If you haven't heard by now, we're becoming unexpected first-time home buyers. We had a rough start financially in our marriage with my health issues and hubby changing jobs. We've been renting ever since thinking the dream of owning a home was still far off. Just under two weeks ago we turned in our credit stuff to see what we needed to repair to be able to buy a home in a year or two. Imagine our total surprise when they came back and said we were approved to buy NOW! It's been a whirlwind since... this weekend we started house hunting, Monday put in an offer on a foreclosure but lost, Tuesday found two different houses we were really interested in but had to walk away when foundation issues arose, and then Wednesday took a chance on a different area in the metroplex and found a home we love. We put in an offer before we even left the house and that night got the call it was accepted!
As of today we're officially in our 10-day option period. The inspector and appraiser will come out in a few days to check everything. Hopefully nothing major will come back on the inspection and appraisal and all the paperwork/financial stuff will go through without any hiccups.
Anyways, we're super excited! I've been dying to own for forever now! I love decorating so I can't wait to get started.
Here it is! It's such a cute little starter home. Perfect for us. :)
I love the mature trees in the front! The retaining wall and sod are new. Needs a little water to green it back up and it'll look great!
We're going to take up all the white rocks and replace with landscaping/mulch. The little fountain will either be redone or taken out (it's been poorly done).
Below are different views of the family room. I love love LOVE the real hardwoods. I don't know if there is a name for the style/technique but the planks alternate between wide and narrow planks. LOVE them! :) They go throughout the house (except for carpet in the bedrooms and ceramic tile in the baths).
From the front door looking in to the living room and dining room.
From the dining room looking back towards the front door.
From the dining room looking at the fireplace and into the kitchen.
From the kitchen/breakfast nook looking into the living room.
From the living room looking towards the kitchen (left), the fireplace, and the hallway (right).
From the kitchen/breakfast nook looking into the dining room/back door.
Here's the kitchen. The countertops will hopefully be one of our first upgrades. They're an ugly camo-ish brown leaf pattern. BLECH! Luckily the appliances are black and will match our stainless fridge (which has black sides) until we can upgrade to all stainless appliances.
From the breakfast nook looking at the kitchen (the kitchen sink looks through the opening beside the fireplace).
The fridge area, directly across the kitchen from the sink.
The pantry ROCKS! Our past two rent houses haven't had pantries so we've had to use an antique armoire to hold our food (lots of character, just no space LOL). I can't wait to organize and fill this puppy up! :) The kitchen island is mobile so I'm not sure what we're gonna do with it yet. It has great storage underneath and lots of counter space on top which would be great for entertaining. But it's taking up the breakfast nook. It'll take a little rearranging once we get our furniture in to see what we will do with it.
A view of the window looking to the backyard. It'll be a great spot to decorate. :)
As you walk in the front door, the room to your immediate right is a small study with a wet bar. This is going to be Brendan's room, his *bar* he says. ;) He wants to get an old arcade game machine and hang a dart board. I was also thinking of getting a small table and chairs set and making it a game table.
Just past the study is the hallway (seen earlier) that leads down to the laundry room, two bedrooms split on either side (Kaleigh's room and my studio), guest bath, and linen closet.
The first room on the right in the hallway is the laundry room which leads to the garage. Yay, no more laundry closet in the kitchen! :D
Past the laundry room is Kaleigh's room. It's a little smaller than her room now but has a super cute shelf that runs along 3 of the walls.
Linen closet.
Kaleigh's (guest) bath. There's another linen closet behind the bathroom door.
The third bedroom (my studio) overlooks the backyard.
Alright, now we're back to the front door again. As you walk in, to the left is a turn off to the master bedroom with this little niche. Not sure yet what I'm going to put in it. I might have to create something just for it. :)
Looking into the master. Those windows are the ones on the front of the house.
Inside the master... the entry door is on the right and the master bath is on the left.
Master bath. Double vanities!!! Our bathroom now is TINY with one little sink, toilet, and stand up shower. Most times I'll use Kaleigh's bathroom to get ready while hubby uses ours. It'll be nice to both fit in there at the same time. :) The toilet is on the other side of the wall at the end of the vanity, with the walk-in closet just past the toilet.
The tub/shower. It's a HUGE jetted tub (I think hubby and I both could fit) with a shower. Half of the tub is closed off with the glass for the shower section. We're debating removing the glass and replacing with a rod and curtain as we're not sure how great it works for a shower. I'm afraid too much water will splash out the back end onto the floor. We'll have to see.
Walk-in closet. You can't tell but there's an matching double hanging rod side just opposite the one you see here. There are also two floor-to-ceiling shelving units on each side that you can't see.
And the best part... the POOL!!! I really wanted one all along; hubby was okay either way - it just depended on the house. But once we started house hunting he changed his mind quickly and it became one of the top requirements on his list as well. We had to give up a little bit of square footage to get the pool in our price range but it's so worth it. I'm looking forward to lots of get togethers with family and friends back here! :D
We love that there's still grass for Kaleigh and our dogs to play.
We'll put our patio table and chairs on the pool deck along with our fire pit. Hubby's grill will probably go on the patch of concrete beside the porch. I can't wait to clean up the yard, set potted plants around, and have hanging baskets on the porch. :)
Well, thanks for looking! I'm beyond super excited to finally have a chance to become a home owners. Our closing date is set for mid-October and it can't come fast enough (but it's a perfect gift for our October 20th anniversary!) I can't wait to move in and decorate and make it ours. Our dream is finally coming true! Wish us lots of luck at we move forward with the inspection, appraisal, and closing. :)
Recent Comments