Why We Chose Our House

I've been reading a fun blog hop this week (I'll tell you more about it Saturday) where the bloggers share the reasons behind the houses they chose to buy. The bloggers live in houses of all shapes and sizes, all over the country, in town and out in the country. I love reading their stories, though!

Even though I'm not on the hop, I thought it was a fun topic, so I thought I'd tell you some of our favorite things about our house! Of course if you've been reading here for very long, you have seen the transformation we put our move-in-ready house through when we bought it. It was in great shape, but we did many things to put our personal touches on it. And we'll probably keep right on doing that as long as we live here! Always freshening, always sprucing, always dreaming.

But even though it may look different from when we first arrived, here are the things we loved the most when we saw it the first time!

***

You've heard us say it before: we aren't even really sure why we looked at this house when we found it online. There were some pretty strong checklist items it didn't meet for us. But the year we moved, the market was hot (much like it is right now in our city) and we had more than one house showing canceled on us, because the houses sold right out from underneath us before we could get there to see them. So maybe we went with this one because we could get in the door.

But before we got inside the door, we fell in love with the porch.

It looked different back then. It had a railing across the front, and the people who lived here had a porch swing (with umbrella) nestled into that porch. But there was something just delightful about this little cove of a porch, overlooking a quiet street. It seemed like the place to sit on summer evenings, clutching a cup of coffee, and listening to cicadas.

And indeed, we have done that! We eventually got rid of the railing (and embraced the previously obstructed view) and purchased a little patio furniture set that would allow us to enjoy front porch living. We still love our little porch. It is as welcoming to use each day now as it was that first day when we walked on its old carpet for the first time. (We're working on getting rid of that, too, by the way, and introducing a more timeless, less goose-poop-magnet look.)

***

And when we walked inside the house, we promptly fell in love with the foyer. Why? Because it existed. 

Our Marion house was foyer-less. When you walked in the front door, you were immediately in the living room. And if it was a rainy or snowy day, you dripped and sloshed your way over the threshold onto the carpet. You stuffed your coat onto an already overcrowded coat hook on the wall, because we didn't have a coat closet. You put your stuff on the floor, because we didn't have any sort of seat or table to catch the overflow.

So...a foyer? With a water-resistant floor? And a coat closet? Oh yes. OHHHHHHH yes. I'm learning I'm still a bit foyer-naïve. Sixteen years of being foyer-less isn't cured overnight (or in three years, apparently). It's coming along. For my birthday this year, Ryan gave me this darling little table that can hold hats, gloves, scarves, dog leashes, and more. And along the way, my Dad gifted me his old typewriter, which I love. I still have ideas for sprucing up the foyer and giving it a bit more personality, but right now, I'm just still so happy it exists. 

***

And then there was the kitchen. I don't know that there's another room in our house that we immediately loved AND changed so much. 

Our kitchen in our old house was a galley kitchen. It was cozy, for sure, but after spending many hours in there, cozy can feel a lot like straight-up skinny and crowded. You couldn't eat in there, unless, of course, you stood up over the sink and ate. (And I was known to do that upon occasion.) This kitchen seemed huge in comparison, with room for a tiny table, lots of counter space, and HUGE windows that let in all kinds of light.

OH! And a pantry. Did I mention the pantry?

In our three years here, we've made this room over in many ways. We removed part of  a wall to make a more open space between the living room and kitchen. We put a new finish on the cabinets to allow them to contrast with the floor. We put up all new hardware, updated the appliances, and Ryan added a stone feature backsplash. It's still one of my most favorite rooms in the entire house. Cooking is a true joy in this much space. 

And it has room for our coffee bar. And that pretty much completed our lives.

***

We loved the living room from the start, too. It is so big!! Our old living room was a long, narrow space, with windows and doors arranged in such ways that furniture placement was a bit puzzling. Not impossible. But puzzling. So a great big square room with plenty of wall space was something brand new for us! 

My favorite part has always been the stone wall Ryan put up shortly after we moved in. He worked so hard on this wall, and we get so many compliments on it. We love it, and we love this space. It's perfect for the two of us, and it's perfect for hosting small groups, entertaining our friends, and even having parties. 

***

In our old house, our bedroom was one of the bigger rooms, and that's actually surprising considering the age of the home. Bedrooms back in the day of its construction were usually pretty small. But even though the old bedroom was big, our new bedroom is HUGE! A whole little suite just for the two of us. In some ways, it's bigger than it needs to be, but we do love it. It has a beach feel to it, and even though there are more things I want to do to sort of tie that theme together, I do love the sanctuary and haven that room is for the two of us!

***

While we did move from a three bedroom house to a three bedroom house, the layout of our present house made the construction of a guest room a bit more conveniently located. In our old house, the two upstairs bedrooms were connected to each other. You had to walk through one to get to the other. Since ours was the one at the top of the stairs, it made it awkward to turn the other one into a guest room. But the downstairs bedroom didn't have a nearby bathroom, which could also be awkward for guests.

In this house, having a bedroom near a bathroom, in an area separated from our room, has made hosting overnight guests much easier to achieve! We love our cute little guest room, and we've had singles, couples, and even whole families stay with us here in this house! (And in the off-season, as you can see, this is Braeya's room.)

***

And then there is the office...light, bright, and a beautiful space for creating. I loved it that it was the right size for bringing over the bookshelves my dad had made for our Marion house. I loved its cozy nature and knew it would be the perfect place for writing and other forms of creativity - and I wasn't wrong!

Of course there were the other things we loved, too: the location, the garage, the age of the home. All those things ended up convincing us (without any arm-twisting, really) that this was a great choice for us. And it has been. We've made an incredible amount of memories in this house. We've continued to settle in, a little project at a time, to make it more ours. 

That's why we chose our house...why did you choose yours?