We bought a house! ("Before" Pictures)

So, we bought a house last month! After our plans to buy a house last summer fell through in a blaze of fiery glory, I kind of gave up on the whole real estate market. And so did Cory, or so I thought. He randomly started looking at listings in November, and saw that a house that we had begged to look at the beginning of the year but couldn't because the owners were being super shady (it was a short sale then) was back on, and seemed to be bank owned now. It was also reduced a little bit. Our interest was piqued, but not enough to schedule anything. Finally in December, we gave our realtor a call and asked if he could take us to look at it, "just to see".

He said yes, so we went. And it had been reduced by an additional $15,000 the day before we came. And so, we went for it. And then in January we signed our life away and now we own a mortgage. 

We had a few things we were looking for, and this place actually met it all:

1. A window above the kitchen sink

2. Indoor laundry room

3. Not super run down, but also not recently renovated

4. Location, location, location (grandparents are just right down the road!)

5. A nice flat yard for the kids to play in

6. All the bedrooms on the same level/near each other

I'm not on the ball and didn't take any "before" pictures, but I screen shot these from what the appraiser took and pasted into her report, ha. And apparently she is super good at aiming her camera at the floor. But oh well, it's what I've got. We're doing a lot of big projects on the house before we move in, so it pretty much looks like a construction zone at the moment. But in a few weeks its going to look soooooo good, almost all thanks to Cory's sainted mother. She spent hours and hours peeling wall paper, putting down plastic, scraping popcorn ceilings, and running to Home Depot to pick up supplies. I tried to go help her a few times, but my entourage is very distracting. So, I do the shopping. And bring snacks. Cory and his parents have been working on it in all of their spare time, and its super amazing how much they have done. For real.

List of projects to do before move in, or to do until the money runs out (as money is wont to do):

• Scrape popcorn ceilings (DONE!)
• Skim coat ceilings (DONE!)
• Remove wall paper (DONE!)
• Replace fluorescent light in kitchen with can lights (DONE!)
• Remove backsplash, replace drywall (DONE!)
• Fix leak in upstairs toilet, patch drywall in ceiling (This was a surprise. But it's DONE! ha)
• Replace lots of other lights 
• Buy stainless steel appliances
• Possibly replace the A/C (ouch)
• Lighten grout with grout paint
• Replace counters with black granite
• Replace backsplash with with white subway tile
• Replace sink with a deep single tub under mount
• New faucet in the kitchen
• Paint kitchen cabinets bright white, replace hardware
• Paint ceilings bright white
• Paint trim bright white
• Paint walls a very light gray
• Paint kids rooms bright white (Cory isn't so sure, but its what my heart wants)
• Add wainscoting to dining area
• Add board and batten to half bathroom and kid's bathroom
• Update vanities in bathrooms (with paint or stain, we'll see)

Living Room from front door

Dining area

Kitchen

Half bath downstairs

Upstairs, Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Benjamin's room

Kid's/Guest Bathroom

Amelia's Room

Secret playroom in the gable!!!! It makes me ridiculously happy.

So, I liked the house a lot while we were taking our first walk through. But when I opened what I thought would be a pipe closet, and found a tiny gabled room with a circle window I squealed with delight that could not be contained. And Amelia said "Oooooo" and walked in and sat down and patted the ground next to her to ask me to sit down. And that is where Cory found us, and I told him, "I need this house." So, apparently "tiny secret rooms" should go down as a major selling point for me. Or anybody with a 'scope for the imagination, I say.