Wednesday, March 23, 2011

House Hunting in B-Town

Like I said in my last post, we starting thinking more & more about home ownership & eventually started house hunting... let me just say, "Praise the LORD for our patient realtor, Vannessa Carter Walling" through-out the Aug. - Dec. process we probably looked at 50 homes in our price range & boy, was it exhausting! (Although I totally LOVED it- Ed, notsomuch) 

We started out in quest of a 1930's brick bungalow home, a style that steals my heart and makes me envision weekend home repairs and fun trips to thrift shops like John & Sherry... However, after seeing tons of homes where entire bathrooms & kitchens needed to be gutted, central heat & air installed, and roofs replaced we realized that, while there are some things we could live with & easily replace ourselves over time...


lovely!

Cue instant buttercup glow

Ed thinking "I CAN'T WORK IN THESE CONDITIONS! (he's a kitchen snob)

There were others that made us think who the @#$* do we think we're doing even considering this...


Notice puddle in the middle of kitchen...and no, neither Bea, nor I tinkled in the floor!



 *Sadly I wound up with no pictures from the "Milly, don't touch ANYTHING house" (Ed's niece came with us on one house hunting adventure)

So, after lots of discussions on what we thought monetarily, physically, and psychologically we could handle, we opted for less work on the house= more time for play & with both of our already busy schedules plus desire for a social life, we didn't want to DIY ourselves to death or pay out the wazoo (haha) for updating everything in sight! Maybe later, but not right now... ANYWAYS here is our little 1920's cutie...

Picture taken 10/6... Keys in hand 12/23... it was a LONG process!
This was the 3rd house I put an offer on & like they say, 3rd time's the charm! She (yes, houses have genders) is just perfect for us right now! We are exactly 1 mile away from my work, walking distance to restaurants & bars (yes, Bristol does have a few), close to King College (relevant until 5/7/2011 WAHOO!), has plenty of space to grow, old home character with modern updates, and will eventually have soccer fields across from it (yay! fenced-in running space for The Weaze!). The only cons I can think of at the time are closet space (although one is in the process of being built- slowly but surely? maybe? fingers-crossed. #storyforanothertime), and I wish we had a little more natural sunlight in the afternoon, but, nothing to make me pack up and want to start the process all over again!
Here are a few shots before we moved in:


Perfect Southern front porch! All you need is a glass of lemonade & some rocking chairs!

Left 1/2 of the kitchen before our make-me-love-cooking appliances were delivered!



Please take note of the "cute" little staging items...
 

Pretty stairs going upsairs (uh-duh, Becca)

There are still a few things we want to do here & there- eventually replacing kitchen counter tops, fence in the backyard & build a back porch, build built-in's in the living room, possibly add french doors to open up the dining room, paint, add hardwood upstairs, and landscape outside.  Nothing pressing, but just some goals for the next 30 years (doubtful we will stay here that long, but hey, it's what the paper says!).


Home ownership makes us want to celebrate! (mostly I just think this is a hilarious picture)


2 comments:

  1. Oh yeah for you all! That area around King College is beautiful! Will and I lived in Bristol for a year before we moved to Chattanooga, we loved that area!

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  2. You are so cute! I'm glad I started following you on twitter...bc now I ran across your precious blog! I actually just started the house hunting adventure (unfortunately i'll be hoping for a roomie until the bf & I are hitched...not trying to kill my parents just yet). Miss YOU Becca dear. The house is precious and congrats to you & Ed. You got yourself a really great guy.

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