Reflection of this year

It is amazing how much can change during the course of a year. This past year has been full of major changes for my family.

We got completely out of debt during the first part of the year (Earlier than expected I might add)

We both bought used cars that were a much better upgrade from the ones that needed a whole lot of work. One of which I managed to get for half what it was worth, because I am awesome like that ^_^

We bought our first house

I had my first garden that was not confined to just container gardening

We learned how to remodel aspects of our kitchen and paint large rooms

We learned what happens when the drywall is too thin (Kitchen cabinet falls down.. Though it would have whether we had moved them or not due to the walls)

My husband learned more about electrical wiring

We got to experience our first winter in our new home, and also learn what it is like to have all electrical heating (We will most likely be getting a gas line run to the house eventually to help solve that little problem)

We learned what weather stripping is and why windows need to be covered during the winter

We both got tablets this year, which has helped with a lot of other aspects of our lives.

Things with both of our jobs changed a lot. My husband used to be sent home a lot due to various reasons, which was not exactly wanted. His position has slightly changed and now they do not furlough him as often.
I went part time at my job at the end of this year.


My brother who lives with us has become fully independent, and it is interesting to watch how each individual starts their adult life with all the responsibilities it comes with.

We decided to make an Urban Homestead a reality when we were searching for a home this year, which was a major decision, since we passed up a lot of places due to most not having any yard space to speak of.

I started seeing someone for my anxiety and depression.

Had my first wisdom tooth extraction.

We put up our first painting. Previously we did not decorate much. It did not feel permanent enough to hang anything. I leaned a painting against the mantle of our old place but that was it. This year is the first year we actually felt something was ours and we should decorate it. That sounds like a small thing, but really it was a bigger deal than you might imagine.

We are both constantly learning new things and creating new projects. This is just some of the more prominent things that happened this year. I think life needs balance. I do not ever expect my year to be only filled with good things. We learn from both our successes and our failures. It will be interesting to see how many things we shall learn and accomplish in the coming year.

Fertilizing and growing the natural way

This is my first year at my urban homestead. With Autumn on it’s way I am prepping my land for next years gardening adventures. I have been thinking a lot about what goes into good garden soil.
I like making my own natural fertilizers and I am still experimenting with different blends.

Right now what I have to work with is a bit of old coffee grinds, egg shells, used and dried tea leaves (leave it in the bag or on a plate if loose leaf, and let it sit until it dries. It can then be dumped into a storage container) As well as veggie water/broth from blanching veggies.

I hope to this year start my compost pile, though that will not be ready for planting come Spring I do not think with how long it takes to transform into something usable. Still, it will be great to have in the coming seasons.
I will be piling up the grass clippings for the start of my compost pile.

If had a larger garden this year, and could have bartered my fresh herbs and veggies, for some aged chicken, rabbit, cow, etc manure to add to the compost pile, I would have. That is something I may look into once my garden produces a little more than my current small garden does.

I would also love to use things like seaweed and kelp in my yard but would rather wild harvest if I could. I will most likely see if I can find someone in the PNW coast that would be willing to dry some out and send it to me for my garden. I’d prefer to know where it came from rather than not.

I also would like to gather some willow leaves and stems to make a “tea” for my garden. That will most likely be on my wildcrafting to do list in Spring as I do not think I know anyone who has a willow tree growing in their yard.

Another thing I need to look into for Spring is picking up some rooting liquid (as my attempts at using honey have been a fail for that) and the other things you need to root cuttings. I find plants I wish I could take home with me all the time. I think I need to get into the art of rooting. It seems simple enough but I have not had success with anything from cuttings so far. I also have not tried it the proper way yet either. I am always looking for an alternative way to do something.

Pest control is another issue I need to tackle next year. I have a big problem with earwigs, ants, pill bugs, elder box bugs *which are a hybrid bug*, stink bugs, and I believe that is it for the ones I have a big problem with here. A friend of mine makes his own natural, plant safe, earth friendly, bug spray that I think I might have to give a try. He says it will work on the box elder bugs. Considering they are really going after my big silver maple, I have to get rid of them. I won’t use commercial pesticides, though they would not work on the box elder bugs anyways.

Dreaming of arbors and trellises

I got to have my fun in my garden yesterday. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to call it my own. To not have to worry about whether I can actually plant directly in the ground due to land lords. To only be limited by the space my house is on, both the land area itself, as well as vertically.

I have all of these wonderful ideas bouncing around in my head. My garden is ever evolving into something magickal.

Last night I decided I would not buy trellises and arbors (Aside from the $12 metal one I already got for the front yard) Instead, I will be building my own.
We need to prune the maple tree out back this Autumn, and I am hoping the branches I get end up making about 2 sturdy arbors. One for the three grape vines and one for my pumpkin and squash patch.

I want to make trellises for my beans, peas, cucumbers, small squash, etc, that have yet to be planted.

I have never constructed anything quite like this before. I had planned to purchase lumber at some point to build the arbors, but once I saw the ones made from branches, I fell in love. I have no idea what I am getting myself into but I can’t wait to give it a try.

Here are some of the inspirational photos I found on pinterest.












It is wonderful seeing our dreams become a reality. That being said, today will be focused on cabinets and wall outlets today. Cabinets are going back up tomorrow, so the base of the top ones need to be glazed and clear coated by then. I can finish doors, drawers, and the other lower half later.. Thankfully I think I only have 2 uppers to glaze, then I need to clear coat them all. If I have time, I will get to priming the pantry, which isn’t easily moved due to size… or get to painting other cabinet drawers and doors. As much as I am loving the cabinets, and love that I can do this to them, I am so ready to be done with them.

I just want to play in the garden all day, though this time with better protection from the sun. I got my first sunburn in years yesterday. Thankfully it is already turning into a tan. There is not really much more that can be done in the garden right now though. I planted everything I could.

I will say I love the reaction I get when I tell people how many tomato plants I planted, and that each are completely different varieties. My comment to it is “Well yea, it may seem like a lot, but the guy I got it from had like 56 varieties growing, and many of each type… So it is not really that many” I swear I am not a crazy tomato lady haha.

In any case, it will provide a good crop and I can actually get to some canning this year. I will create a masterfully delicious spaghetti sauce one of these days from scratch to go with my teriyaki garlic meatballs. Sounds weird I know, but they hold so much more flavor than traditional meat balls. I would share the recipe, though I don’t have exact measurements. I just know what goes into making them, and eyeball the amount of ingredients I need. Unless you cook like I do, or unless I could give an estimation, you would most likely not create quite the same thing. I cook with teriyaki and soy sauce all the time, but it is very easy to over do it with those if you do not know what you like.

Anyways, off to get coffee, get dressed, and get a jump on house things. Hope everyone is enjoying my posts.

Cabinet glazing and tomato plants

Today has been quite an eventful day. I ended up finding someone who was selling over 50, probably closer to 60 tomato varieties. He had plants that were about 1-2+ feet tall. I had about 2 hours before I would go to pick up some new tomato plants, and with a list that long, I had no idea what I would get. Most of the types he had I had never tried before. I did a lot of research on all 60 or whatever plants to see what ones would be sweet, and good for eating or making sauces from.

I went there with a list of 4 musts, then my “I really want” and then “If I can get these I will” with a total of 16 on the list for all three categories combined.
The guy was selling the plants for $1 apiece. I happened to have $8 in cash on me and decided I did not want 16 tomato plants, as that would be too many, but I did want a variety to try, so I decided 11 would be my goal.
I got to the mans house and told him I had $8 in cash, but that I had a list, and hoped he might work with me on the price a bit. The guy agreed to work with me, and in the end I ended up with 11 new plants without saying that was my target goal. So basically I got each plant for just under $0.75 cents instead of $1 each, which was very nice of him.

The 11 different varieties I got were:
Green Zebra
Brandy Wine
Speckled Roma
Sweet 100
Gardeners Delight
Gold Nugget
Mint Julep
Orange Strawberry
Sun Sugar
Wapsipinicon
Yellow Brandy

I have a few regular roma tomato starts at home that may end up making it to the new house as well. I plan to do a lot of canning, sauce making, salsa, munching on fresh tomatoes of course… So I am excited for my first harvest.

I will be planting them and supporting the vines very shortly. This was a spur of the moment purchase so I did not have time to gather all tools and supplies needed to plant them immediately. I put them on the chair to help keep them from falling over. They are already fruiting and will be a lovely addition to my urban homestead. Most of these are heirloom varieties that I will be saving seeds from in the future. I have to double check to make sure what ones are heirloom and what ones may not be.  Some of my choices were changed when I got to the guys house.

Did I mention I love the smell of tomatoes?

For those who do not know, NIghtshade is also in the tomato family, as is eggplant. Just a fun little fact there. People used to think tomatoes were toxic due to the relation.

So once upon a time….
Just kidding. So once I got my new plants, I went straight to the new house. I unloaded and watered the tomatoes for good measure. Today was a cabinet only day. Yes, lots of posts about the cabinets. It really is a multi step process.

I sprayed the bottoms of some that needed it, flipped and sprayed the other sides of a few, then coated some others that were only primed.

Then moved the finished ones to the corner of the living room

It is from this set that the doors started to evolve. I took my first shot at glazing with one of the smaller cabinet doors. I figured if I horridly fucked it up, it would be a smaller one, and easy to cover up with paint again.
To my great delight, my cabinet door came out amazing! I developed a technique of my own, and got all 3 doors finished that were ready to be glazed. I will still need to clear coat over the glazing, but this is the end result ^_^

Keep in mind, it was about 10pm when I finished, so the interior lighting put off a bit of a pinkish hue on the photos. They look great, though more amazing in person.

I had so much fun glazing these. My massive ball of nerves I had about the cabinets is slowly unraveling into confidence. I am really no longer freaked out about how they will turn out now that I am confident in my technique and actually can see the outcome.

Funny thing about it is I hated the old door knobs… They looked dated to me. While they are not in the photo, they actually ironically matched the new cabinets from what I was seeing tonight. They didn’t look so dated on these compared to the straight wood grain they were before. I may not spray paint the knobs after all…

Still have a ton more glazing to do, but I am happy to have gotten to this point now. This is the moment I was waiting for. To actually be able to envision the end result.

And as with every day I use the spray painter, my feet make me look like I am an African Tribesman. *blinks* or so my hubby joked. Sadly, I did not wear a band aid on my wound between my pinky toe since it had dried enough to not need one… Which means I have a thick layer of paint on that foot as well. Soaking feet will be a must tonight. Hopefully it will wash off without any pain from the bruising.

Update on renovation

I mentioned in an earlier post about the awesome door handle I got a steal of a deal on. Well I finally got photos of it after the hubby installed it. So much better than the crappy round door handle that stuck a bit,



Today we got the final coat of the tea bag color on the walls. We only have two areas that we need to fix and it will be done with that wall color.

Eventually I want to put either some metal art or plaster filigree up in the little triangle area that is its own level in the kitchen.

The tea bag color is in the kitchen, though sadly the photo makes it look more sandy than the light creamy green it actually is. Hopefully I will get better photos of the color.


Before I think I mentioned that the cabinets have been through some things. I have had to repaint a handful of them a few times. First time I painted the base, I had them outside.

They were on the two tarps but closer to the house… We of course forgot about the sprinklers. Thankfully mostly dry, we moved them onto the porch. I sanded areas that needed to be re-sprayed.

Next goof up was spraying several sets of cabinets and drawers on the tarp in the laundry room. Great space to do it in, but the tarp, while it was a good tarp, ended up with layers of paint and stuck to the cabinets, leaving weird textured chunks of paint on some of the cabinets. Thankfully the ones above, which are just primed, did not end up with any issues. The doors and such did in some areas though. The ones that did have issues got re-sprayed with the final coat after sanding.


So this time I decided to lay down different tarps in the back bedroom (future crafting room) and living room. I needed ample space to get the base coat on as many as possible. I am currently behind schedule by a little bit but thankfully not as far behind as I would have been if not for the spray gun.

I like this photo because it shows the creamy white with hints of yellow that the gilded endive paint has. While I am still nervous about the end result, I am excited to see it as well. This is the first time I have painted cabinets. I am crazy doing this all at once before testing it on one or some other wooden piece of cabinetry. I have not always been known to test something before jumping into it though. 98% of the time it works out great, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I managed to get 15 + pieces sprayed with the gilded endive. Still have all the drawers and a few other shelves/doors to paint. The lower section is not on a deadline like the upper section is. Those have to get put back up shortly, and I am trying very quickly to get them finished so they can be put back up on the wall.

I am excited to get to the actual glazing. I feel this is where my artist skills will come in handy. My family is loving the progress with everything so far. Walls are coming along nicely. Cabinets will become a French country dream.

Happy that today was a semi short day. Basically only needed to paint the kitchen and one other wall, then get as many cabinets sprayed as I could with the surface area I had available. I wish I could spray them all in one go but I just can’t due to needing to rotate them out for space reasons. They will all get painted. I just wish the color coat dried as fast as the primer does haha.  My brother brought his friend and having three people there to tackle the projects of the day made it go by much faster. I think we were only there about 4 or so hours? So not too shabby compared to the 9+ hour days we have been spending there as of late.
I actually get to relax and eat my mint chocolate chip ice cream ^_^

Day five of the renovation

Sadly this post will not have any photos due to leaving my phone at the new house accidentally.

So the boys got to the house early and got to the spray texture and second coating of paint. I showed up a few hours with food.

The first thought upon waking was one of “Oh shit…” We left the cabinets out back, no worries right? Well being that it is a new house we did not think to check and make sure the sprinkler system was off… For some reason when I woke this morning that was the first worry I had.
I called the boys and they confirmed they did in fact run but they were mostly ok and drying out. Basically upon inspection I just need to sand and repaint a few cabinets in a couple of spots. Honestly, if that is all that happens, I am fine. It is an easy fix and thankfully did not happen after the glaze will be put on.
Because of this little snag though, it did mean that the glaze is put on hold for today. I instead went to priming the lower cabinet drawers. I  got all but some of the doors done and the pantry. I will need to tape off and spray the actual unit the doors go into and the counter sits on after we finish painting the kitchen. We will let the paint dry and then tape it all up.

I used the sprayer to put the base primer on the drawers this time and boy does it really make things easier. The mask on the other hand feels impossible to breathe through :/
I would spray about 4 of them in the laundry room with a drop cloth underneath. They would take about 20 minutes to dry to the touch, then I would move the mostly dried ones onto the tarp in the bedroom, so I could lay out the next set to be primed.
I think I primed like 8 drawers? I honestly did not count so I am not sure.

The walls are looking so much better now with even just the first coat of the tea bag (light greenish) on the front wall. The previous color was a white with pink undertones. Yes, our favorite color is green if you did not realize this by now. We have always known we would want green walls.

All the utilities will be turned off tomorrow so we will have to get them turned on shortly after waking.

We keep finding things in the house that make us go “What the fuck were these people thinking doing it this way?!” but thankfully either it is easily fixed, or is mostly cosmetic.
Like for instance, painting over a patched up wall that every other area has spray texture on… So you have this big palm sized flat surface on a textured wall. Yea we fixed that. I would say they just didn’t care, but really I just don’t think they knew what they were doing. Funny thing is we barely know what we are doing and can do it a million times better. I guess some people have better beginners luck than others? Or maybe they did not bother to ask anyone at the store how to do it and what is needed.

One thing I have noticed when painting the walls is with the first coat I am freaking out that I made the wrong choice on wall color. With the first green, it looked like horrible green salmon camo when it was drying. Hard for anyone not to freak out a little. The second coat really made all the difference. Not to mention it is completely worth it for the $6 or whatever extra dollars for the paint and primer mix. I would not use anything else for this job. I chose satin for the paint type. Satin, as described to me is between a semi gloss and a matte. Matte being hardest to clean.

I am sure the tea bag will look exponentially better once the second coat is on there. I will say it is a little annoying that whoever painted the house did not know how to edge or use painters tape… I may have to go over some of the crown molding with white to fix some areas they got globs on.

We did not get into painting the kitchen today but it will happen tomorrow.  Still a lot that needs to be done but we are making good progress.

Kitchen cabinet photos

 It is hard to see the actual colors in the photo, but this is sort of my color palette. The green I have gotten 2 gallons of the paint primer mix. The green will go on two of the living room walls. The middle color was the plaster color I cannot use and will need to try and tone match it with another paint color. The brown is the eventual color of the trim.


The above have a double coat of primer.
In the photo below the bottom cabinet door has a double coat, the top one has a single.

The single coat still shows a lot of the grain. I did not think even with a paint and primer mix that it would not show through that. You can see how big of a difference that second coat makes below.


I painted the insides as well. Thought it would look weird if I did not.
The primer I used allowed me to not have to sand down the cabinets. I thought I would have to but the guy at Lowes assured me it would be fine if I primed them painted over it. The pour spout lid really helps keep the mess to a minimum, though it will spatter a bit when you close it.

Below shows the what the cabinets looked like before I got started on them.

Day two of renovation

I am so very nervous. We decided to take the leap and paint the kitchen cabinets. O_O
While I am quite excited for it, I am also nervous as hell that I will monumentally screw them up. The thing that my husband finds so amusing about this is I actually am an artist. I paint. I love to paint all the time… I just have never taken on a project like this before.
Not to mention the biggest home renovation we have done is patch, texture and paint a wall. Fix some crown molding,.. So nothing too big

The decision on whether to really completely change the cabinet look was tossed around quite a bit, but really was finalized when we found out we had to remove the cabinets in order to get rid of the horrid wallpaper. Mind you, this wall paper was damn near falling off the walls on its own.
They had put the cabinets up after the wall paper, and with the wooden pieces behind the cabinets, there was no way it would not be noticeable if we left it behind there. So cabinets are all pretty much removed but one right now.

I would like to mention that I do actually like the cabinets as they are. I like the look of natural wood. I just think it is so amazing we can actually change things in our home that we should take advantage of it and go a little outside our comfort zones to make it our own. I like wood floors and wood cabinets, though painting the cabinets will open up so many more options when we go to change flooring in the years to come. We do actually plan on putting in wood or pergo flooring.

Ok, back to the current.

Washed half of the hanging cabinets in addition to the walls that will soon be painted. I got one of the larger ones double primed. I was not happy with a single coat of primer. I also got 75% of another one single coat primed so far. I will have to get photos of the painting process tomorrow.

I am using this blogs post for inspiration for the cabinets. http://porchswingsnhoneysuckle.blogspot.com/2013/02/paint-and-glaze-cabinet-tutorial.html

Mine will be the same basic idea, though I am not using a stark white for the base. Since my glaze is antique, and not the same tone as hers, I thought blending might be easier if there was already a slight bit of color to the base.

I am lucky enough to have great friends who have let me borrow some tools and a ladder. My sister, brother, and my sisters boyfriend are being awesome with helping tear down and clean things. I can’t imagine how we could even begin to do all of this without  the extra help. There is absolutely no way we could have done anything to the kitchen without them.

We decided we cannot take down the second layer of wallpaper with the way it was put up without having to re-drywall the whole kitchen. Since it is already sealed, we decided we would patch it, spray texture as planned, and then paint over it instead. Not the ideal situation but pretty much the only option at this point.

For the cabinets I recommend using a faster method than a brush and roller. I am sure a sprayer would have been a million times faster. I am tempted to look into the prices of one for the final color coat before the glaze.

I still need to get the paint for the kitchen and part of the living room. That will be for another day.

For now here are some photos of what we have done so far, minus the cabinet painting progress.


My handsome man tackling that wallpaper like a boss. Ok, so in reality anyone who breathed on it could probably remove it, but that is not the point.


Ugly wallpaper number 3.. There was a total of 3 different wall paper styles. Don’t ask me what they were thinking.


All removed except for the cabinets and what is behind them.


Look at that mess! Would you believe me if I told you we swept it up into a snow shovel because we could not find the dust pan? Yea, we can be a little crazy.

 
My sister and her boyfriend are in the above photos. I would say they are helping, but I don’t know if this counts as my sister helping haha. She was actually a big help but I had to say that anyways.


As you can see the separation between the wall and the cabinets shows the ugly wallpaper.

We started a bit later today than we had hoped to. We normally work late nights so our sleep schedules are much different. We wanted to start around 3pm but we really only picked a few things out and actually got started much later than that :/ Yea… We are new to this. It is a learning curve. We will get it down though and it will be amazing sauce when finished!

It has been a long day. Did not get done until about 11pm. I am sore and tired but it is so worth it. Actually feeling like I am getting more things done in the day than the day before. I am still nervous but really excited to see how it all comes out. To go from not decorating our rentals aside from the mantle really… to decorating and painting… It is a huge change and a much needed one at that.

Buying the right house

Finding the house:
Finding the house was not easy but then at the same time ended up being really easy. I know, I just contradicted myself. I will explain.
My husband have been looking for a house on and off for the past several years. We have gone through different jobs between all the looking. Almost ended up in a house we could certainly not afford due to people willing to push funding through despite lack of funds… Thankfully the whole deal turned rotten and we got to continue on the path of finding a home.
After the previous experience turning sour, we held off on looking for a few years at least. The idea of buying a home was quite nice to us again at another point, so we spoke with a trusted mortgage lender who gave us a much different pre-approval amount than the first one had. This guy was more realistic and explained what we needed to do to build our credit, and what kind of income we needed to approve for a better price range.
We had some work ahead of us at that point. I needed a better paying job. Some small debts needed to be paid off completely. Other things always pop up to eliminate savings one finds. So finally we got approved a few months ago for a lower end price range, yet still quite doable.
We started the search yet again for a home that would meet all our internal home requirements, as well as my need for external yard space. We looked a lot of homes we thought were in our price range, but when we ran the numbers, if anything were to ever come up, it would turn into an emergency cash finding situation. We did not want to be putting out exactly what we both made a month, especially if either of us had to take time off, or take a pay cut. It seemed all the homes were starting in the price range we approved for at the highest end. Once again, our house hunting was put on hold.
Not even two weeks later, our awesome real estate agent posted up some new listings that were between $20k and $55k lower than our original home search. We were quite excited at the change of listings and decided to look at some of the possibilities. We looked at 4 or 5 homes that next day after confirming which ones we wanted to see from the list.
Walking into the home we now own, we loved it immediately. After seeing homes with less square footage, less land, and all the wrong layout, this was a serious breath of fresh air. It had pretty much everything we needed as well as some things we just wanted. It seemed every other home there was something major lacking in it to put a kink in it, and make it a deal breaker. Now, that is not to say this home does not need some work. Being that the home was built in the 80s, it does need some updating, but other than that it is perfect.
We decided not long after seeing the home, heck, we barely even finished looking at the home before I could contain my desire to ask my husband if he wanted to put an offer on it as much as I did. Thankfully we both absolutely loved it, and for the price, we knew it would not come across anything better in this market.
We put an offer on the house the next day. Lots of paper work, switching lenders yet again, and still staying on the projected close date somehow, we closed on our house this month. I am really grateful for all the people we have had helping us through this process.
One thing that I found to be quite different from the usual, was that the 2 hours and several inch stacks of paperwork you normally sign for the final closing, actually was only about 40 minutes with a decent stack. They must have come up with a more efficient method for cutting down the pains of signing your life away. I personally think of it is signing your new beginning… but that is just me.
I have no problems signing paperwork for the house, even with the cost of the house. The way I see it is you are going to be paying hundreds of dollars on rent every month.. Why not pay it towards a mortgage? It is all the same amount of money (sometimes) so why not invest it in a home you own, rather than a living situation that takes away your creative decorating abilities, as well as could go sour. As you might guess, both have happened for us. We are quite happy to now have control over our living situation more now than we did renting.
When someone becomes upside down on their mortgage and has to sell, no matter how nice they are as landlords, you have to move… and moving is not fun on the drop of a dime. That is not to say renting cannot be awesome. Both renting and owning has its up and down sides.
So, a little about the house itself.
Our new house sits on .18 of an acre, which is smaller than I had originally wanted, but it works out just fine with the way the yard is laid out.
It is just over 1600sf. Our current place is about 1100, maybe just over, so it will be great to have the much needed space.
3 bedroom, 2 bath. Master bath is a little small, but it will work for our needs, and there is room to expand if we ever wanted to renovate it.
There is office space for my husband, two crafting/lab spaces for me… one is not currently finished, the other will turn into a guest room most likely once the bigger shop in the back is finished for my personal uses. The detached shop was a huge bonus for me for so many reasons. It was honestly more than I ever expected to find.
The kitchen is much larger, though ripping out the wallpaper seems like it might be a frightening task here soon.. I think someone used wood glue on parts of it. Why someone would do that I do not want to know.
It is a single story house. We originally wanted multi story, but I am not complaining. The shop I will use for my creative projects in the back has a loft area anyways.
One downside is that the property just has a gravel driveway. No car port, no garage… So since we do not wish to shovel show off our cars every day in the winter, we plan to build a car port off of the house to protect from the elements. Considering every other house around here that was $55k more even did not have any of those either, it was an inevitability we would need to build one. I am just happy we have the space to do it, though it will be a new thing for us to learn to build.
Another small downside is no more gas stove to cook on unless we want to find out how much it will cost to run a gas line to the house. I am not thrilled with switching back to electric, but it is something we can look at changing in the future.
The house is in the city we want. It is in the area of the city we wanted. It is a little bit out of the way, but right next to a major high speed road, so really it does not take much longer to get places than it did at the place we were renting. The commute was a concern with my husband until we had to stay at a hotel not far from the new place for a week, thus providing us with an idea on the new commute times. He seemed relieved to find it was not as bad as he expected.
Every time I go to the house I notice things that show even more that this house was meant to be ours. We wanted a cherry tree in the yard, or two.. And finding out one of the previously unknown trees in the yard is in fact a cherry was one. The neighbor has a currant or gooseberry bush that is partially hanging into the yard was another. Currant bushes symbolize protection, and I plan to plant more of those as well. Seeing that one just told me that our house was already being protected, even if not fully on our land. The fact that the exterior of the house and shop were painted green, both of our favorite color, also was another sign. Not to mention wanting a big mature tree, and having at least 4… not to mention one being a big maple, which works as a wonderful shade tree. Shade trees help cut down heating and cooling costs, for those who do not know why they are important to have.
All in all the process brought feelings of excitement, nervousness, anxiety, fear, frustration, surprise, and happiness. It was a roller coaster, but one well worth it. Yes, we may have not bought a house as soon as we wanted to, but our needs changed, our budget changed, really a lot changed. I am also one to feel if one door closes, it is so another can open. Every time we hit a road block on this journey, it was so something even more amazing could happen. When one house did not pan out, the next was even better.. When one lender did not work out quite as expected, the next one had better rates… So really the bad moments were not so bad, just a bit nerve wrecking until the good news came back. I feel there has to be balance in everything. This process literally had the most equal balance of good and bad moments I have yet to see in a single event. I don't think it could have worked out any other way honestly.


My tips for finding the right house:
Make up a list of MUST HAVES as well as WANTS but do not NEED.  Knowing where you can compromise on is a really big deal. Understanding that you will most likely not get everything on your list is also important.
Another good thing to put down is if you do not have one item, what other item would you need to make that ok. For a good example, we needed 3 bedrooms, but both my husband and I needed work spaces.. So we said we needed 3-4 bedrooms, but could do fine with 3 if there was another office, bonus room, or dining area that we could convert into usable office/crafting space. We ended up having more space than expected, and his office is actually now in what was once a separate dining room.
Thinking outside of the box on space really helps.

Do you want something move in ready or are you ok with renovations? Do you have the required skills to do major renovations? For us, we are ok with cosmetic renovations, but we did not want a big house that needed walls ripped out, or bathrooms to be completely gutted before moving in. Yes, we may very well rip out the master bath eventually, but right now it is ok, and not an immediate need. The shop is a big job, but we will get help with that, as well as it is not something we have to finish before moving into the house. Finding the line for what you will or won’t do, not to mention the costs included in doing that, is something you really need to discuss before getting a house.

Get pre-approved for a loan. Know where you stand budget wise. Run the numbers over and over. Make sure that new mortgage you approve for supports your style of living. If you eat out a lot, or go clothes shopping all the time, you may not want a large mortgage. Know where you can save and what you have available to spend.
It is also not a bad idea to shop around for lenders.

Check your credit. We used Credit Karma, which is free, to get an idea on our scores before going in. The better your credit, the better the rates. If your credit is not the best, pay off debts. Make sure the debt to income ratio is low. Having open credit cards with no balance on them helps. Pay bills on time, etc.. Keep in mind it can take 1-3 months for a paid off card to reflect good on your credit. That being said, if you are really young and have no credit, that does not mean your credit is perfect, it means you have no proof you are dependable to pay bills on time… So you will need to build up credit before they will even look at approving you. Get a credit card, buy something, pay it off immediately, etc. It is never a bad idea to get advise on how to build your credit up.

Make sure you have been in your line of work for at least a year.

Make sure your realtor is looking in your best interest and not the sellers. Do not work with a realtor who is also representing the seller. It is really hard for someone to work neutrally between both parties. We encountered this with the first home we found. We did not have a realtor and were just working directly with their realtor and the sellers themselves. I highly recommend not doing this. The deal fell through and there was no one there to make sure the deal was fair on our end, looking out for our interest, as first time home buyers.

Don’t buy the first home you look at. It is really easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of looking at homes. Even if you come back to that first home and end up buying it, still look at others for comparison on what you can get. No one wants to regret buying the home they did. By looking at other homes you give yourself options.

Think about how much yard space or land you want. Do you want a tiny plot of land for low maintenance? What would you use the land for? Do you plan to mow a lawn or pay someone else to do it for you? For me, land could have been, and was a deal breaker for quite a few homes we looked at. I could have loved the house, but would have been heartbroken if I did not have at least a little space to grow something.
Another thing to think about when it comes to land is do you care if it is a shared space, fenced, or not fenced, or how much privacy do you want? Keep in mind that fencing does cost quite a bit. Do you have the budget to fence your yard? I was not ok with shared spaces. I like my privacy. While the new place has a fence, it is maybe 4 feet and chain link, so not much privacy. Rather than spend thousands on fencing, I am planting trees and bushes instead. Again thinking outside the box.

Does your state offer tax credits for your home? Sometimes there are tax credits related to home buying, home improvement, etc.. It is always good to ask about these and see if you can save some money by utilizing these. We have not spoken with our tax professional yet. We go through the same person each year since it is smart to have someone who helps when you are not single any longer. She helped us know what we should put on our W4s once married to insure we would not owe any money back. Things like that can really help make your tax season awesome. Our lender emails us helpful information about tax breaks and credits that we should ask our tax professional about. As always, save receipts, and any approved donation receipts.
  Since we are moving there is a lot to go through in the garage being that we won’t have one to store things in. Garage sale and donations will most likely be our course of action there. I found out not every used store donation can be counted towards your taxes, it is only certain ones… I thought it was interesting to find that out.

Find moving boxes at local stores rather than pay for them. You would be surprised how much the boxes alone would cost for the move when each box is $1-3… Our landlord had a restoration crew come in and rip out all the floors due to a bathroom leak. They packed up most of our stuff but did not unpack it. We decided to keep the items in the boxes for the next month in prep for the move. We saved boxes from our initial move here, and then plan to get some from the grocery store for the last few.

Make checklists and question lists for everything as you think of it. Trust me when I say things will easily be forgotten. It is best to keep thoughts as organized as possible.

Find out if your house is in a flood zone.

Decide if you want to be in an HOA or not. We did not want to be in an HOA, though some people do because it can help with the resale value of the home. HOA does come with fees though, so bare that in mind when deciding upon it.

Are there any extra perks for the loan or land if you live in one city vs another. For us, moving to the city we did had the bonus perk of irrigation, so we do not have to pay for the outside water. Being that I want a large garden, this was a big bonus for me not having to pay for the outside water expenses. This is not available in the other city we were looking in. Some areas also are limited on whether they offer 0 down or down payment assistance. There is a city near us that offered 0 down because they were trying to get more people to move to the area. Talk to your lender about what is available in the areas close to the one you want to be in. It might change your mind.

Commute. How far are you willing to travel for work? Does that distance change if you are near a high speed or state highway? Sometimes you can live farther out but commute time will be the same depending on the roads, speed limits, and traffic flow. We lucked out being near a high speed road. It allowed us to be farther out but not have a terrible commute time.

Gas or electric. Does it matter to you if the house has gas or electric heat  and oven? It mattered for me as I love to cook, sadly our home did not come with gas, though should easily enough be able  to get a gas line ran to the house. Something to think about when buying a home.

What internet and tv options are available in that area? Will there be a fee if you have to switch providers when you move?

How much time to do you have to search, close, pack, move etc?

I am sure I could think of a ton more things to ask yourself but this should suffice for examples for now.

I would love a victorian cottage in the woods

I am completely awestruck.
I found this house on Vintage Girl's Blog
You have to cross a stream to get to it.

 On her blog it says that she renovated, extended and decorated this tiny former hunting cabin on a budget of $3,000. Using salvaged goods, vintage finds and shopping at flea markets and garage sales. I thought it was an amazing inventive idea that I would defiantly do if I had the money and the right hunting cabin in the right location to renovate.

 She made a loft style bedroom in the cabin that you can access via ladder.

 The main living area is quite small but for a retreat it's not a problem. I would not mind having one this size, though a little bigger might be nice for having friends over for tea. It is not big enough to be a full time living residence though unless you dont have many things and do not mind cramped quarters, which some do not mind at all. I really do love the decorating done in this place. She did a fantastic job.

I love the uniqueness of this little house.... and to imagine, it was a ugly brown hunting cabin before it turned into this. One can do some amazing things if they think out of the box and see beyond the surface.
It would be a ton of fun to plan out and create.
Yet another little house idea I would love to get my hands in doing.
Who's with me?! ha ha