the hunt is on (part two).

I realized today that perhaps I didn't make myself clear last post... I'm catching ya'll up on the crazy happenings from the past year and a half (ya know, a house, some left hand bling) so we can get to the good stuffs... Like picking out paint colors, sofas, cooktops and looking at pretty rooms as inspiration... And looking at bridesmaids dresses, table decorations, wedding shoes, and figuring out what flavor of cake to get.

Why? Because, well, that's my life right now...

Ok, so back to houses... When we really got rolling full steam on the house hunt (after making the "lists" and getting a real estate agent) the fun began! This part was super fun, while also being stressful and sometimes discouraging. Looking back now, V and I had a grand old time mapping out routes, peeking in windows, looking in houses that made us scratch our heads, and eventually, getting that nervous excitement when we knew it was "The One"...

Here are some of the top runners for your house hunting viewing pleasure:

Sidenote: All of our "potentials" had nicknames... I'm a nickname-y kind of gal, I'm not ashamed. Although admittedly, I was embarrassed for all of 2 seconds when V had accidentally forwarded along the list of houses we wanted to view, complete with my weirdo nicknames...


"Red Door". This was the one that got away. Found him just when we first started looking (sans realtor), and by the time we had a realtor, he was already scooped up. The moment I saw this house I envisioned hot summer days and running down the long driveway to get to the lake. V tinkering in the garage while I worked in the art studio above (that had a sweet spiral staircase!)... Sigh, but it wasn't meant to be.


"Hinchey". This non-landscaped puppy was on 20-acres in prime country territory... Right up my alley! However, even though it was technically "in our desired location" the back road trek ended up taking almost an hour to get to my work... Dealbreaker.


"Weird House". This house was weird, plain and simple. Cute enough little brick house from the outside, but the back opens up to a 3 story split level that overlooks a crazy neighbor with "relics" all over his property... The layout was weird. The neighbor was weird. The old british sports car shell in the back 10 was weird. The musty basement smell was weird.

Nick also barfed behind the second detached garage (not shown, to the left) because he was so hungover from his birthday the night before. That was weird, too.


"Oil Pit". This was a rustic little guy that had beautiful touches on the inside (Hello, double wall oven...). The location of this one wasn't ideal, nor was the shady dealings. Whenever I see this house, I can only think of the pure joy in V's voice as he screamed from the backyard, "IT HAS AN OIL PIT IN THE GARAGE!".


"Teahen". This was almost our house. We were in starry-eyed love with this one. I know, I know. It's unusual. We love unusual. I think the exterior has what could be classified as salmon-colored accents... But it was in a perfect location (near "Red Door"), butted up to state land, had a certain retro-charm on the inside, and had nature trails close-by. Sigh.

A roof leak took this one off the market, and when we found "our" house, we just had to jump on it... Couldn't wait for this guy to come back on the market after repair.


So yeah, that leads us to our home (please excuse the crappy online photo I snagged. I have yet to take a good pic of the exterior). I remember gasping when I saw the photo of it... Cedar, cool architectural lines, on a little lake, country setting but still close to town, and just a smidge over our budget. It was "out of our preferred area", because it seemed to far north (but later realized due to a majority of expressway driving, it was only 25 minutes from work).

The first time we saw it, we had that giddy energy... We walked in to see a beautiful view of the lake from the great room. Cathedral ceilings with a huge fireplace, a cute little loft and skylights for natural light. A huge (outdated) kitchen, a first floor master and laundry. A wide-open floor plan with 2 1/2 baths and 3 bedrooms. A huge basement. We went home that night without saying too much to each other about it... I think we were nervous to admit our own love for the house and be turned down by the other. I just couldn't get the house out of my mind, so I called V the next day at work at said, "You know, I really loved that house last night"... V replied with "So did I. Let's call Brent to schedule another look, but I think it's the one".

That "one more look" turned into an offer, which turned into a struggle with the bank (housie was a foreclosure), many tears, and many stresses, but in the end we finally had a place to call our own...

And it had a three car garage.