What do you adore …
… about your home?
I am searching, online for a place to call home for about a year. We would like to save up some money and buy a house in the next year. I am not comfortable buying there until we have lived there, soaked up the city and know it. Besides I have never bought a house. What the heck do I know? Must be knowledgeable and get to know the market. That jazz.
So I have stared at my laptop till my eye has turned pink, trying to weigh out pros and cons of places.
We so are NOT living close to the university. The prices are CRAZY, and really I am so not wanting party neighbors like we had in California. However, we are still and will remain for a little while, a single car family. A quickie bus route is a must. I also want parks around to play, no crack heads, a library and no mice in the apartment.
See I am not asking too much right?
So tell me sweet internets what do you adore about your home? Is it the lovely kitchen? An extra closet? The colour of your carpet? And have you ever picked out a place to live on the internet? Did it work out? I have done this before from Canada to California and did not fair too badly.
All those who share their crazy thoughts will be entered to win a BOMB TOWN T-Shirt. Your chose of size and these designs (I so adore the I.B. Glowing! HAHA) 
The T’s are sold locally at CB Fox Department Store.
I have to add a couple more things … A big Thank You to Maddy at Whitterer on Autism (a must read, her writings are amazing!) for awarding me the Wonder Woman award! I am humbled and passing it on to JJ, Marz, Nic, Holly & Marina.
Lastly … How cute are Ethan’s squeaks!??! Gosh I love this kid!
Congrats to Nic and Allison as they are the winners of the Market Bags …
We tried to rent a place online when we moved to CA but ended up passing on it because the guy started to sound really desperate. Once we got here, we drove by to see what we missed out on and just barely made it out of the area before a dragnet of SEVERAL cop cars closed off the area to search for someone. Cops closing off major streets and helicopters buzzing overhead… not my ideal living situation. Plus the house looked dumpy and was only a stone’s throw to Tijuana. Creeee-peeeeee.
So, what do I love about my current house? I really like my laundry room. It has more cabinet space than I need and plenty of counter-top room to fold clothes and stage it before I put it away. I also like having three bedrooms because it means the boys get their own room and my iMac gets it’s own room. Win win!
What I DON’T like is only one car garage and a steep drive way… and the living room is too narrow and limits us to only one spot for the tv.
O.k., so, snakes and all, I love the backyard. My old house, we were close to a park, but a big, dirt backyard for exploring is awesome.
I love the light. As you know, my house gets great light. I cose it up, for energy reasons, in the summer, and fall in love with the light all over again in the fall.
I love the laundry room. Since you left, we cleaned it out, put a table in there, and Jamie and I do crafts and science in there. The floor is crap (painted concrete), so it doesn’t matter what you do to it. Everyone, with kids or without, should have some place with floor you can mess up and not clean :-).
Hmm, perhaps not what you expected? Not necessarily what strikes people about my house.
Jamie has $4 from allowance and $5+ in change in his piggybank if you change your mind about taking Ethan.
Thanks for the award. Wonder Woman was my hero as a kid. It was good to hear your voice.
My house, my castle! There is so much still to do (we bought a do-up/renovators dream, but we are unfortunately not renovators and the SAHM income does not support the vision!) regardless I LOVE…… the backyard with it’s deck, rock and native garden plus the fact that we actually back onto one of Auckland’s volcanoes so there is a BIG park for running around! I love our high ceilings (we’re both tall so no feeling cramped in!) I love that the sun streams into the kids bedroom and the kitchen in the mornings and in the afternoons it’s drenching the lounge/dining area. I love that everywhere you look is us - I do most of the art, quilting from Granny (by order) colours we like, photos, cushions …. We also have a great fire place which is cranked in winter! - I suppose we just have heaps of potential here, so lots of dreaming and loads of possiblities! We know how we want to grow with our home!!
We are close to everything - good schools, church, town, malls, work, cafes, transport, family. But not so close that there is a skyscraper in the backyard! It’s fab here in suburban Auckland!. I really needed this - often all I can see is what we don’t have/haven’t finished, but really, we should always count our blessings!
I love just about everything about my house. I love telling non Americans that it is a Cape Cod house and that it has a white picket fence all around it which confuses people, especially if I use my best BBC accent.
Cheers
One thing that is critical for us it to have some sort of access to the outdoors like a balcony or a small yard. When we are going to be looking this summer we are hoping for a real house with a yard to have a garden in.
I love double sinks in our bathroom and the walk in closet. I’ve always wanted a walk in closet and this is the third place where I’ve been able to have one. Love it! And the double sink, the kids end up in our bathroom so the space is a must.
I think a good layout matters more then square footage. Our kitchen is great - a good size, plenty of cupboards (also important) and good layout. Our old house was about 800 sq ft smaller then this place and sure this place is all huge and wide open, but there is NO storage at all, anywhere (other then closets which I think don’t count).
We bought this house over the internet (yep I said bought!) and it went fine. It’s the second house we bought though so we knew the deal. The first place the hubs and I lived together (rented an apt) I found online too, but I’ve had good luck there.
Okay, first of all YAY FOR ME! I totally wanted one of those bags! Thanks so much! And thanks for the award too!
Re: the house…we’ve bought twice now. A starter home (which I assume you’re looking for?) and a better home. Things I regretted about our first house and why we moved in 3 instead of the planned 5-7 years were:
1. That there was only one shower. The second bath was a 1/2 bath and when something was being done in the main bath we had to shower at the gym or a friend’s house - couldn’t have done it with kids. I’d aim for 2 showers, even if one’s just a stall.
2. Kids room window on the front of the house. That room got the street noise and light which wasn’t great. I’d recommend trying for side or back bedrooms if at all possible.
In the new house, we LOVE the attached garage, but that’s not always a first house thing. At least not here!
We also love living near a greenspace for running.
Have fun looking - I’m excited for you!
I’m with you - I’ve yet to own/buy my own home yet - pretty much lived in military housing all my life, except for 3 times in an apartment
I’m looking forward to that experience of picking out all the things I want in a house, although the whole process does seem a bit daunting! Good luck with your search!
We have an easement in front of us and one behind. It gives us a certain amount of privacy which I love. I don’t think that I could live in one of those places where you can see ten neighbors from your upstairs windows.
We have SEVERAL huge bay windows - and high ceilings and an antique light fixture that’s orginal to the house! Oh, and the original maple floors, too.
stopping by to say hello. i love the new layout. ethan is growing up sooo fast
I absolutely HAD to have washer and dryer hookups and more than 1 bathroom!
Ethan really loves the water, doesn’t he?
Ditto on the bathroom thing. Check the tub, check the dryness of the basement and look at the utility bills. Oh, and a kitchen window that does NOT face neighbors is good. At this point I have given up and make coffee in my tank top underwear, neighbors be damned, but if I had it my way a grand old maple would be my only witness.
Oh man, he is so Yummy!!!!!
Thank you for that award Wonder Woman! It is too cool….
I love my neighborhood the best…we have a park literally on every corner and it is a VERY small neighborhood where everybody knows everybody…we have lotsa kids and one elementary school…These are the things I love best!
Then, I love my home because it was built in the 1800’s and has a history to it. It’s old and creaky and I love it…..
Good luck with this scouting….
Gosh he is cute! My girls are on a we want a brother vent LOL.
My book arrived the other day. Thank you very much. I have started to read it, I am finding it hard to get a quiet moment. Today I had Kamryn over my shoulder pointing out all her “word wall words” from school LOL she loves learning that one.
We have never bought a house, however the one we are renting is our 1st detached? I think is the word. I love the space we have (5 bedrooms) the huge yard that is totally fenced in so there is no escaping. We want to buy but the prices in Edmonton are NUTS!!
Location, location, location!
And get an inspector even if it’s a brand-new house.
My hot tub! Ha ha! Too bad we can’t take it with us
Awww… thank you for the award.
Our house is a 2 bdr/2bth in a historic district. The size is perfect for us as we only have one daughter. I like that it is older with charming touches like archways and wood floors and the bedrooms are really big with lots of windows.
I sure hope you can get away from party neighbors.
What my husband and I love most about our home is the yard. We live in a place not known for having big backyards, but ours is *huge*! It’s a nice retreat, and I hope to make it even nicer!
Where I lived before it was perfect, the views, the balcony, my neighbors, the pool….everything. However I prefer to have a realtor search out what I am looking for, that’s their job. R and I do not live together and I don’t even wanna think about what house shopping would be like. I’m very picky and a city girl at heart. R is the opposite.
I think in the end you make the house what you want it to be, I’ve done that everywhere I’ve lived and I have never had a bad experience yet.
You ARE Wonder Woman.
Thanks so much for the bag. I’m very honored.
I love how old our house is. 130+ year old farm house. I can feel the stories all around us.
Good luck with the search.