A few of you may know that Peter and I are back at it again; house hunting. Yes, it's true, the one year mark of owning our first/current home is up in a few days, and it seem silly to be looking to move again so soon, right? Well, not really to us. For starters, we're not thrilled with our back yard. We went through a hassle to switch lots before the house was built because this one had a flatter yard... just a gentle slope. Well, the builders ruined that, and now we have the steepest driveway and back yard in the neighborhood. Forget putting in a swing set or garden. We have also discovered that not all neighbors are nice neighbors, and that if they smoke, we smell it. (Though, luckily, none nearby us do that. It's only when walking down certain streets do we have to make a quick U-turn). Anyway, to get to the point, we wanted/want a house we can call home and GROW as a family in. We don't want to move in 5-10 years. We want to put down roots. Now, Indiana is the last place I ever wanted to end up, but life is full of surprises. I have family here, and it's the only place I know as home. I think I'll stay, despite my qualms.
The first house we looked at was in Noblesville. Immediately we fell in love with the 20 acres of 1/2 wooded property! We loved the space and freedom! The privacy was perfect, with 3 neighbors nearby. The pole barn was HUGE and held limitless possibilities. The 2 old cabins near the front of the property were exciting to our youthful minds. Oh the possibilities! The problem? The house. Not at all what we were looking for. Small. Too small. No front room! And a deck where the living room ought to be. The family room looked as though it had been cut short a good 5-7 feet, and I knew at once that not one of our 3 couches would even fit in that room! Plus, there was no wall for a TV. Hmm... not liking it. The master bedroom was small with no room for a crib, and only had a single sink and a shower. No tub. Each bathroom only had one sink. Not impressed. We'll keep it in mind only because we LOVE The property.
The next house was in Brownsburg. Only 2 acres, but we had high hopes for this one. The front looked clean, new and nicely landscaped. It was built in 2004, so it should be pretty nice... or so we thought. We opened the door and were shocked to find that that doorknob was the only thing left attached to the house! The previous owners, who had moved out long ago, took EVERYTHING with them.. except their nasty messes! There wasn't a knob left on a door or cabinet! Even the toilet paper rolls and towel rods had been removed from the walls! The floors were disgusting! Covered in, what looked like, years of crud from children and teenagers. The sinks had dried toothpaste-spit in them, and some other frightening orange colored crud. The walls looked like they'd been torn down on accident and replaced with buckets of rough putty. In the dining room we found a HUGE hole in the ceiling, and as Peter and our realtor stood under and looked up they heard water drip! Inside the house!!!! We attempted to open the basement door, but were greeted with a strong smell of urine! At that point we grabbed the baby and ran to the car. NEXT!
Now this house really looked and sounded like everything we were looking for.. and here in Westfield too! Around 20 acres, partly wooded, 2 pole barns for our creative side! 3900 square feet of room to grow in, out in the country. We were pretty sure this sounded like "IT". We arrive with smiles, walk in the door and... our eyes start watering! Why??? SMOKERS! YUCK! Maybe if they replaced the carpet? Nope. We looked down and they already had!!!! We still looked around, and, unfortunately, I had to nurse the baby in there, as it was in the high 30's outside. We didn't stay long, but it only took 20 minutes there to leave with a sore throat and burning eyes. We checked out the pole barns on the way out. They were empty, but still smelled strongly of horses. I would have nursed the baby in there had I known how much better it smelled.
Today's house was really out there! (In the country, I mean). It's one I had looked at but dismissed because the front of the house looks a little flashier than I'd like. (I'm not a big fan of drawing attention to myself. I figure I'm safer that way). Well, Peter decided it was too cool of a house to pass up, AND, much cheaper than the "smoke house", as we call it. (What a joke that was!) This house looks like a plantation house; complete with 4 huge, white pillars holding up the house-long front porch. The house is set way back, which adds to it's drama. To the left of the house is a huge pole barn which has a 2 bed/2bath apartment inside, complete with private garage. (Nice!) There's a huge pond in front of the house... well, it's mostly empty and looks like it needs to be filled half-way in with dirt to serve the purpose of collecting rain water. We walk inside the front door and I can almost hear little angels singing, "Aaaaaaaaa". It's neat. Open. Simple. Made to look older than it is, but in a warm, welcoming way. The wood is medium in color, not white as is so popular right now. I usually prefer white. I LOVED This. It felt like home. The kitchen isn't huge like my current one, but it's open and very do-able! The master bedroom is on the main floor; not a huge fan of that, but I'm willing to compromise. In the basement is a quaint area for movie watching, another area for whatever (pool table, work-out equipment, you name it). Connected to that is an in-law quarters, complete with a full kitchen and living room! We would probably make that Peter's office so he could actually focus and have room to hire an employee or two. Oh, did I mention it's a walk-out basement? Nice. The upstairs holds the kids rooms, each with a closet the size of a room... which has a door to the unfinished attic. (A little dry wall and paint and it's a play room! ...there are 2 of those!) There's a tiny little loft which could serve as the family computer room (we don't want anyone looking at naughty things!), and stairs from there lead up to another attic for storage... or perhaps, someday, another room! It's the perfect house to grow with! There are also 5 restrooms in the house. Awesome.
Peter took me some horrible round-about way to get there. We must have driven through at least 18 "towns" no one ever knew existed. It about ruined the house for me. But, on the way back I chose the directions and after 10 miles on the main road we hopped onto 69; within 15 minutes from there I'd passed a mall, the pediatrician and the chiropractor and had almost reached Castleton mall. Yep. This place was reachable. (without going through 18 "towns", and without going 15 mph the whole way for 2 hours). 40 minutes later we were in our living room, and on a major high! We may have just found our (almost) dream house! (WOOHOO!!!) Now if a certain someone would hand over Peter's hard-earned dough...!
To be continued...
