Bungalow Love (and why we are looking at a house on Tuesday)

Yesterday I started drafting a post that was basically an open love letter to my house - how I've learned to deal with (even appreciate) small closets, a small kitchen (that was huge to me when we first moved in, because I'd seen so many teensy galley kitchens in our house-hunt), and how small spaces mean that you get cozy with the people you love and live with. We are not bursting at the seams in our two-bedroom house, mostly because we've learned to live in a way that uses space efficiently with less stuff (and I still have a lot of stuff, frankly). The lightness - literally and figuratively - that our space has allows in a lot of happiness.

And moreover, our house has a history - long before us of course, but a history with us, too. There are scratches in the floor in the guest room where you can see how my grandpa, who is no longer with us, was much more efficient at sanding the floors than we were. There are Motawi tiles that I grouted into the hearth - a gift from Andrew when we went to Des Moines to celebrate my 29th birthday. Our families helped us with projects here, and we learned so much by learning how do to do all those little things on our own, too. This house is very loved.

So there you go. That's the summary of the post that was swimming in my head yesterday.

So with all that love for our little bungalow, why on earth are we going to go check out a new property on Tuesday?

What is "insanity," Alex?

I always have an eye out for our next house, mostly because we very clearly know what we want, and I want to reassure myself that this mythical house exists. 

In our next home, we have a pretty crazy wishlist. It includes:

Everything that our current house has ---

Air conditioning and modern heating

A new roof, furnace, etc

Built ins and character (unpainted woodwork)

A finished basement

At least 2 bathrooms

Outdoor living space

A decent sized, well-thought out kitchen

A decent yard

2-car garage

A good neighborhood

Plus ----

A specific zip code east of the one we are in

A specific neighborhood east of the one where we live

Dining room built-ins

A working fireplace

Bigger rooms, in general

Bigger closets in the master bed (two closets would be grand)

1-2 more bedrooms (would be okay +1 bedroom and a non-conforming guest bedroom)

Fully fenced yard

The problem is that when you add what we have to what we want, we exceed what we could reasonably spend. So Andrew and are in total agreement that what we want to find is a home at has the bones of what we want, but cosmetically may need some work. For example, I can deal with ripping up carpet and sanding wood floors. I can deal with taking down wallpaper. I'm not afraid of bad ceiling fans or ugly light fixtures. And I can work with outdated kitchen cabinets, floors, and counter tops.

We also hate moving. Our next house is one that we plan to be in for a long time. So it needs to have space for us to adapt, change, and grow into.

So that's why it's a little crazy when I said to Andrew, "I think I found our house."

It's the price we want, a bungalow, 4 bedrooms, finished basement, attached garage....and no one has painted the woodwork. French doors. Sconces. Glass door handles. A partially wrap-around porch. Fantastic bungalow exterior style with brick and stucco. 

And, the carpet and paint is awful, the kitchen out of date, and the yard a little overgrown.

I spent most of the evening mulling over what would happen if we fell in love with it. I thought about it this morning, too. Would we move? Could we?

Spoiler alert: ultimately, I don't think we're moving any time soon. It doesn't really make financial sense, since we've planned our past major improvement projects based on the idea that we stay in our current house five more years. And even if we did love this other house, the neighborhood is not the one that I have my heart set on. If a house is my dream house, the neighborhood has to be right, too.

Even though I can't imagine leaving our little bungalow it's fun to step outside just for a few minutes and wonder what another house might have in store for us.