Friday, December 30, 2016

I Dream of Houses

Howdy! I'm glad you're here.  
This post probably contains run-on sentences, sentence fragments, 
affiliate links, and unnecessary ellipses.  If none of that bothers you, let's be friends.

Interview question four:

"How does life in your new house compare to life in your old house? Do you miss anything about your old house? Are there things that make life much better or much easier in the new house? Is this your "forever" house, or do you see it as a step toward your dream house?"

The greatest part about moving to this house from the House Unseen is that nothing changed except the house.  We go to the same parish, we live in the same school district, we get gas at the same gas station, we see the same people at the grocery store.  So we got all the good parts of the upgrade without the parts that are often so hard.  The main reasons we moved were 1) paved road, 2) two bathrooms, 3) 13 usable acres as opposed to 1.5 not very great acres.  All of that has been totally excellent.  There have also been some unanticipated benefits like perennial foods already growing (asparagus, strawberries, apples, pears, rubharb, raspberries, mulberries), a pond to skate on in the winter, and two wood burning units (a stove and an insert in the older fireplace) that really can, and do, heat the house.  They are AMAZING.

 Other things I love:
-the super thick exterior walls.  This place is SOLID.  Well insulated.  Cozy.
-the sunroom, which buffers the kitchen and dining room from the winter elements and acts as extra square footage during the other 3 seasons of the year.
-the placement of the house.  They didn't choose this site by accident 147 years ago or whatever  it was when they first dug the original cellar, you know?  They could have picked all sorts of spots back when this property was double or triple its size, but they picked right here because the land slopes gently away in all directions.  The soil has amazing drainage.  No flooding!  Nary a sign of water seepage anywhere in the basement whatsoever.  That's a miracle right there because boy can it rain in the Mitten.
-excellent landscaping (if there is a tree that can grow in Michigan, you're gonna find it somewhere here.  The previous owner was aaaaaaaaaall about that scene).
-Fully fenced yard to contain the younger kids and the dogs.

Plus there's the pool (that was a negative when we were shopping, but the kids really get a kick out of it during the summer) and the pole barn and the sledding hills and all manner of flora and fauna to observe and investigate so overall the best word I can think of to describe the whole of the outdoors is "magical."



All that being said, this isn't a perfect home.  It's old and needed quite a bit of work on the inside (much already finished, like a complete to-the-studs kitchen gut, much still pending, like somehow finishing the basement someday).  It only has 3 bedrooms and we have 9 people, so math and stuff.  The main floor bathroom is IN the kitchen.  Like "hey you, stirring that soup....I'll see you in a second after I do my business right behind this door 5 feet from where you're standing. Oh, I'm wearing a bathrobe because this is also where the only shower is.  TTFN!"  And there is no garage or carport, so you gotta haul the kids and the groceries through the elements and up the porch steps into the house, and out of the house and into the elements and down the porch steps to get back into the car again.  And since Michigan is 86% insane weather, well, you can imagine the enthusiasm during those moments.

But if it had been perfect we couldn't have afforded it, so.....there ya have it.

As for dream houses and forever homes, I'm just not sure I've got the disposition, or at least personal history, to imagine such things.   I moved a LOT as a kid.  And as an adult.  It's kind of my default mode, to be honest.  I mean, doing the Christmas pageant at the same parish for 7 winters straight?  I can hardly even believe that's our reality!  So while there is a big part of me that thinks and hopes that this is our forever home, I can't ignore that little voice whispering 'be ready.'  Always be ready.  It's a little bit of a problem, really.  You always gravitate to what you're familiar with even if what you're familiar with is bad and dumb, know what I'm sayin'?  Anyway, all that to say that we don't plan on ever moving, but we're always open to....well, life.  The things life throws at us.

Anyway! If you'd like to see more pics of the house here is a living room before/after, here is the stairway and hall, the den and playroom, a garden tour in May of some year, the dining room reveal, our kitchen after the renovation  but before we laid the floor, and the laundry room. Plus there's lots more over on IG since I took my blogging break ( #borobiahomestead has good outdoor pics and #newhouse14 is a collection of indoor fix-it-stuff ), which you can look at on a desktop even if you don't have an Instagram account.

Enjoy!

Posting for the 12 days of Christmas...
12 in 2016 (a photo year in review)
Stuff That Makes My Life Better
Where did all these children come from?!?!
Homeschooling High School

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2 comments :

  1. I didn't realize there were only 3 bedrooms, wow! You get mad props for making that work!

    And I hear you on the after-effects of a childhood spent moving. We moved every 2 years on average when I was a kid (longest stint being 3.5 years in one house) and when I got married I made my husband promise we wouldn't have to move a lot....(cue God laughing). So of course we're on our 7th state in 10 years of marriage :/ Hopefully now that my husband isn't in ministry that will end, but we'll see. It's hard but also kind of exciting to move. It's a problem for sure. I always figure if we can get *more* stability for our kids than my parents gave me then it's a success. And you seem to have been more stable, moving less often, than your family of origin, so maybe you're making progress too! :)

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