Feels Like Home to Me

After I wrote that last blog post about how we found our house, things happened so quickly...and yet it also felt like slow motion.  But finally, on June 10th, we closed on our house, got the keys and moved in immedietly!  It was a whirlwind of very helpful people, boxes, directing people with boxes.  Ben had made a very detailed moving plan, and even though we deviated a few times, it was very helpful.  There isn't much more to tell about the process...  Just one quick homeowners horror story.  Although it wasn't even that dramatic...just felt like it at the time.

It was Saturday.  One day after moving in.  My mom was coming later that night to help us get settled.  We had set up our basement all nice for her.  Curtained off a section, put down two big area rugs, got the bed and nightstands and dressers down there, plugged in lamps, stapled sheets to the rafters so it gave it a cozier feel...It was perfect.

Ben went upstairs and said he wanted to water the flowers he had brought from work to plant later.  I started tidying up the kitchen and getting a few things put away.  All the sudden it occurs to me that Ben's hose water is splashing really loud.  My first thought was, we have some really loud pipes in this house.  Then I got this panicked feeling as I realized that it sounded like that one time in our last house that the set tub sink drain got clogged and the washing machine drained into it and it overflowed all over the basement floor.  But I quickly remembered that our washing machine wasn't hooked up yet here and so it couldn't be that.  Right then I realized that my creamer I had moved from my in-laws had spilled all over in the bag I was unloading into the fridge and had made a huge sticky mess.  So I got in the zone cleaning that up.  I kept hearing this water sound from the basement so I decided to go check it out.  I was met with a truly devastating sight.  Anyone who has witnessed a burst pipe knows that sinking and utterly helpless feeling you get as you are frozen in place for a split second before freaking out.  (Well...that was my experience anyway.)  There was water shooting from somewhere up toward the ceiling and then raining down all over the place.  There was significant puddleage on the floors.  I ran upstairs and banged on the window above where Ben was watering and motioned that there was an emergency.  He quick turned off the water and we went back in to assess the damage.  Thankfully we caught it pretty quick and it was more of an inconvenience than anything.  We realized that the pipes must not have been drained last winter and when it froze, it split the pipe.  We couldn't see it and the inspector failed to catch it too (probably didn't check the hose line).  It was an easy enough fix on the pipe.  The biggest time suck was the mopping of the water.  Thankfully it was a super hot day so our rugs and dresser drawers dried out fast.

All in all, it was sooner than we had hoped to be initiated into homeownership, but of all the things that could have gone wrong, that one wasn't the biggest setback.

We have discovered a few other *ahem* quirks about our home.  Including a slanted driveway that floods the garage when it rains.  A foundation that leaks a little bit in one corner.  A lack of caulking along one corner outside the tub that leaks down into the basement if the shower curtain is gaping just a tad.  Notice all of our quirks have to do with water so far.  Yay.  Thankfully the roof is in really good shape and so no roof leaks =)

I suppose this is what happens when you fall in love with a house from 1923.  We both agree that we would still do it over again and all of the pros outweigh these little inconveniences.

Anyway, on to the part you have all been begging me for... PICTURES!!

Disclaimer:  These pictures do not do the house justice.  To get the full effect, you must come and visit us, stay in our [hopefully] non-leaking guest space and enjoy the character that so charmed us!

This house is different than many typical Minnesotan style houses.  And I love it.  Partially because it is stucco.  And it reminds me a bit of California, as there aren't near as many stucco houses here as there are out West.  As you can see, Ben already planted flowers in our front bed and our garden boxes are off to the left of the house along the driveway.  We have a very long driveway that can have 3-4 cars, plus room in the garage for two more.  This means we have great parking for all the hosting we can do now!

Our living room isn't entirely finished.  Where all of the wall hangings are is where our piano *hopefully* will go.  

Last night we finally got our ceiling fan up and our mirror behind the couch hung.  Makes such a difference!  

Sorry this is dark.  It is hard to get good pictures with morning light.  This is our dining room.  

The door you can see open in the dining room picture leads to this room.  This is the one room of the house that we consolidated all the miscellaneous boxes into, so it is still a bit of a mess.  It is our sunroom/office.  Originally the seller had listed this as a third bedroom.  He bought an Ikea closet and screwed it to the wall so it would be "official."  We prefer it as an office and sitting room.  It is surrounded on all sides by windows and is quite pleasant.  

This is one view into our kitchen.  When we looked at this house, there were a few things we knew we would have to sacrifice, and oddly we were okay with it.  A big kitchen was one of those sacrifices.  There isn't much counter space.  But what it lacks in that area it more than makes up for in storage.  And cute old design feature is all of the latches on the cabinets.  Super fun.  

The seller did put in all new appliances, so that was nice!

The stainless cart you see is another surface that I can use for either storing stuff like the fruit basket, or using to cut things up.  we move it next to the stove when I'm cooking.  The other thing the kitchen is lacking is...*cringes* a dishwasher.  I cringe when I tell people that because they always look at me like I'm crazy.  That and the fact that we don't have air conditioning.  

The strange thing is, I always feel like we need to explain ourselves.  What could possibly possess us to buy a house without AC or a dishwasher!  Are we crazy?  Maybe.  But washing a few dishes never hurt anyone.  And in case anyone forgot, we live in MN, and the number of days we would use AC is pretty small considering half the year is basically winter anyway.  We invested in good hand moisturizer and lots of ceiling fans.  =)

This is the hallway off of the living room that leads to the back of the house.  The door to the immediate left is a closet, next to that is the bathroom and the last one on the left is Asher's room.  The door to the immediate right leads to a stairway that goes up to the attic.  It is only a storage attic, so we use the stairs for storage too.  Our bedroom is the last door on the right. 

This is the built-in at the end of the hall.  I just love the storage space this house has for being so small!  

Asher's room.  I'll be honest, I'm pretty excited for him to have his own room.  It's so nice to have a space that he can play in and I can keep his mess relatively contained in.  

Again with the storage.  Both bedrooms have nice deep closets.  You may think we have sad standards, but compared to our last houses, this is quite nice.  

So I'm not much of a nursery decorator (or any kind of decorator for that matter), but I was pretty excited with how this turned out.  

Our bedroom.  Has two dressers, a built in clothes cupboard and another closet like the picture above.  

This is the landing outside the kitchen door that leads to the backyard to the right and the basement to the left.  BUT the focal point is this gem!  The original ice box!  The ice goes in the top compartment on the right.  It drains into the compartment on the bottom right and you store your things in the compartment on the left.  We are excited to try it out this winter.  Papa Dill offered to cut and donate our first block of ice off of Knob Road pond this winter!

The basement.  The seller painted the floors, the walls and cleaned out the rafters really well.  It is so much nicer than any of our other basements. 

This is the other side of the basement that we converted into our guest room.  We hope to eventually replace the privacy curtains we hung with walls and put in an egress window where the little one is now so it can officially become a third bedroom. 

We just bought carpet rugs for the floor and stapled sheets to the ceiling so it felt a bit cleaner and homier.  

There is also a dresser, chair and half bath downstairs that we hope to make into a full bath someday.  And like most basements it is nice and cool.  So even without air conditioning, you can come stay with us and be quite comfortable at night!

Our small but adequate back yard!  WITH A FENCE! 

We have wanted a fenced in yard for SO long so we can just let the dog out and not have to put her on a cable or leash.

The continuation.  And a very happy Sierra sunning herself by the wading pool. 

Already met and connected with our neighbors!  Such a fun family.  Three kids who ADORE Asher and would be over every day if their parents let them =)  This is their oldest (12) Carl. He is a coin collector, and besides coins his favorite things are dogs and babies.  

We are so grateful to have kind and welcoming neighbors.  We haven't had that at any of our rentals...and this just adds to the feeling of home.  

This little trouble maker is much more mobile now, crawling to and fro with ease.  Which just means the messes are only now beginning!  But he is so happy, I can hardly be annoyed!

That cute grin.  Love him.

So there you have it.  We love this little corner of the world that we have invested our savings into!  We are grateful for a place to call home, and a place to raise Asher.  I realize every time I am prompted to explain why we chose this house and why we only looked at three houses and why we made the little sacrifices we did...that I don't need to apologize or explain myself to anyone.  Ben and I love this house.  It is the perfect size for us.  We love the character and quirks.  We are blessed to be able to fill it with furniture, food, beds and lots of love.  And that is more than good enough for us.  The rest of those things are first-world perks and we can be just as content without.  

So don't feel sorry for us because we wash all our dishes by hand.  It builds character!  

You can feel a little bit sorry for us when we are sitting in the sweltering heat.  But don't worry, we'll invite ourselves over to your nice air-conditioned house to cool off!

Please come visit any time!  We are excited to finally have a house that we are the full stewards of!

Next post will be lots of cute Asher pictures. 

au revoir!