As hostess for this week’s installment, Katie wants to know "the story behind your home and the road you live on".
Almost five years ago when we found out we’d be moving here, my job was to find a house. Interestingly, on the way to look at a particular house, we "accidentally" found the neighborhood we live in now. There was a house for sale in which we were interested, and our realtor called the listing agent while we waited in the driveway. After looking at this VERY dated house, and realizing it was a) too small, and b) too large a project to take on, we continued down the street where we saw a "for sale" sign at the bottom of steep ascending driveway, but the house itself was obscured by trees. Lots of them…a forest.
As we meandered up the hill, the home appeared, but when I realized it was painted blue, my heart sank. We had just changed the blue trim on our SC home, and while I love shades of blue, I couldn’t stand it on our house. The one we left, or the one we in front of me. I didn’t even want to look at it I was so sick of blue.
In typical "don’t judge a book by its cover" irony, we loved the house’s interior. It was dated and plain and very "oaky"…but it was spacious and accommodating…and a remarkable price for the size and neighborhood.
Loooooong story short, we bought it, had a forest cut down so we could see our house from the street and Tad would have a yard to mow (he’s crazy that way), and after 4 1/2 years, we’re nearing the completion of interior improvements (THAT’S a post I’ve been D.Y.I.N.G. to write for 14 months! Dying in the sense it has taken that long to FINISH everything (and it’s not quite done, yet…) ). The house was built in the late 70s and had one owner prior to us.
This is the view from our front porch, and at the end of the road where it curves right, sits that first home we looked at but didn’t buy.
This shot is taken from about where I saw that snake in the road. Five years ago, we couldn’t see our house from that spot; in part, because it was spring and the trees were leafed out, and in part because the yard, then, was naturalized and so thick with brush and tree we couldn’t see the home itself. Curiosity, I suppose, is what compelled us to travel up that steep, winding driveway.
Funny how changing the exterior’s color wasn’t on the short list for our home improvements (but when it HAS to be painted, I promise it WON’T be re-painted blue!).
Visit Katie for more stories about house and home, and Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise :/ later I’ll be posting some interior photos for Boo Mama’s Christmas tour :)…
…and writing cinquain’s for this month’s Poetic License (y’all write some, too "later", k?)…
…and link to my friend Kelly at Pass the Torch to raise money for St. Jude’s Hospital (wait, this IS the link!)
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…and begin finish my Christmas shopping…
…and complete my Christmas cards…
…and FINALLY send out surcies & pay it forwards to my bloggin’ buddies…
…and take a tinkle break at some point…:/
I got my poetry up along with my FM and my tour of homes….
The great thing about painted houses is that you can make them look totally different with the colors chosen.
what’s boo mama’s christmas party? i want to see interior shots! i love seeing people houses. i love your yard, but i think i would have kept the trees…. i like the idea of living in a little forest.
(and maybe you’d get more turkeys that way. or snakes. as the case may be.) (see, i read you!)
Thanks for spreading the word about Linking for Dollars!
Oh your house sounds amazing. And it seems like you were meant to find it. Cool.
Beautiful neighborhood!
i would love to live in a place where the trees hide the road. seriously! wow. you were so lucky…
But your house is beautiful ! even in blue !! Be happy that it was blue and not dark pink or another horrible color ! What counts is the inside outsides can be changed.
Glad you found a house that fit yalls need even thou it’s blue. I don’t like our color, but my boys picked the color. You just can’t re paint vinyl siding.
I was waiting to see if the first thing you did was repaint the outside of the house…guess not huh? 😉
I almost forgot about PPL…ack…now I have to go and be creative on a deadline!! Gotta go… 😉
Isn’t it funny that the thing you hate MOST about a house is usually the last thing to be done?
(when my parents moved into our current home – the family room carpet was hideous. It was one of the last things to go.)
Of course I WAS GOING TO SAY exactly what Karmyn did. It WAS hideous carpet… you know that old kitchen carpet with design and the colors of early 70.
Finally posted my posty, was waiting for the video to load. I am going to make my poem soon too.
I find it interesting that through all the changes you have been making you have not repainted and that you cut down your forest. 🙂 I would think the forest would have been nice.
Fun post. 😀
I live in an old neighborhood with houses built from the 1920’s to 1940’s. Someone just renovated the house at the end of my street. They painted it kind of a bright sky blue. With purple trim. Your house could be worse…. 🙂
It does sound like you and your house were meant for each other.
I remember SOME interior shots, from the kitchen remodel – which makes me just want more! I love the front lawn – my hubby likes having a yard to mow, too. Our new house isn’t to that point yet – so he mowed the leaves, just for fun.
I am seeing so many houses that I would just love. I could live with blue (I have blue doors). I’m looking forward to seeing more once it’s all finished.
That happened with us when we bought a house a number of years ago. We looked at one that was small and impractical, clean, but had turquoise large flower wall paper on the wall in the one bedroom and dark brown carpet that was in good shape. Then for $5000 less, there was a house around the corner at the end of a cul de sac that had bad carpet and more space and ketchup on the ceiling in the basement, wasn’t filthy, but not really clean, and we thought that we were justified in changing all the stuff that we wanted changed, because it needed it. And we had a huge yard. We loved the house, but wanted to move to the other side of the city where we grew up and our friends and family lived.
is there such a thing as a finished house? not at my house for sure! love your house finding tale, very cool that you wandered up that hill!!