One Year Later

It's been one year since Derrick and I took on the biggest debt of our lives.

Actually it was a year ago on Friday but I was out of town. I thought I'd recap some of what I've learned and how we're feeling a year later.

Here is our house on the day of our inspection. This view is pretty much exactly the same except for browner grass and more weeds.

I used to always start getting the itch for a change of scenery after about a year of living in one place. I guess it's because college makes you feel so nomadic and I moved every year for most of my college years. It wasn't long after moving into our apartment that I was on the MLS every night looking at houses and imagining buying one one day.

I have to say, a year later I don't have the itch to move at all. I still love our house and I love making it ours. I think it helps that I can change the house and do whatever I want to to it so I always have a giant list of projects that I want to do. Every project kind of feels like an exciting new fresh start so instead of wanting to move to get a change of scenery I'm getting a change of scenery every time I paint a room or get a new piece of furniture.

Here's are a few thoughts on being a home owner to our particular little house.

1. Our location is AWESOME. We love it here. Now when I look at houses that are more then half a mile to a grocery store I can't help thinking how inconvenient that would be. First world problems? I think so. We can walk to a grocery store, Wednesday night trivia, to fill up our roo cups, and to grab dinner at several dog friendly restaurants. We've also been known to jog for bagels on the weekends. Those days I feel particularly hip.

2. Yard work is hard! We have .27 acres and I already see the value of those zero lot line houses or townhouses. That being said, I wouldn't change it yet. I think we'll love having  a yard with kids....especially with woods in the back that they can explore and collect snake and spider bite immunities. But for now, keeping up with the weeds and trying to keep our grass green is proving more difficult then I originally thought. It doesn't help that summer is when it all goes crazy and our schedules go crazy at the same time.

Here you'll find our rarely seen and highly coveted weed garden. If you're looking to weedscape contact me for more details and to find out if weedscaping is right for you!

3. Neighbors. I wish we knew our neighbors better and I'm making an effort to make more conversation. Our neighbor directly to our right is great and we chat regularly but we don't really know anyone else besides getting/giving a friendly wave. A house on our cul-de-sac just closed yesterday and I've already got cookie mix ready for when I see the moving truck in an effort to make a good impression and meet some more people.

4. House Maintenance: We've been very lucky that we haven't had any major issues. We've had to call our home warranty to repair our heat once and replace two sets of toilet guts but other then that we've been pretty good. There is one spot of rotted wood I want to get addressed before it spreads but we've been lucky. That being said, our house turns 9 next year so we're approaching some system failures I'm sure.

5. Paint colors: I'm still on the fence about the paint colors in our house. We've painted our master bedroom, office, laundry room, and super bowl room stripe. The green in the living room is growing on me.

I'm still not sold on the green in the guest room even though everybody tells me they like it.

Other then that we're slowly weeding the brown out of our lives. The office is brown no more, I have plans for the dining room, and the foyer/superbowl room will just have to stay for now because it's two stories tall.

6. Speaking of downstairs guest room. LOVE it! We use it so much. We must have someone staying in our guest room at least 3-5 times a month and it's so nice that they have their own space and bathroom.

Ok, now I feel like I'm just rambling. Long story short we LOVE our house and are never ever moving! Everybody says we will and that we'll want to upgrade or downsize or whatever but right now I am happy to be blissfully naive of any future desires to move.