New Year, New Life - We're Buying A House!

So, I've hinted for the last month (mostly to apologize) that something big has been in the works round these parts. I didn't want to say anything until it was all locked down, but just this week it became official - we are buying a house!

The husband and I have finally decided to take the plunge and get a place of our own. To be honest, we've both been going insane in our cramped little condo for quite some time. We never bought because we weren't so sure where we would end up - my husband was laid off and things in our area weren't looking too bright with the Space Center going how it did. Naturally we didn't want to tie ourselves down where we might have had to leave. Once Justin got in on a stable job, I started looking at houses here and there just to see what was available. Out of the blue I decided to look at the beginning of December (and at that time I still was just looking) I looked through the local listings and 2 interesting houses came up. We went to see them on a Thursday and next thing you know we were signing papers to put in an offer on this one :) Now we've had the inspections and gotten all the repair issues worked out with the seller and our loan is in the process so we are locked in.

So, now for the fun details :) The house is in Mims which is only 15 minutes from where we live now, but it is "in the country." In fact, if you tell anyone in Brevard County you're from Mims, the redneck jokes will commence immediately - believe me, that's what I thought when I met my husband who grew up in Mims. Now that I've spent more time in the area I've come to appreciate the lifestyle. The lots are bigger, it's quieter, and you can pretty much do what you want. Our house is just on the edge of Mims, so we are close to the interstate and roads that will take us anywhere we want to go.

The house itself was built in 1967 and it's on a 1/2 acre lot. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms in its 2700 square feet :) How crazy is that? Now for the grand tour:

The living room (top left pic) is a huge open area that connects to the dining room (top right pic). The first 'bedroom' (bottom right) is downstairs - I think it must have been a parlor or something and the previous owners just added a closet and a pocket door. We will be using it as an office. The entryway hall (bottom left) looks at a kind of breakfast area. We are still trying to figure out that space since we will have to add some kind of pantry, but we will work that out once we live there a while.

The house has a fireplace in a long back room (top left) that I've decided we will call "the lounge." I mean, how many people can say, "Follow me into the lounge," to their guests? Exactly :) The kitchen (top right) is nice and spacious. The cabinets are awful, but those will be painted as soon as we get in there. Eventually we will replace them, but we've gotta work with what we have for now. The laundry room (bottom left) is between the kitchen and the lounge and it has a laundry chute in it! It's a little makeshift looking, but hey - there's already a hole in the floor upstairs so we're going with it. And there is one bathroom downstairs (bottom right). It's oddly shaped because it's under the stairs, but it connects to the lounge and the front bedroom and I actually really like it. I'm not a big fan of the blue accent tiles, but I will be fixing those :)

Now for the upstairs. The master bedroom (top left) is nice and roomy with his and hers closets on the left wall as you come in. The master bathroom (top right) is dinky to say the least and is our only issue we have with the house layout, but there is a nook in the master bedroom that we eventually plan to use to extend the bathroom and, I don't know, maybe have 2 sinks? lol To say the least. We can live with it now especially since the house has 2 other bathrooms we can use if we feel claustrophobic in the master. But I will be changing the decor as soon as we move in. The hallway upstairs has a closet and you can see the lovely staircase (bottom left) - it's a tad steep, but we don't mind. The first bedroom off the stairs (bottom right) we would eventually use as the obligatory baby room (since it's right across from the master bedroom).

The bedroom at the end of the hall (top left) is going to be ... (insert trumpets tooting triumphantly) my sewing room! Hizzah! My husband was happy to give me my own room in exchange for the promise that my crafting stuff would not be left all over the main rooms of the house. No problem here since the only reason my stuff is all over right now is because I don't have a dedicated space for it all. The middle bedroom (top right) is going to be the guest room. The upstairs bathroom (bottom left) is a covered in a hideous pink tile, but it is a good size. The closet has the laundry chute in it - which looks like a horrible hole in the floor right now, but we will dress it up. This room is the only one that I know exactly what I want to do to it and I can't wait to do it just so I can post the before and after pictures - it will be an amazing transformation. And the garage (bottom right) is nice and big - it's a 2 car - and we will keep our freezer and such in there. Obviously the garage isn't upstairs, but I had to put the picture somewhere :)

Obviously there are many things that will change about this house as we get settled. We won't close on the house until at least the end of January, but it already feels like it's mine :) I really love this house and everything has just worked out so it seems like it is meant to be. 

Aside from my joy at having a whole house to live in soon, it has caused a huge amount of stress. I really couldn't have picked a worse time to decide to buy a house. The usual stress of Christmas plus working in a retail store at Christmas, plus my usual stress of 'I've committed to too much' was bad enough but I decided to add the stress of buying a house. Needless to say there have been a few personal meltdowns in the last month. I'm not sure if you know this yet, but I'm a very controlling person (I know, big shock), and I'm especially controlling with my money. With my husband's unemployment, I've had to be; so, the fact that I'm committing 30 years of my pay to something is enough to make me go crazy. It's a scary thought. At least I know I love the house and that makes it all worth it.

I can't wait to get in the house and you can bet there will be a fair share of DIY blog posts in the coming months. I've already began amassing all the hand-me-down and thrift store furniture I can find and I will be changing all of it to fit our style.

Anyway, that has been the big secret. I'm sorry that my blog posts have not been as frequent, but I hope you  can understand why :) Here's to a new year and a new life for me, Justin and the Gordo. We look forward to the coming adventure!