I never cared or wanted to buy a house. Before the military I loved apartment living, and even after. I am not a yard person, can easily murder a cactus, and grass and bugs were never my thing. Planting and digging only gave me dirty fingernails, and sweat to drip down my back, nothing therapeutic about that.
Apartment living provided everything I wanted. A comfortable house, big closet, the amenities of the community and sitting on the stairs drinking beer with my neighbors.If something break, they would fix it. I was very happy. We tossed around the idea of buying a condo, but at the time the market was climbing and fast. The cheapest we could get a 1/1 in S Florida was 190K and we knew we didn't want to stay in S Florida.
In come the military, our first duty station was Ft Hood, Texas. We rented a 2/2 apt right off post and it was fine. I got pregnant, dh deployed, moved back in with my parents, then when I moved back to Texas to wait for my hunny bunny, I decided to rent a house. I had a toddler now, a big yard was nice. After cutting the grass every weekend on triple digits temps, I never wanted to live in a house again. Also at 1500 sq feet, it was a lot more to clean and the more space you have, the more you accumulate.
Hubby got home, and we moved on post. He promised to cut the grass, and I was content. The house on post was decent and provided a lot of amenities, like hubby being able to hit the alarm clock 25 times before he was late, coming home for lunch, everything so close by. There were weeks we never left post. Everything from the post office, to our sons daycare, to the gas station, to the grocery store was inside. No need to venture outside.
Our next duty station took us to Ft Bragg, NC. Again we decided to live on post because of hubby being able to come home for lunch, being able to be home in less than 5 minutes after work was out, and with the amount of people working in Bragg, sometimes traffic was nasty in and out of post. We didn't want to deal with none of that.
The market had crashed and it started being a buyers market. We started to get to know the area (Fayetteville has the nickname of Fayet-nam) which were good areas and which were bad, and considering we were promised to be there for 3 years, it felt like the right time.
Don't get me wrong, I was still scared. I have had so many friends buy homes and then get orders to the other side of the US or even outside of the US months later and then they got to deal with renting it out, or trying to sell quickly. Big ol mess that scared us. But we were ready to take the plunge.
hubby busted his knee, got out of the military and life got turned upside down. I was thankful very thankful we didn't buy a home and vowed we woulnd't buy for a very long long time. If ever.
Well time heals every wound and calms every fear. Its been almost 2 years since that "almost buy a home/thank God we didn't" . Very slowly, I started to think about it again, then I bumped into one home improvement blog, then another, then a gorgeous painted dining room that I could never have since my landlord is a jerk, and another beautiful decorated room, and I was hooked. I got bitten by the bug badly. I want a house yesterday.
I have visions of blue kitchens with this tiny gorgeous tile, white cabinets and my father installing my beautiful shinny granite. I have visions of beautiful green and pink bedroom for my daughter and a blue/dark blue bedroom for my son. I have curb appeal ideas, I have watched more videos about how to install hardwood than I care to admit.
I have catalogued hundreds of tips on how to maxime a small space, how to make no sew curtains that will be in my gorgeous dining room, paint already picked, thank you very much. I have watched videos on how to install sliding doors in case you got a small bathroom and videos on how to install a water filter and how to move your washer and dryer to the garage if the case is necessary in order to have a pantry.
I am ready. 100% ready. I know I need a house with mostly tile or hardwood because my dad despises doing flooring, so convincing him to redo my kitchen with granite and the whole 9 yards will be a lot easier than convincing him to change my flooring, even though he could do either in less than a day. He is amazing, out of this world handy like that. 3/2 1500 sq ft with a yard. Because with 2 kids, sunken trampolines and visions of sitting around a DIY fire pit roasting marshmallows has entered my mind.
Who is this person?? I don't know. Honestly. Months ago I didn't have any of the knowledge I have now. I had no idea that paint came in various forms, and that even though quartz is more popular, its still better to go with granite. Oh yeahh every time I see my father I pick his brain. From paint types, to flooring type and everything in between.
Just last week I mentioned to him how this lady did her whole kitchen from Ikea for a fraction of the cost or how this guy did a concrete counter top and how cool that was. Don't worry. He ripped me a new one very fast. My father despise Ikea (won't even step foot inside) and thinks if you are going to do something its better you do it right and of good quality. If not don't do it at all. The concrete countertop he said was half assed (he used a lot more colorful arguments than that) but we will leave it at that.
This knowledge and way of thinking is what has made him very successful and what makes people go gaga over his work. I learned quickly and shifted my thinking to more quality materials and ideas and research.
Dont get me wrong, I am still going to buy a beautiful Ikea chandelier for my dining room, but I wont get their kitchen ;)
Anyways, the point is I am ready, I want a house badly. Its all I think about breath about or talk about. I seriously blame on turning 30, because in my 20's the thought would have had me jump out of my skin with fear, but now its a need and I am kind of happy and ready for the change. The little 20 year old who loved having the apartment complex fix anything that broke, is the same 30 yr old that is asking for some wallpaper and a fixer up. Seriously, I have no idea where she came from, but I am glad she is here ;)
Love A
2 comments:
Meh, we used IKEA for our mudroom cabinetry and garage cabinetry, its not bad. I wouldn't use it for a kitchen for other reasons, but a custom 10x10 not-installed-by-Dad kitchen can be $30K before you even get to countertops, so for people who don't have that kind of money, its a good compromise. :)
I hope you get your house ASAP, it really is a huge amount of fun. xx
You know I go back and forth with him on this argument and he says a kitchen the only expensive thing and hard to do are doors. Cabinets is just a box, easy to put together and you can get good granite for $7 bucks a square foot, so what is expensive is the doors. I laughed at him because I told him he is handy, to him everything is easy to everyone is not. He disagrees and we go around and around. I am just lucky he will do mine, but if he weren't I seriously don't know what I would do..lol.
Thank you I am hoping so too. I am ready and so excited.
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