Archive for November, 2010
To The Tune Of Katy Perry’s “Hot N’ Cold”…
… WE’VE BOUGHT AND WE’VE SOLD!
Well not really, but we’re headed in that direction. As of 5:57 pm yesterday evening we got word that the the last of our negotiations with some potential buyers of our house have gone through, so the contract on our home is officially “pending.”
Which means that the contract that we’ve got in on our new dream house (yes, we fiiiinally found one) should move right along as well (since it was contingent on selling ours first). In fact if all goes well, in a little over a month we’ll be moving from our current house directly into our new casa. Holy bananas. We’re geeking out over here (high fives, jazz hands, the charleston, my own spin on the Elaine-from-Seinfeld dance, the whole nine).
You’ll have to excuse us for not sharing anything sooner. We just wanted to be sure this new found casa could really be ours before getting all excited-slash-attached and making a big ol’ blog-nouncement about it (it would’ve been such a buzz kill if things fell through). But now that both contracts are well underway (inspections have even been completed) and are only dependent on the lending process going smoothly – which should be fine, fingers crossed – we’re ready to shout the good news from the rooftops internet.
We’ll fill you in with all the how-we-priced-&-marketed-&-sold-our-house-by-owner details soon, but first let’s chat about our new house. We’re on the brink of obsessed. Picture us doodling our new address with hearts all over our notebook. It’s a total throwback to how can’t-sleep-excited we were about our current house back in 2006. And we’re so grateful to have that feeling wash over us again – especially because we were beginning to doubt that we’d find anything that gave us butterflies. But the moment the front door swung open and we found ourselves standing in our future entryway (complete with some amazing built-ins) we just knew. Which means I broke out my creepy permasmile and probably scared the realtor. So much for a poker face.
Speaking of the realtor, we ended up using a buyer’s agent after calling her to see one of her listings and, well, one thing lead to another and she ended up showing us this other home that she felt would be a better fit. We were skeptical at first because it was one we had already nixed during a late night realtor.com hunt. Why did it get nixed? Get this. It had a carport.
I stupidly decided that we strongly prefer an enclosed garage (for storage reasons, bug control reasons, and so-people-don’t-know-when-we’re-gone reasons). So I ruled out all homes with carports. Little did I know that odd parameter was keeping us from finding The One. So we begrudgingly agreed to see the house anyway, and the rest as they say is history. Even more amazingly, the sellers of the house were offering a credit to cover the entire cost of enclosing the carport to create a garage. Is that proof that it was meant to be or what? So the lesson here is to widen those parameters because your perfect house might be right under your nose (and hiding behind a carport).
But enough jibber jabber, let’s meet the future Casa Petersik. Admittedly, it’s not a Jeff Lewis exterior (yet) but we probably wouldn’t buy it if it was already there. And yes, it’s more than a little reminiscent of our current home at first glance, but the inside is larger, more flexible, and it runneth over with potential.
THE STATS:
- Age: 1960′s
- House size: around 2,400 square feet
- Lot size: .75 acres (almost exactly the same size as our current lot, but it’s more square and less long & narrow)
- Bedrooms: 4
- Bathrooms: 3
THE PROS:
- Gave us that “this is IT” feeling the moment we walked inside
- Open & flexible floor plan that will accommodate a growing family and a home-based business
- Three modestly sized bedrooms just like the ones we have now PLUS a large master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom & a walk-in closet
- Great blank slate with tons of potential (we love all the projects that we see when we look around)
- Large centrally located kitchen- which makes it perfect for family gatherings (we can’t wait to knock out some walls)
- Amazing neighborhood near our family with great schools (it’s actually very close to where we live now)
- It’s a ranch, just like our first love house (we were open to all house types, but 50 yr old ranches never fail to steal our hearts)
THE CONS:
- A bit larger than we expected we’d like (but still very much within our budget)
- The landscaping will be more of a challenge than our current home’s (but we do love a challenge)
- There’s a carport (but oh happy day, we get a credit to transform it into a garage)
- The lot is less private than our current lot (but we have plans to change that)
- We can’t think of anything else (we’re blinded by love I tell you)
Oh, and I guess we can meet this one minus the artistic photoshop filter. Ooh. Ahh. So crisp and non-blurry.
We’re so glad that we found our perfectly imperfect house. The potential is so thick you can cut it with a knife. So cross your fingers that all continues to go well for everyone’s loans and that we end up closing in mid December without any hiccups. Until then you’ll find us gushing about our future home, playing around with paint swatches, brainstorming all sorts of layout ideas, virtually shopping for every room, charging the batteries in John’s drill, organizing and paring things down, packing, and just generally being freakishly excited. We can’t wait to share the next chapter of our lives with you guys.
Mood Board Making: Hunting Lodge Chic
We have no idea what our future living room will actually look like, but today this is what I’m loving:
- Soft gray walls (like Benjamin Moore’s Light Pewter) with crisp glossy white trim
- A huge comfy sectional (with washable covers- score) in a gray-brown hue. The fact that this baby is $848 has me permasmiling.
- Some sort of woven round ottomans (like these) that can be moved around for casual texture that can double as extra seating in a pinch.
- This sleek TV stand in high gloss gray from Ikea (we figure a room that’s big enough for a large sectional will probably dwarf our current TV stand, so we might need to go a bit bigger).
- A lovely wool rug like this one with a gray and lime green modern design- although the price for an 8 x 10 (which we’d need with a large sectional) has us sweating a little. Maybe it’ll go on sale?
- This cool white deer head hanging above a fireplace or even above a nice wide doorway (it would look so great with our exotic animal-inspired lime and caramel colored zebra pillows).
- These aforementioned pillows.
- Some bold green curtains like these (which we could DIY with fabric and hem tape, just like the ones we made for Clara’s nursery).
So there you have it. All the items that are floating around in my head for our future living room- at least at this moment. I’m so friggin’ impatient. I’m like that kid in the back seat asking “are we there yet?” every two seconds.
Beware Of Sink Holes
Since “holes in granite slyly covered by soap & lotion dispenser plus a bottle of Ms. Meyers cleaner” doesn’t really belong on a For Sale listing…
…we finally took the time to solve our hidden hole issue in the kitchen.
These two little buggers are leftover from when we swapped faucet fixtures and no longer needed all four holes (but we actually appreciate that they’re there because they keep things flexible for anyone who might want to switch out the fixture someday and accommodate an in-counter soap dispenser and a separate sprayer again). We’ve mentioned before how we’ve just been covering them with soap bottles and many of you have politely nudged us to seal them up more securely. And let’s just say the prospect of having a home inspector coming ’round was the final push we needed to abandon our current “out of sight, out of mind” approach.
Luckily the solution was a mere $4 thanks to these babies from Lowe’s (yup, they were less than two dollars a pop).
It only took us about 5 minutes to screw these faucet hole covers into place (though it did require two sets of hands).
We especially like that it allows us to declutter the countertop even more whenever folks come over for showings. Sorry Ms. Meyers, but you’re officially banished back to your proper place under the sink. Although any new homeowner who wants to go back to storing their soap on the counter could easily hide the hole covers again if that’s more their style. We actually really like the more open look though.
So yes, we’re kicking butt and taking names around here in the home improvement department. How you like me now?
I’m kidding. This was the easiest project ever, which required no tools. Yawn. Can’t wait to tackle big transformations again in that elusive future house of ours. In the good news department, we think we’re closing in on it. Counting down the minutes. (Note: This isn’t teasing. We can’t announce anything yet because nothing is really for sure. We’re just closing in. We hate that these things take time, but hey, they do).
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winners. Click here to see if you’re one of them!
Mmm, pickles.
That title will make sense in a minute. But first we’ll show you what John’s sister Emily’s front entryway has looked like for the past three years that she’s lived in her amazing casa (which you can virtually tour here).
And here’s the after, thanks to a new color on the door and some semi-transparent stain on the deck that leads to it (oh yeah and some pumpkins).
Here’s how we landed on the door color and the stain hue. First I came over with a bunch of paint swatches and we held them up to the door to see what would work with the smoky gray color of the house.
We easily narrowed it down to a few favorites (Cornichon, Lagoon, Duck’s Egg, Egg Yolk, and Sultana – all by Martha Stewart).
Then after a bit more deliberation both Emily and her hubby Todd decided they loved Cornichon the best by far. And I must say I agreed. They really wanted their house to look hip and a little funky, so they appreciated that it wasn’t an obvious color that could be found on many doors. It also looked really great with the house color as well as with deep wood tones (since they also planned to go dark with the wood deck that leads to the door).
With the front door color narrowed down, it was time to select the exact hue for the deck, and we all decided on something rich and brown but not too opaque (a semi-transparent stain by Behr called Premium Plus Deck Stain in the color “Wood Chip”).
After all those decisions were reached, it was time for the deck to get power washed, stained, and then for the door to get two coats of semi-gloss latex exterior paint in our favorite Cornichon color by Martha.
We think it really gives off a confident “how YOU doin’” vibe that feels cool and welcoming. And Emily and Todd couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.
So we thought we’d share that quick curb appeal makeover with you guys in case you’re debating a new front door or deck color. It really can make all the difference, right? And now Em and Todd are excited to complete the transformation with a few more details (like more planters, cool house numbers, and a big modern welcome mat). Gotta love a makeover that makes you excited about things like doormats and planters.
Are any of you guys getting ready to paint your house’s exterior or otherwise turn up the dial on your home’s curb appeal? Tell me all about it. Oh and I promised the title would make sense so here ya go: cornichon, the name of the front door paint, means pickle in French. And thanks to my 9th grade French teacher I was in the know from the moment we selected it as our favorite swatch (thanks Madame Cruger-Langer!). Snookie would be proud.
I Want A Bean Feast
Does anyone get that reference? Willy Wonka. Remember the bratty girl who wants the world and sings about it? One of the lines is “I want a feast… I want a bean feast.” At least I’m 80% sure that’s what she says and it has always struck me as weird. Wouldn’t you want a candy feast or a mac & cheese feast as opposed to a bean feast?
Anyway, moving on. The point is not that I want a bean feast, it’s that I want a lot from our next house just like that bratty girl who turns into a giant blueberry (correction: a few smart commenters/Willy Wonka experts have since informed me that I’ve mixed up my girls and the bratty girl was Veruca Salt, who wasn’t the one who turned into a blueberry). Oh well, the picture still makes me laugh. The point? I want a Jeff Lewis house. That’s realistic, right?
Allow me to explain. Many of you know about my obsession with Flipping Out, and those who watch probably get my reference to a Jeff Lewis house. He is pretty darn amazing at taking a house that’s reasonably modest (and usually ranchy or just plain stout looking) and turning the dial from dated to I-don’t-know-how-he-does-it amazing. So although John and I go back and forth about whether we need another three bedroom house with the addition of an office or whether we actually want a four bedroom house (it’s kind of the same difference, right?) we always come back to the same thing when we stalk MLS and drive by every house that even remotely fits our specs: is it a Jeff Lewis house?
See, there’s a sweet spot. It can’t be too amazing looking off the bat. That would be too easy for Jeff – and we’ve also learned with our house that a good after is semi dependent on a pretty spare and unamazing before. Otherwise it’s just a tweak. In other words, something that’s a nine is easy to make a ten, but we like aiming low… for a three perhaps, and trying to bring that up. Plus plain potential-filled houses are less expensive than their shiny all-done counterparts, and it all goes back to one thing: we’re cheap.
Does it mean that we’re destined to end up with another ranch (since Jeff does his fair share of ranch-tastic makeovers)? Maybe. We’re definitely open to everything as long as it’s old and not too big (we like character and a bit of coziness) but I can’t say that I don’t get a little misty eyed at the idea of finding another long, low-to-the-ground-ranch to call our own. Especially one in need of a peaked roof or a new porch.
How has this odd JL obsession worked out? Well, the “is it a Jeff Lewis house” question that we ask ourselves as we search is a good one. It easily allows us to drive by a house that’s completely fabulous and say “next” (instead of getting all caught up in how perfect it is) and it also allows us to squint at some really sad exteriors and play WWJD (what would Jeff do). We imagine this evaluation tool will also carry over when we’re actually touring houses because we know all about how we can open doorways or refinish floors (been there done that) and we also have a few Jeff Lewis tricks to reference going into house numero dos (like the use of dark stain on exposed beams or raw stone on fireplaces or even a rich saturated wall color- hey you never know). We definitely want to put a unique stamp on our next home as opposed to just cloning our first one.
In summary: I don’t want a bean feast, I want an ugly house with a whole lotta room for improvement. And I wouldn’t be mad if Jenny, Sarah, and Zoila were around for support. Just saying.
What about you guys? Do you loathe him? Love him? Don’t know who the heck I’m talking about? Either way you must have heard of Zoila right? She’s a modern day Rosie from the Jetsons.
Blueberry girl image courtesy of Willy Wonka (the original). The images of homes/rooms by Jeff Lewis above are from here, here, and here. Sweet Zoila’s from here.
