The House That Never Was

My husband is a destroyer of dreams. A dream destroyer if you will.

He and I both share one thing in common. We are dreamers. Both of us could dream of our futures for hours and truly believe we can do or be anything. Most of the time money gets in the way. Sometimes reality does. However, today, my dreamer of a husband decided to be the voice of reason. Excuse me, WHAT?!

One thing you should know about me is that I am the world's most indecisive person. Those of my friends or family members that actually read my blog are definitely shouting, "AMEN SISTA!" right as I type. Well, not right as I type because obviously if I am still typing I haven't published this post. Moving on. So, today's indecisiveness happened to be regarding houses. See, Josh and I disagree on the number of children we want to have. I am most certainly a planner and some days it is very hard when someone asks, "how many children do you want to have?" It is very innocent in nature, but inside I am thinking, "oh my goodness I don't know and this is not good and what should I do and I must have an answer!" Actually I am just screaming inside.

So what do kids and houses and indecisiveness have to do with one another. Nothing. Okay, actually everything. See, I wanted two kids. Josh wanted three. I absolutely DID NOT want three. I need even numbers people (that's normal right?). Days after Eden was born Josh had the nerve to say, "I want at least four kids." Did you catch that? AT LEAST. Want to hear the crazy part? I am actually open to this if that is what God has in store for our family. Oh dear me I have gone off the deep end. Alright, so kids...houses...lots of kids...need big house. 

While thinking of big houses I started dreaming. The bad thing about my dreaming is that I then go crazy and start finding houses (benefits of having a real estate agent for a husband) and I can never just settle on one...I love lots of houses...in lots of areas. However today, well today I found our family the perfect house. Want to see?

Just seeing this one photo I pretty much died inside. Now, look down at the next photo just to ensure you all realize that I have truly gone off the deep end.

Yes, that would be a barn folks. And you know where barns are? On farms. In the country. I am a CITY girl...I grew up in Southern California. I pray daily that I can live there again. For some reason though, I found this house and thought, "I could do this. I could live on a farm with acreage. I can see myself with kids running around my feet and playing hide and seek amongst the trees." Honestly I am working very hard at letting go of what I think I want and being open to whatever path God has planned for me. Oh and the best part about this barn? Umm...hello PERFECT photo shoot in my very own backyard.

I'll take you on the rest of the tour.

That's my fireplace. It's original and I love it. I would add a giant hunk of wood for a mantle...preferably one from an old barn or something special like that. Can't you imagine all of our stockings hanging there for Christmas? Definitely can't be 59 kids and counting...I don't think we have enough room for all of those stockings.

Oh hello kitchen. I would knock out some walls to make it open to the rest of the house most definitely. Those lower cabinets? They would be painted dark gray. The upper cabinets? Say bye-bye because they would be replaced with open shelving.

Here's a little inspiration for you.

Source: vtinteriors.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

Be still my heart. Look at those wood floors. And the large area. Lots of room for little feet to run around. 

So, I pitched the idea to Josh. I said, "look...I think this is the only time I am going to be crazy enough to suggest moving to the sticks. If you want 21 kids we are going to need a large home. Oh, and did I mention it has a barn?! I can have all of the photo shoots I want! Honestly, what else do we need?! Oh and I'll love you forever." 

How can you say no to this? Oh, I don't know, why don't you ask my cranky pants husband. If any of you don't have a cranky pants husband let me tell you about my house so you know all of the details in case you think she should be your home. I may set up a tent in your backyard. Hope you don't mind.

The footage to your square: 2230
Rooms for your beds: 3 (although I see 4 listed elsewhere so who knows)
Places to potty: 2.5
Acres to roam: 2
Monies you would need: 204,900 (yes, you read that right!!!)
Location of perfect farmhouse: The Boonies of Salem

I love my house, I really do, but can you deny the fabulousness of this home?! It is just begging for me to fix it up.

Oh and by the way, if you decide to make her yours I know a great real estate agent who can show it to you.

Also, this is not my husband's listing. I showed it to him. The agent does not know me and does not care to (well, I added that last part). I just had to feature this house that I am in love with.

So long house....

*All fuzzy house photos (unless listed otherwise) are via the mls listing here.

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P to the S - I still love you cranky pants, but I am starting to rethink having a gaggle of children...  ;)

1. Diaries of a Mad Homebuyer

Buying my first home has always been a dream of mine. Even when I was a young girl I would get so excited when my parents would suggest a "Sunday drive" (yes, we were one of THOSE people) where we would drive around various neighborhoods. I remember always picking a favorite and then I would dream of Joey Lawerence or one of the New Kids on the Block being my husband and we would raise our children in this beautiful home. I wonder what ever happened to that dream?

Fast forward to today. I was a hopeful home buyer ready to make my first big purchase. I went to a Mortgage Broker and fairly painlessly got myself prequalified. For those not in the know, this should always be the first step in the home buying process. If you don't know of one or you are frightened by the process of not choosing a trustworthy broker you can skip to the next step where you choose your agent. They often have mortgage brokers that they use often and know their track records.

Once I knew how much I could afford I picked an agent, which was easy considering I was married to one! Now don't worry, this is Josh's house too, but I figured my experience was a little more easy to relate to since he is an agent and does this all the time. Now if I wasn't married to such a great agent (what? I'm not partial or anything!) then this would have gone differently for me. More on this another time. I talked with Josh (ahem my agent) and we discussed what I was looking for in my first home. I had my list of "must have's" and "wants" and he in theory would then show me houses that matched that list as closely as possible. Now, my experience was different in that aspect because I see the houses on the market all the time and already knew that none of them fit my needs. We actually came about finding the house we wanted to put an offer on due to one of my random searches. Trust me, I know the second that houses go on the market because I am just that obsessed. Josh and I saw the listing for the perfect house and said right then and there "let's make an offer!" (Disclaimer- we do not recommend this to novice home buyers!) We did in fact see the house before we made the offer, but we used it as a time to take measurements of each space, inspect all the nooks and crannies, and get pictures of every aspect of the house. Again, our experience is extremely different than most.

 
We finished this part of the process by making an offer. We will go into that part along with the rest of the process in another chapter of the diary. Josh and I have also been putting together some information that we hope is helpful for those of you that may be looking at purchasing a home in the near future. Home buying is a daunting process, but we are aiming to help you out as much as we can!

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