House Call

Friends, I'm so excited about today's post!  Yesterday, I discovered via Facebook that my incredible sister-in-law had a feature on Apartment Therapy!  I still can't get over it all, I'm so proud!

A couple of years ago, I got news from my brother that they bought a house.  I was so happy for them and their new purchase, but even happier when I realized just how much they loved it.  I heard the details - about how it was a commercial property converted by artists they knew, about how there was a gigantic basement that could be converted to a music venue.  Shipping containers hang out in the backyard, full of leftover materials from the artists who converted the house.  Lockers for kitchen cabinets!  Tons of amazing details for two very creative people.  It was perfect.

Then I got to visit.  My mind was blown!  The house itself is incredible but with their creative touch, it was magical.  It's the perfect house for Halloween and Christmas parties (I know this because I've been to both).  It's the perfect house for intimate shows (I know this because my husband's former band played a show in their living room a few years back).  It's the perfect house for crazy loud rock shows (I have yet to be able to attend a show at the Track House - their very apt moniker - but I have seen pictures and heard good things) and for family get-togethers.  Needless to say, it's pretty awesome.

What's most awesome to me is that it's always struck me (and a lot of others) as a house that belongs in Dwell or on Apartment Therapy or some other amazing publication/website.  And now it's on A.T. and I'm thrilled!

Also, I wanted to pass along some good information to all of you.  Georgia's Etsy shop, The Big Harumph, has free shipping for all Facebook fans for a limited time!!  Click the link to like The Big Harumph on Facebook to get the coupon code.  Hooray!

Last, be sure to check out photos from this beautiful wedding on Style Me Pretty.  I love that her prints show up everywhere, but I especially love that they're being used in weddings.  It makes my heart flutter :)

House Preview

First off, thank you all so much for your sweet congratulatory comments on our good news!  I'm excited to share a little preview with you about our new home.

The house itself is an old one but with a sturdy foundation and has had the necessary maintenance and upgrades.  We're going down on Saturday for the inspection and our fingers are crossed that all goes well.  The fact that it's an old home means it has lots of character - which is something both of us required.  When I first saw the listing, I fell in love with the doors, porch and fireplace and knew it was a real possibility.

We saw the house one Saturday morning, where we actually met our agent for the first time.  We were scheduled to see several other houses that day and would see many more in the weeks to come.  We liked the house a lot, but weren't sure about the location (it's kind of far from where we were originally looking) and wanted to check out what else the city had to offer us.  So we looked, and we looked and then looked some more.  We liked some other houses, thought about them for a couple of weeks and then returned to look at them again.

I decided that we needed to look at this house again, along with one other house we had been interested in.  Before this, we had looked at one other house twice and didn't like it the second time back.  So we were skeptical.  But then we saw it again and loved it.  The location was perfect - it sits on an old country road with horses, a honey farm and a nursery.  There is a limestone quarry at the end of the road which we had been skeptical about before, but after going back we realized it was several miles down the road.  Whew!  The only downside (as of now) to this house now is that the husband can barely stand up in the basement.  But we decided that the house itself had enough square feet to make up for the fact that the basement isn't finishable.  So we spent a lot of time looking everything over, then moved on to the second house that we would look at twice.

We didn't like it.  At all.

Then we saw a few more new-to-us homes.  We didn't like those, either.

Then later that day, I received a phone call from our current landlord.  They had filed bankruptcy.  Sign? I think so.

Then I won some money at the Derby. Sign? Probably not.  Really, I just wanted to brag about that.  :)

We slept on it.  We enjoyed Mother's Day with my mother-in-law.  We drove back to Chicago.

Then we decided for sure - it was the one.  We called our agent and told him our decision.  Then we made an offer, they accepted and we drank some bubbly.  All in 24 hours time!  Now it's all I can think about!

So here it is, in all its glory ::

The picture was taken in February - which I think made it that much more appealing when we saw it in person.  The trees are HUGE and beautiful.  There is so much greenery in the area, it's really quite amazing.  It's a complete change from what we're used to here which makes us that much more excited about it all!  We're going to spend so many wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/nights on that front porch.  We're installing a porch swing ASAP.

I can't wait to snuggle up on cold winter nights in front of that fireplace (I can wait, actually).  Also, how amazing is that front door?!  Oh the decorating possibilities!  My dreams of owning a rustic old house have come true!

Last, the kitchen.  It looks so small in this photo but it's much larger in person.  Those pretty double doors are hiding the washer/dryer and the door to the left is the side entrance.  I really think that it will be amazing to cook in there, even if it isn't the huge kitchen like we hoped for.  It's still twice as big as our current one :)

There aren't too many updates we'll need to make when we move in - other than putting our touch on things.  There's a screened-in porch area in the back that we're planning to upgrade once we're settled and the huge backyard (we've got almost half an acre of land!) is a blank canvas for us to do whatever we please!

I can't wait to have your help with decorating ideas - it's going to be so much fun.

* All images via the KW listing, which I'd prefer to keep private

Have a celebratory weekend!

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Well, friends.  I have GREAT news!  We found our house, put in an offer and they ACCEPTED!  Pending upon the inspection, we'll be moving down south in a month and a half - gasp!  We're both over the moon with excitement about the move, having a yard, three times the space as our city apartment and well...everything else that comes along with it.  I'd be lying if I said there weren't any downsides to this all.  We're heartbroken to be leaving our friends here and there are certainly a lot of things we'll miss about living in Chicago.  I guess this is growing up, right?  

What's your weekend plan? I feel out of touch considering yesterday didn't seem to exist to Blogger.  The weather here has been so incredible but it's taking a turn for the worst and is expected to be back to chilly temps for awhile.  Way to be dramatic, weather.  Who knows what we'll do this weekend but as long as it involves something fun, it'll be all good.

Whatever you get up to this weekend - hope it's swell!

Weekend Recap

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Sorry this post is a day late...I failed to mention that I wouldn't be back until today.  What a wonderful weekend it was!  Louisville is gorgeous, especially at this time of year.  Spring has fully sprung - there are so many lovely trees everywhere fully in bloom, the daffodils along the side of the highway are big and bright yellow and everything is GREEN!  It's amazing, but it totally makes Chicago seem like the saddest place on earth.  When will our trees bloom? The ones outside our apartment don't even have buds on them yet!  Sad.

Not only did we have an amazing time with our friends and family, but we are so freaking close to packing up and moving down there.  While we haven't made an offer on a particular house or anything, we did find two that almost met every single expectation we have.  We're not that picky but it has to be perfect in order for us to buy it.  One house we loved, which looked so similar to the image from Friday's post (I thought it was a sign), was perfect in every way except that it had a tiny yard.  It was a lovely manicured yard that was already set up for a little vegetable garden like we want...but there was no way a dog could really run around back there.  We went back for a second visit the next day and just didn't love it the way we did the day before.  Funny how that happens.

The other house we loved is one that is still in the running for us.  It's kind of far away from everything we'll want to do in the city, but honestly it's not that far.  It's pretty much country living in the city.  It's on an old road that has lots of farms (one sells honey!) with horses (no stinky cows!) and there's a nursery at the tail end (and also a quarry).  The house itself is pretty awesome with incredible wood doors and a front porch with not just one, but three ceiling fans.  It's on a big lot and there are tons of beautiful old trees everywhere.  But it has its down sides too.  The basement is weird, with really low ceilings and it doesn't have a garage.  But that garage part can be fixed.

We've begun the financial process, we finally found an agent that we like and want to give business to.  We're going back soon, because we're both incredibly excited and ready.  It's meant to be, hoorah!

Some highlights of the weekend include ::

• Beers with all of our Louisville friends on Friday night, ending with a hot tub session
• A good day of house hunting and stuff
• Good food and beer from the Bluegrass Brewing Company
• Final Four games watched in the hot tub and also at a delicious Mexican restaurant with margaritas and queso!
• Brunch with my MIL followed by a not so good house hunting day but an eye-opening one
• Beers outside in the 78 degree weather at The Beer Store w/Raegan!
• Dinner at North End Cafe with so many wonderful people + great food

The weather was divine - sunny and 78 degrees.  Does it get any better than that?!  Needless to say, it was hard to come back.  But having the National Championship game to watch with friends back home made it much easier.  Speaking of, I read this article from NPR about last night's game.  It's a good read! My favorite quote ::

"On a stage this big, you don't want to win in such a way that the next morning, the story is the historically poor performance of the other team."

It was almost too hard to watch, right?!  

Have a comfy weekend!

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Well friends, it's Friday again!  We're taking off for another round of house hunting in Louisville.  I'm excited about our possibilities this time around; my fingers are crossed that we find something good.  It's hard work to house hunt.  It takes so much patience, and just when you think you know everything you want out of a house, something new presents itself.  We've been down to KY so many times since deciding to call it home.  While we always have fun there, these trips are pretty exhausting.  So we'd like to stop making them and just move in already :)

The house in the image above is something that I've been envisioning for quite some time.  We're looking at bungalows or cape cods or something of that nature, and I definitely already told my husband that I long to have a house painted dark blue.  The yellow door is super cute but I'm rather partial to red doors, or beautiful wood doors in their natural form.  So when I saw this image I got a little giddy, thinking it might be a sign of our future home to appear to us, no?

So what are all of you lovelies up to this weekend?  Hopefully it involves you being comfortable inside the places you call home!  Aside from house hunting, we'll be catching up with some most excellent friends and family - I can't wait!  Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Weekend Recap

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We had yet another fantastic weekend.  Busy, but fantastic.  I think that 2 of these in a row is a little much for us, especially for my incredibly busy, hard working husband.  We went down to Louisville, KY this weekend to a) spend time with the mister's family and b) to look for our future home.  While we didn't find "the one", we came close.  We are definitely getting there and I couldn't be more excited!  Some highlights include ::

• Walking through a few houses and getting the feel for that
• Beautiful weather, seriously
• Family dinner(s)!
• Seeing parts of Louisville that not only I had never seen but also he had never seen
• Going to our first open house, which was a seriously charming bungalow that came really close to being perfect
• Some incredible talks that we had on our way home
• The feeling that this gave me - it's so hard to describe but I feel really good about this and I can't really wrap my head around it

I've been wanting to ask you guys for awhile now...do you have experience with buying a home and would you be willing to share any advice with me?  I'd greatly appreciate hearing from you.  

How were your weekends?

House Made of Straw

Raegan introduced me to this blog awhile back and let me just tell you, it's really, truly an inspiring one.  A friend of hers from college writes and photographs everything, and it chronicles the adventures of building a house literally made of straw.

Beginning in February, they submitted plans to the city for their new house.  By March, they were breaking ground.

Throughout the spring and summer, a team of family and friends and a few professionals worked together to go from a plot of wooded land (jealous) to a nearly complete house (totally jealous).  

Here we are at present day ::

What progress, right?  I can't wait to see the finished product!  

* PS, aren't these photos fantastic?

Fantasizing

Since we're getting married so soon and all, the my mind is always on grown up things, like buying a home.  We've been saving up our monies and dreaming together of a fabulous house nestled in trees with a big yard, garage, and huge kitchen.  We know we are not going to find this house of ours in Chicago (nor do I want to for that matter) so the possibilities are endless at this stage.  This house is located in a suburb of Wyoming - not so much where I want to live but I'd take this house and fly it to the woods in Oregon in a heartbeat! 

This house is in the suburbs of an historic Dutch city and it looks out onto a brick wall.  While I prefer my view to be something more...er...breathtaking, the house itself would suit me just fine. 

This house, in New Zealand (awesome) is teeny weeny, but I don't care.  It's got such great character to it, and look at all that light! 

Last but certainly not least, this house....aaaaah, what a breath of fresh air.  This, is my ideal setting.  Nestled in trees with tons of greenery.  Oh how happy this would make me after being cooped up in the city for 5 years.  Of all the places in the country, this lovely house is located in Vincennes, Indiana.  I'm not sure what that location has to offer (close proximity to the soon-to-be-in-laws) but if we could live somewhere like here, for dirt cheap prices, I could consider it (I dont think so though, seriously, Indiana?!). 

That hallway!  Those shelves!  The airy quality! 

The openness!  That amazing leaf-green countertop! 

I think it's starting to show that I am the daughter of a man who once was an architect.  And a good one at that.  If only he were around still to design us the house of our dreams! 

Happy sunny + warm Thursday!

* All images via Dwell