In which hope is reborn...briefly

For the second round of house hunting, I recruited my mom to go with me, figuring I'd only take MB to see the places with real potential.

We started here:



Spacious Brick Bungalow in convenient eastside location. Large privacy fenced yard with adorable tree house and small storage shed. House has hardwood floors, attractively updated kitchen with contemporary wood cabinets, double stainless sink, refrigerator with ice & water in the door, electric range & dishwasher. Remodeled bathroom with pedestal sink, shower over tub and ceramic floor, replacement windows throughout. Large unfinished basement with garage. Second floor has three rooms--two could be bedrooms and the third a computer or bonus room. Lots of space--inside and out!

They weren't lying. We started in the garage, which was under the house, attached to the huge basement. Everything looked fabulous. There were two little rooms in the back of the basement that had apparently been a darkroom and a teeny office of some kind. I immediately decided the tiny closet would be MB's wine closet and the darkroom would be a good place to install grow lights and farm weed to help finance the house payment help my totally legal houseplants survive the winter.

The first floor was also pretty nice. The kitchen was small, but had been updated and had great cabinets. The living room and dining room had pretty floors and nice woodwork, and even thought they weren't quite as large as we were hoping for, they were okay. The backyard was a freaking dream come true. Half an acre, with a full privacy fence. The promised treehouse was intact and ridiculously cute. Then, we went upstairs. Tragedy ensued. The staircase was super, super steep and very narrow. I had a bulky coat on and the sides of my coat brushed the sides of the stairway as I went up. I don't think it would've been possible to get a queen-sized mattress up there. The rooms weren't all that large, and the cost of rebuilding the staircase was pretty much out of the question since the house was already at the top of our price range. Weepcakes!

Sadly, hopes slightly dashed, we moved on.



Exceptionally nice brick home in a fantastic neighborhood. It has a beautiful sunroom in addition to a large living room, eat-in kitchen, and 3 bedrooms on the main floor plus a bedroom and rec room in the basement. Excellent schools, churches and shopping, close to everything.

I wish I had more photos of this house. At this point in the quest, I had not yet learned the importance of documenting every painful moment of the process. Layout and space-wise, the house was pretty close. It had three nice-sized bedrooms, a decent living room, a really pretty bathroom, and a smallish kitchen with a surprisingly large eat-in area alongside. The carpet throughout was uber nasty. Stains everywhere. The basement was a little odd. There was a stall shower in the laundry area. Way down at the other end of the basement, behind a raggedy ass room that I think they were calling the "plus a bedroom," there was a toilet, by itself in a little unfinished closet with no sink. Weird, man. The house did have a nice yard, though my mom nearly lost a foot in a burrow of some kind, so that was kind of freaky. The sunroom was HUGE. Nearly a bedroom huge. I was in love with that sunroom. The house made it onto the short list of houses that MB would later be dragged out to reject outright judge for himself, and we moved on.


There were two houses on the street we visited next. Here's the first:


We pulled into the driveway, saw that the entire (tiny) backyard had been paved over for extra parking and immediately backed out and headed for the second house.

Again, I neglected to take photos and now regret it. The house also went pending before I had a chance to snag any shots of it off the internet. Bollocks. Anyhow, it was REALLY cute. It had an attached garage with the door on the front of the house, which I usually don't like in new subdivision houses, but somehow don't mind in older homes. I loved everything about the first floor. The basement was nothing special, but one of the nicer ones we'd seen. The yard was big and fully fenced. The upstairs was a bit odd. One bedroom was the space above the garage. It was normal width, but probably double the length of a normal room. It really could've been two rooms, but dividing it and then connecting it to the rest of the upstairs in a way that made sense would've taken some serious creativity, since the whole space was 6 to 8 inches lower than the rest of the second level and was accessed by a small step down. Also, there was no closet. The middle bedroom was normal sized and had a teeny narrow half-bath and a small but normal closet. The third bedroom was very small. It was under the slanted part of the roof, which gave it a cool attic-y feel, but it was markedly smaller than the middle bedroom. The strengths of the main floor put this house on the "show to MB" list.


Just for fun, we visited a big old historic place that my mom absolutely loved.


It needed some work, and was in a semi-crappy neighborhood and a really crappy school district. Plus, we'd never be able to afford to heat all 2,789 square feet. No worries...we were just there to ogle the woodwork.

Woodwork on the gorgeous front staircase. There was another one in the back.

historic safe tucked under the main staircase

Behold the kickass woodwork and stained glass in the main room. Every doorway into the woodwork-encrusted dining room had 12-foot pocket doors (which didn't work, but still...how cool).



Adorable home in a great location on the East Side! Natural woodwork and hardwood floors! The charming kitchen has a breakfast nook and bay window. Great floorplan! The bedroom upstairs offers its own separate living quarters. The glass sunporch is the perfect place to have your morning coffee. Fenced-in backyard and detached garage. Full unfinished basement.

I'll give them 'adorable.' I'll give them the woodwork, floors, and breakfast nook.


I eventually could've learned to love this very odd master bedroom and the completely useless alcove with its pretty stained glass window.

This kitchen, however, I never could've learned to love. Do you notice how the fridge seems really close to the counter there on the right? Look again...they've actually wedged the fridge up against the cabinets. So that the cabinets no longer open. The gap between that dishwasher and the counter on the other side was almost un-navigable. I had to nearly turn sideways to make it through. I don't have a photo to prove it, but the dishwasher was connected to the pipes under the sink via a piece of outdoor downspout that was laid behind the fridge and hooked up through the inaccessible cabinets. Uh...next, please?


Older Home Charm! Hardwood Floors, Big Rooms & High Ceilings! The Kitchen Has Glass Front Cabinets, Refrigerator & Range. There Are 4 Bedrooms For The Growing Family! New Water Heater In 2005 Per Owner. The Setting Is Nice With Mature Trees & Landscaping. The 2 Detached Garages Allow For Lots Of Storage.

This was a kickass old farmhouse. I wish there was a photo of the kitchen, because it was SO big and cool and authentically farmhouse. Alas, the ridiculously sweet clawfoot bathtub did not have a shower, and the upstairs bedrooms needed some work. Also, the yard was small and uneven and the road the house sat on was super busy. *sigh*

My mom really liked this one:


It looks small, but it really wasn't bad. My first impression was that it had nice rooms, nice floors, a beautiful dining room with a built-in buffet, a very cute kitchen, and a nice finished basement family room. Oh, and there was a strange but really cool screened-in patio attached to the garage. This house was #3 on the MB List.

A few days later, MB and my sister and I went back to see the three houses I'd liked. I didn't like any of them as much the second time I saw them. Good thing, I guess, since MB said no to all of them. The house with the giant sunroom was a little pricey, the neighborhood wasn't as nice as I remembered it, and he was as weirded out by the random, far-separated toilet and shower in the basement as I was. The house with the three unevenly-sized bedrooms was kicked off the list because of those bedrooms. The small one was way smaller than I had first noticed, and MB said he'd always feel bad for the kid who got stuck with the small room. The house that my mom liked had one bedroom with a door connecting it to the kitchen, and we noticed some water damage in the basement.

I was a bit deflated, but I had to concede that all of MB's points were valid.

On New Year's Day, it was ass cold outside, but we bravely ventured out with our intrepid realtor to see the best house yet:

The look of the house? Perfect. The parking? Double driveway, one-car garage, and a carport. The interior? Fantastic. The basement? SUPER nice, with tons of storage. The kitchen? Love. The bathroom? CLAWFOOT TUB. With a shower. *squee* The yard? HUGE. Half an acre! Super nice wooden swingset included! And did I mention HALF AN ACRE?

We left this one feeling very hopeful. Very hopeful indeed.


Reading:  The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Playing:  the Juno soundtrack (listen to it at the official movie website)