Homeowners take 2.

We own a house. Whoa. We've owned a house for 8 days now. Double whoa.

I kind of feel like deja vu when it comes to owning a house. Especially last Tuesday when we went through the final walk-through, signed a million papers and got patted on the back for going into debt for the next 30 years. Walking through our home seemed so surreal. I've been down this path before, only to be disappointed. I have to keep reminding myself that this time it's different. We bought the house from normal people - it was a normal sale. We weren't working with a heartless bank and sellers who didn't speak the same language as us. This time it's for REAL. Sigh. I hope the deja vu feeling goes away soon. It probably will once we're all moved in.

February of last year we started looking for a house. It took us a year, a couple dozen walk-throughs, a long waiting approval period, hope, excitement, a failure of a purchase, tears, fears and more tears...another dozen or so walk-throughs, deciding between two amazing houses, another waiting period and now happiness. As cliche as this sounds, God really did have a better house/location for us. This house will be more of a challenge for us, financially - but I know without a doubt that God would rather us depend on Him rather than money, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Being on a budget will be good for us.

There are so many things about this house that make me feel happy. The first thing that stands out is the exterior. I adore yellow houses. I grew up in a yellow Victorian house and there's something about moving to a new unknown state and city (even though I've been here for almost 5 years - whoa.) and having something close to you that reminds you of "home", that is quite comforting. It's just one more thing that God has brought into my life to make me feel welcomed here in the beautiful Twin Cities. The other thing that stands out is the red door. I've always had a thing for red doors (an obsession really). I even had conceived a plan in my mind to try to convince my husband to buy me a red door for our future house. Guess I can toss that persuasive plan away. ;)



The backyard is luscious and full of life - even under knee deep snow. You can see little fir trees and a couple apple tress (yes, we have TWO apple trees in our backyard) and come Spring, flowers and flowering bushes will be popping up all over the place. SO exciting. I'll have to come back and blog about the backyard (and the sweet former owners) in greater detail some other time.








The pictures of the interior pretty much speak for themselves. Who wouldn't love this layout (okay, I suppose having a bathroom on the main level AND upstairs would be nice...but better upstairs with the bedrooms than down, I think - another advantage of having it upstairs - you get some exercise every time you have to go pee-pee. Ha! Can you tell I have a 2.5 year old?!). ;)



The kitchen is a lot bigger than our current kitchen...you can fit more than 1.5 bodies into it. ;) If I could change one thing in the kitchen, I would add a back door (it currently has a side door) just off of the kitchen, near the basement stairs. There are a couple of windows that let in light, but that's about it. I would love to have a way of seeing Simon playing outside. For now it works though, seeing as there isn't a full size fence in the back yard to allow him to play by himself. Maybe someday we'll get brave and come up with some money to put in a door and a bigger window...and a fence. That would be nice. :)



The basement isn't finished but has much promise of a toy room and a cheery laundry room. I'm going back and forth about having my craft room downstairs in the basement or up in the "guest room". Ah, so many possibilities. Simon's room boasts of the most storage. There's a walk in closet that has a ton of space. I'm thinking Christmas stuff and seasonal clothing will go on one side and a fun play area for the other, for little-boy-Simon.



The Guest bedroom is semi-connected to our bedroom. We'll probably use it as a closet/office/craft/sewing room for now. And once we get our Queen size bed (buh-bye full size), we'll have a bed in the Guest room - I'm thinking I'll try and make it look like a daybed and will use it as a "couch/work space" for now.

I'm so excited about this house. We have yet to meet the neighbors, but we've heard from the former owners that they're super nice...and many of them have kids. I'm so looking forward to this Spring, for many reasons. I can't wait to garden, to play outside with my son, to explore the neighborhood, to have outdoor parties, to bike and run, to spend time across the street at the playground with the other mommies...ah, I could go on and on. All I can say is that this is going to be a great year. :)
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Now we just have to focus on packing up our 1,000 sqf apartment - we move on Saturday!! The huge piles of snow and the cold temps (thank goodness it's going to be above freezing on Saturday!) are going to be two of the hardest things to work around. We're SO grateful for friends and family who have offered to help with the great big move. Hopefully we'll still have those said friends once this whole ordeal is over with. ;)