A thought that’s at once delightful and concerning: what if we fall so in love with the finished product – the beautiful baby – that we don’t want to sell it? Coffee in one hand, mouse in the other, I’m pretty content with where I’m sitting.
While digging through papers last week – yet another unearthed moving box of “shove it in there and tape it shut for punishment” - I found a childlike drawing I’d done, distractedly, at the start of our search. An annotated wish-list in vibrant Crayola – easily bettered by a 6-year-old. My square box with a triangle on top outlined all the things – realistic and not so – I wanted in our new home.
Good natural light, inviting kitchen, dishwasher, privacy, good location, outdoor space, laundry, enough space for 2, fireplace, room for a huge kitchen table…
The ugly baby (or its soon-to-be-improved version) has (or will have) 8/10 items on a list I’d forgotten I’d written. Made to measure. How ecstatic I am to have swapped cold neighbours for friendly ones. How much I completely love to pieces having our own laundry and dishwasher.
Any renovations to come will pursue, we hope, a “good sense” approach. Based in sound property-flipping logic (or made up on the spot).
- A kitchen that appeals to anyone – keen cook or otherwise.
- A bathroom that’s just solidly good – not too twee, not too designed, not too anything.
- While it won’t be renovated with our specific tastes or wants in mind, it’s not like we’ll install anything we don’t like.
Having moved from an apartment I hated to the point of distraction, to here…. my new happy place…. I wonder how we’ll beautify it over the course of a year and then leave it for yet greener pastures?
It’s like brushing your year-old puppy dog, the one you’ve taught every trick, then tying a red bow around its neck & walking away. It surely can’t be done!
Maybe this is why parents don’t auction their children.
Eyes on the prize: house with a view, house with a view, house with a view.
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Amaze-balls photos c/o konradfoerstner, Patrick Doheny, MizterForbz, mybulldog, Patrick Doheny (again) and Kenny Louie via Flickr Creative Commons.
Hey, you want a s'more? Some more of what?
Will it have the most important 8/10? If it does, or if you can live with the 8/10 it does have, then maybe staying for a few years–or until the house buying bug bites again–wouldn’t be a bad option.
I hadn’t categorized them – good idea!
Keep your eyes on the prize!
And remember, it’s your perogative to change your mind!! hehe
Yep – lots and lots of photos like that, plus regular ogling of the seafront stuff.
After you’ve tamed your 1st baby, you can always tame a 2nd and make it into a beauty you will love just as much, but with even more of your must-haves. It would most likely be easier the 2nd time around because you have some experience to fall back on.
Our monstrosity is VERY slowly becoming a place I could enjoy. I can easily see it eventually becoming a place I love. Even after all the work, after it’s finished would I sell it in a heartbeat for a place with a bigger yard for our fur-babies? In a heartbeat.
Ahh wise words. Already I can imagine that the 2nd time would be easier – you’re right!
2nd point duly noted – the work’s a means to an end, if you enjoy (or even love) bits & pieces along the way, so much the better.
I”m with Upstate Broad – the 1st one didn’t give me the slightest twinge of wanting to live there, but the 2nd one is calling to us. I’m right there with ya.
Your 2nd one is calling to me, Liz! I saw the photo of that tub!