firebirdgold
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
- Messages
- 2,216
I'm just back from my latest house hunting trip (with dh) to our soon-to-be new home town. We found two very different houses with similar prices and we are having a heck of a time picking one. I can't decide which is fantasy and which is practical. So I was hoping that my wonderful fellow PSers could lend me some insight?
First off, I've been considering this move to a different part of the country as a chance to start over with new, healthier, and neater lifestyles. This covers eating better, exercising more, being more relaxed, enjoying our hobbies, having less stressful jobs, going back to college for me, and putting the tv away from the main living areas. Hopefully the clutter problem will be solved by ruthlessly purging before moving and making sure everything we keep has it's own place in the new home.
House 1: Cabin in the woods.
House 2: Tree house in town.
Since most of the money to purchase the new home will be coming from the sale of my house, DH is leaving the final decision to me. I just keep going back and forth on these houses and I'm making myself stressed and miserable by not being able to decide. We fit so badly into our current home (that I bought when single) that neither of us ever settled in and DH still has boxes everywhere. I'm scared of picking the wrong house where we're equally ill-at-ease.
First off, I've been considering this move to a different part of the country as a chance to start over with new, healthier, and neater lifestyles. This covers eating better, exercising more, being more relaxed, enjoying our hobbies, having less stressful jobs, going back to college for me, and putting the tv away from the main living areas. Hopefully the clutter problem will be solved by ruthlessly purging before moving and making sure everything we keep has it's own place in the new home.
House 1: Cabin in the woods.
- Small modified A-frame on 4 flat acres of quiet woods that is across the street from a huge hiking park
- Yet is only 16 minutes to work & school and less to good groceries.
- While small it uses all of it's space well with good separation.
- It's easy to visualize us living there
- There's a dark bedroom perfect as a media room.
- It's comfortable and cozy
- Has a bright master suite that has a bathroom that two can use at the same time.
- It also has a hottub cutout in the deck and a sunny organic veggie garden.
- It's adorable with pine ceilings and trim.
- The finish isn't high quality.
- It needs new floors, wall heaters that aren't glorified hair-dryers, and some updating to the kitchen like new appliances and organizational retrofitting to the cabinets.
- I think the windows are single paned as well.
- No covered decks or patios.
- It also has a very deep and not terrible strong well without a holding tank. (although I presume it rains too much to run out totally).
- It does not have a great deal of storage and there is no garage or studio space. I would have to rent a small studio space in town near DH's work and my school until we could build a garage. There's plenty of flat land to build a garage with a studio over it though and we could afford it.
House 2: Tree house in town.
- It's a contemporary style house set on a sloped .4 acre lot that is heavily treed and park-like.
- It's 11 minutes to work & school and minutes to shopping.
- It's 700sq ft larger than house 1 with lots of storage, plus it has a studio and a 2 car garage.
- The house has an amazing number of (new) windows that overlook the trees with a peaceful and quiet feel.
- There are several covered decks perfect for sitting and watching the rain fall through the trees.
- There is good separation of space due to the fact that it's a three story house with the 'bedrooms' spread out.
- The build quality seems fairly good.
- In this house we would have room for everything including hobbies we've never had a chance to indulge in before, yet it's not so big a couple would feel lost in it.
- I have trouble picturing exactly how we'd use each space or furnish it.
- I can't figure out where to put the tv at all since it can't be in a main area nor near DH's office.
- I don't even know which room we'd use as the master bedroom as there is nothing next to a compelling bathroom
- The bottom floor is a separate guest suite that can only be reached by going down outside stairs. (the main floor is the top floor).
- We'd have to drive somewhere to hike with the dog and it's too hilly to bike to work (or at least until I'm 20lbs lighter it is).
- There is no place for a hottub, and it's too shady for a veggie garden.
- There is work to be done on this house as well. The kitchen is ugly and has no oven, so we'd have to reface the cabinets, cut out a section for a new drop in stove, replace the countertops, and replace the dishwasher.
- Also we'd have to replace the carpet with wood floors even though the carpet is in ok condition (4 pets + carpet == not so good).
Since most of the money to purchase the new home will be coming from the sale of my house, DH is leaving the final decision to me. I just keep going back and forth on these houses and I'm making myself stressed and miserable by not being able to decide. We fit so badly into our current home (that I bought when single) that neither of us ever settled in and DH still has boxes everywhere. I'm scared of picking the wrong house where we're equally ill-at-ease.