on, it's what all the cool kids are doing! I really try to evaluate purchases before I make them, to ensure that I'm making them because I'm crazy about the item and not because I know starburst mirrors are all the rage, or that chevron is so hot, or that Moroccan style shag rugs are THE in rug of the season (there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these things, I just don't love them for us).

7) There is a proper order to change and design.
Go figure.

We painted the upper portion of our master bedroom walls, only to realize that to install the lower wainscoting on the walls, we needed to rip up the baseboards. And we couldn't install the new baseboards until the carpet was changed out. And we couldn't afford to change the carpet out. So yeah. We jumped the gun there.

Unfortunately, the first projects can be the most expensive (cough, cough, hardwood flooring), making it hard to free up the cash to do much else. But don't let that discourage you. At some point, you will get to shop for pillows, lamps, and all of the other "fun" details (I'm just starting to shop for textiles for our living room, and it is awesome!).

8) Time. There is NEVER enough time.
I guess I had anticipated that renovations would be expensive so the cost of updates hasn't really surprised me. I've actually been surprised at how much you can save by shopping smart and doing the work yourself.

What has surprised me is the TIME! The time it takes to convince your husband to do a project, the time it takes to get the project done, the time it takes to make 5 trips to Home Depot for said project, the lack of available time to do the work, the time for orders to get delivered, and the number of times your kids will come in and interrupt you while you try to do a simple task. TIME!

9) It's just a house
We searched long and hard for this house, but what I've realized is that we could have purchased any house. We could have painted, installed flooring, and furnished any floorplan and it would have become our home. While I am finding that a welcoming home really does improve your quality of life, I also know that they are all just things. They can all be replaced. There will always be something else beautiful to buy. This house won't be caring for me in the hospital when I'm sick, it doesn't make me laugh out loud, and it won't be driving me to doctor's appointments when I'm too weak to do so.

The people within the house, are far more awesome than it's walls.

Our best attempt at a family photo this Easter. 

Nolan is one mustache wearing pirate, what can I say?

Tomorrow I'll be back to share with you our project list for the upcoming year!

Year One of being a Homeowner: My Not So Favorite Things

Yesterday I shared with you my favorite things about our home, and now I'm back to fill you in on all of the funky little bits about this house that drive me a bit mad.

We all have them. I'm talking about all of the spots that your friends and neighbors might not notice, but as the homeowner, you do. Maybe you didn't notice them when you first toured the house, but after facing them day in and day out, they irk you. These are the quirky, outdated and funky bits of our home that I haven't pointed out here yet.

1) The Baseboards in our Master Bedroom
They are teeny-tiny, thin and don't match. Unfortunately, we have to wait until we change out the carpeting ($$$) before we can install heartier ones.

2) The Window Casings, or lack there of,  in our Master Bedroom

Yep, that's a nail sticking out from under one of our windows. Gorg, right? I can see this spot from my vantage point in bed, and I'm constantly asking: How did that nail get left like that?

3) This Light

It's on our pitched ceiling above our kitchen (which has yet to be painted), and quite frankly, I don't know what to do with it.  I'm open to suggestions.

 

4) This Window

Can you say, "off centered"? It's one of the first things you see when you walk through the front door (that baby gate is only temporary, and it should be gone in about a year) and it's thrown me for a bit of design challenge as to try to camouflage it's imbalance.

5) This Unfinished Wall

The lack of molding on the upper portion of this wall kills us. Angers us actually. It's like this wall was constructed, and just left out to die. We have a quick and affordable fix in mind. We. just. need. the. time. to. get. it. done. 

6) This Plant Ledge...and Entire Wall

The wall in general screams 80's to me with all of its harsh edges. I don't need a ledge to set my plants on thank you very much. That unattractive (cheap!) track lighting system is an eyesore and that cut-out way up high with the bad trim. Oy vey. I'm tossing around solutions and when the timing is right, I'll gently present them to Jon and see if I can get him on board (and no, we haven't finished painting that high ridge of the ceiling).

7) The Carpeting in our Master Closet

The steely blue carpeting in our bedroom (and previously in our entire house), butts up to a royal blue shade in our closet. Need I say more?

Tell me I'm not alone in having spots in our house that drive me crazy. Do you have little corners, hidden nooks, and angles that you hate looking at? Trust me, this isn't the full run down, these are just the top picks that came to my mind.

Come back tomorrow where I'm sharing what I've learned in the first year of home ownership.

The One That Got Away

We've been in our home for nearly a year (!!!!). I have some fun posts in the works looking back at where our home has been, and forward on where we hope it's going, but before I get to that...

In the two years that we spent shopping for a house, we estimate that we looked at 50-75 homes before we actually pulled the trigger on our fixer. Most of the homes we looked at were in our neighborhood, and I pass them regularly. They always bring back memories. But, there is one house in particular that pains me to think about (the pictures below actually make me cringe slightly). It's definitely the one that got away.

We never actually toured the house, as at the time it was over our budget. But we did do a couple of drive-bys.  This house closed almost exactly one year before we bought ours, and it actually wasn't the ideal time for us to be buying a home (Jon was looking for a position with a local fire department, and it would have made it impossible for us to live off of one income while he was in paramedic school), but I was still watching what was coming on the market at that time.

The history on the home is complicated, with it being listed and sold several times since about 2002. When it re-listed in 2012, it had been in the midst of a remodel and I think it was an inside sale. It was listed only briefly and rumor has it, the contractor working on the home purchased it from the sellers.

So yeah, it wasn't a real possibility for us at the time, but that doesn't mean I can get it out of my head.

It's in a different neighborhood, which wasn't our first choice as far as location, but

it sits on a quiet street, with lots of space between neighboring homes.

It is several hundred square feet larger than ours

(and by Tahoe standards huge for the price, at about 2300 sq ft)

and is on a flat, almost full acre lot.
Can you imagine Summers in that backyard!

It has an open floorplan,

but isn't quite as overwhelmingly open as our current home.
 

Picture a giant grey island with new pendant lights

adjacent  to a large area rug, dining pendant and big farm table.

Oh, and I'd definitely swap out those sliders for
some single pane French doors. Just for starters.

She already had hardwoods throughout, they just needed a good refinishing.

And GET this, it featured a white kitchen! A white kitchen in Tahoe! This is unheard of.
AND shaker style door fronts. OMG.

Man, I would have loved to style that kitchen out

with a vintage kilm rug, a new backsplash, a roman shade and some hardware.

 The bedrooms were perfect empty slates for some personality.

And it looks as though the door and trim work throughout were on the higher end

(however, the pictures could certainly be deceiving).

The most painful part, is the buyer got a SCREAMING deal on the place. It closed for substantially less then what we paid, and I think there is amazing value in that flat lot. It was in need of a rear deck, and the master bathroom wasn't completed, but COME on. Someone hit the real estate jackpot with this baby, and it wasn't us.

 

Sigh.

 

Is there a home that you didn't nab up when you should have? Do you still think about it?

 







House Hunting: Tahoe Edition

       House hunting is a bit of touchy subject with us, but I'm going to go there. Some of you have heard about our on going saga, but I thought I'd expand. We started house hunting back in August of 2011. Seventeen months later we are still in our rental (which we hate more and more each day), have looked at probably seventy five homes and are utterly exhausted by the process of trying to find the right house.
        When we started looking at houses, we were really just looking to see what we could get, as we were still waiting for Jon to land a full time job as a fireman. From the beginning we've been focused on one neighborhood in Truckee. This happens to be a highly desirable neighborhood for lots of other young families. It's where almost all of our friends live, it has a great neighborhood pool, and it's known as the sunbelt for the light snow and early Spring that it enjoys. It's in east Truckee, quite close to the Nevada/California border, and a nice short commute from Jon's current job.  We've looked and considered other areas of Truckee, but none really compare for us. Location, location, location, right?
        We've never thought that we had a long wish list, but there were a few key things that we've been looking for: We both wanted some land and privacy and we determined that we needed at least 1800 sq ft for our growing family. We expect the home that we buy to need a good amount of work inside and out, because that is the reality in our price range in our area. We are not afraid of a fixer but there are a  lot of unfortunate factors that we face here.

• The market is competitive and has become more so since we began looking. Every house that lists receives multiple offers and most houses go off the market within the first few days they are listed. We currently have several friends that are shopping for a house in this same neighborhood.
• Apparently any Tim, Bob, or Joe here can design a house and build it. Most houses here are built with such poor planning and design. Many homes don't have garages (with so much snow each winter, these are essential!), a lot of homes don't have mudrooms/foyer/entry closet (imagine snow boots, jackets, shoes, hats and gloves piling up everywhere), crazy steep driveways,  and really wierd layouts. 
• Folks here are very laid back. For the most part, people here don't take care of their lots or houses. 
• There are a lot of rental homes here because of the destination and transient residents. This means, that you may see a nice house, but every home around it looks terrible because they are rental homes and no one  takes care of them.
• People here do not update. For the most part, homes that were built in the 70's and 80's look exactly the way they did when they were built. People here do not expend the energy or money to update. 
• If you don't like "Mountain" design, too bad. Every house built in the last 20 years has the same tile in the bathroom, the same carpet, the same, same, same. Ugh. If you don't like bear and native american motif, you're going to have a hard time finding a house here. 
• No lot here is the same. They are all different sizes- some steep, some long and narrow, etc.

Home shopping is not glamorous here. These are just a few experiences we've had while out shopping:

• A beautiful house with dog pee everywhere. The owners just laid down garbage bags all over the floor to cover up the pee. We were walking on garbage bags. Ridiculous!
• In a half million dollar house that we saw (it was out of our budget, but we went to see it because I knew it was overpriced), the tenant was sitting around the living room drinking coffee. The house was piled with boxes, there was a piano in the kitchen, animals all over the place, and it was a half million dollar home!
• A crooked home. Seriously, we got dizzy walking around one house. It was not level inside. 
• Underwear lying on the floor of a home we've looked at. 

        In the first week of shopping, after seeing just a few houses, we found a house that we loved. It was on a quiet street, with a great lot and we put it an offer. It was over our budget and we couldn't really compete, so we lost that house to another buyer. Fast forward seventeen months later, and we could have bought that house comfortably (financially speaking). Strike out #1.

Here is the backyard of that home. 

        Our house hunt continued. Next up we found this little beauty.

It was on over an acre, in the right neighborhood.

The house was on the smaller side, and we were concerned about storage and room to grow.

But this house also introduced us to a bigger issue and something we'd soon be very familiar with.

The sloped driveway.

As in, a very long and steep sloped driveway.

Sloped driveways are a hard sell for us. 

With Jon being gone several mornings a week, and the crazy snow amounts we receive,

the thought of me dealing with this plus kids on winter mornings before work is a big turnoff.

Not to mention it was shaded which means lots of ice.

This house was on the market for a little while, probably due in large part to this driveway.

We've looked at so many homes, that I feel like I know every street in our target neighborhood. 

At one point, we were looking at multiple houses on the same street. 

At times, a home has come up, and I already know what the neighboring houses look like.

At one point we went and saw this house. 

Big square footage that was completely outdated,

 big lot that was completely unusable,

and a bad driveway.

Despite the above and out of desperation, we went to see it a second time

and were about to submit an offer when another low offer was accepted.

Strikeout #2.

A couple of weeks later the neighboring home came listed and

 I ran out to see it that very morning while Jon was at work. 

It was on a great acre and had an amazing workshop. 

Unfortunately it had a terribly steep driveway and the layout of the actual house was pretty bad. 

It didn't matter though; I put in an offer immediately, without Jon seeing it.

It was charming from the outside.

And the lot had a lot of potential.

I'm not a man and even I thought the workshop/garage space was amazing.

Lo and behold, another steep driveway

(This was about 1/8 of the length).

They received 8 offers that first day it was listed. 

We were not the highest bid, so we didn't get it. 

Jon never even got to see it.

Strikeout #3. 

Strikeout #4 was the worst of all.

We received the email listing at about 7:00pm. 

I scheduled to see it the next morning at 8:30am (again, while Jon was at work), 

before anyone else had yet viewed it. 

I put in an aggressive offer without Jon having seen it and we were outbid. 

We got into a bidding war, ended up over our budget, but got the dang house. Finally!

This house was not perfect. 

It only had a one car garage, no fireplace, and it was on a busy road, 

but we were willing to overlook all of that. 

It had been sitting vacant for 8 months and was in need of some tender loving care.

We were up for the challenge, and saw the potential value in the big lot. 

The back deck area was screaming for some love.

Just beyond the back deck was a round-about driveway,

and weeds galore.

The kitchen wasn't my dream kitchen, 

but it had potential.

The master bath.

Our offer was accepted by the seller October 12th, 

and then began the short sale process.

While waiting in escrow for two months, we were cautiously optimistic.

There were two loans on the house, so we had to get the approval of two banks prior to closing. 

I was picking out furniture in my head and 

we talked about what our first projects would be. 

Somewhere around December 12th, 

we were told that a pipe in the master bath burst and 

flooded the master and lower level of the home.

Being that the house was vacant,

the flooding wasn't detected for a couple of weeks. 

Enter ruined floor, ruined cabinetry, and mold issues. 

The water repair company estimated $19,000.00 in work

 just to remove the water damage and mold issue. 

The seller told us he'd pay a "few hundred bucks" to help with the issue.

After weighing our options, we had to walk away.

2012 was not a fun year for us, and we thought that this house

was going to jump start 2013 right for us. 

But jump start, it did not. 

In the three months since that house flooded, 

home prices have skyrocketed and the competition has grown more fierce.

A friend recently put an offer in on a home that received 15 offers!

With cash buyers all over the place and very little inventory, 

we're not sure what that means for us.

Our house hunting doesn't yet have a happy ending,

but we know we'll get there.

Stay tuned!

Perfect Doesn't Exist

       Somewhere between Jon's long hours, playing with Nolan, and getting some sleep, we've found a little time to look at a few more houses on the market. I stalk real estate listings on a regular basis but we rarely get out to see them in person. We just. have so much. going on. Chalk it up to being SICK of renting, or watching one too many episodes of House Hunters but we (and largely I) have gotten the itch to buy.

Enter the Somerset house. 

It was in our ideal neighborhood, 

on an acre (a whole acre!) and priced to sell. 

When we think about owning our first home,
land is fairly high on our wishlist

so we had to go see this place
(fyi, our price range doesn't usually allow for much land).

So to Casa de Somerset we went.

It was a little rough around the edges,

but all houses in our price range are, 

so there were no surprises there.

The front porch was secluded and quiet, 

which we loved.

The kitchen had been recently updated, 

unfortunately though, not to my taste, 

and the configuration felt quite cramped

(you may spy our boy crawling down the hallway

to check out the rest of the house).

Cramped was also what came to mind when you looked at the living room.

Although I was dying to jump in and

make those built-ins feel a bit more custom.

The floor plan was similar to a lot that are on the market in our price range:

a great room with lofted ceilings, attached to a hallway leading to bedrooms.

In the end, this house just felt too small for our growing family and

we were already looking at ways to make the small space work for us.

And the backyard was going to require a lot of expensive landscaping.

One of the biggest concerns was this thing:

We did not want to find out what this

driveway would bring in the winter 

when it was icy and covered in snow.

So, we passed and along came Casa de Glenshire.

This was comparable in square footage but at a substancially lower price,

which, of course, we liked.

It came to mind as a possible rental income property for the long term.

We went to see it after getting a little bit of snow,

and the gray clouds and cold temperatures, 

didn't really help this place feel warm and inviting. 

The interior felt a bit more spacious then the previous house,

but it was apparent that there was a lot of work to be done

(the photos make it hard to tell, but the carpet, tile, and 

kitchen flooring all needed to be replaced immediately). 

The kitchen had a nice layout 

(although my picture fails to capture it all)

and offered a more spacious feel.

On a side note, touring short sale homes that are being lived in

and have been staged in no way

certainly make it more challenging to see the potential.

Of course, with an investment property in a lower price range we 

anticipate that there is work to do.

But it was evident that there was damage throughout this house,

and the bathrooms were not only dirty, 

but looked like they might have water damage.

Alas, this house didn't make our little hearts skip a beat,

even for short term living and long term investment possibilities, 

so we trotted along to our next place. 

This house was set way back on a hill, 

with few neighbors close by.

It was certainly clean, but that's kind of where it ended for me.

The kitchen had a nice big floorplan, which was a plus.

And it was adjacent to patio doors heading outside. 

A+ for the patio doors, but unfortunately the yard just outside was 

slighting awkward.

AND the dining room featured an amazing

faux-stone wall, made from wallpaper. 

Where do people come up with this stuff?

The master bedroom was a nice size (and clean),

but again, it wasn't enough to take our breath away.

This one just left me feeling lukewarm, so we're moving on.

We did get some takeaway from seeing these houses

and that is: Perfect doesn't exist.

Whether it's the lot, or the driveway, or the square footage,

or the neighbors, we won't be able to find perfect.

But, we'll try to get as close to it as possible!

Our wishlist is getting a bit more defined,

and I'll share that list with you soon!

With lots of things still up in the air for the near future,

looking at real estate and not buying, 

may be our safest bet for a little while.

Although, if our dream home pops up, 

you very well may hear me singing a different tune.