2012: year of the house (hopefully THIS house)

this brief paragraph is the only whining i'll do about how busy my december has been. i felt great about this blog when i started it in november and then, thanks to the new friends, old friends, lots of cocktails and parties-for-them, and a couple of holidays i dropped the ball. but now its january and time to get back on the horse.

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early in the month, matthew and i had a very interesting offer extended to us. some friends, ML and SR invited us over for long anticipated cocktails (see above, re: procrastination) and to take a look at their house. which they were hoping to sell - quickly. side note: ML is quickly becoming the go to bartender for classy/classic cocktails in turners falls. any excuse to drink with him is one worth taking. but back to the facts . . .

these friends had found a beyond ridiculous-good deal-omg-apartment right on prospect park south in good old brooklyn that they were hoping to buy. and it just happens that SR and i had been originally introduced because they've been thinking about selling this house for a while. and its just my kind of house. bungalow, full of charm, and they've spent the past five + years or so doing the clean up that so many houses in TF need. and what a house! SR has done a great job documenting their time there in her thoroughly readable blog so i'll only include some my personal favorites.

front of house. things that would sell it for me, just from this photo include that incredible tree and the retaining wall (which i probably asked too many questions about but is so sweet). also notice if you can, the driveway to right, which has a strip of grass between the pavement tracks for the wheels of your car.

PORCH! this porch, i mean, it was good enough to be featured on design*sponge. it is more than good enough for me. i can just imagine the solid three seasons matthew and i would spend out here. the photos here don't really do it justice, but the windows are beautiful old beasts that swing out and lock into place. i haven't really been able to shut up about this house and it turns out my mother grew up with a porch just like this. all the more reason for me to love it.


here's a quick shot of SR's excellent use of the #1 trend of 2011: chevron.



a kitchen with space. 'nough said. maybe not. let me count the ways i love the non-existence of travertine, or fake marble, or terra cota, or "tuscan design elements". lordy. for the record, ML and SR added the cut out above the stove and it clearly makes the space feel bigger and brighter. the picture above of the bar and chevron is just on the other side, in the dining room. and from the stove you can see not only into that room but the living room as well - solving the age old problem of entertaining: how to be attentive to your guests without them being underfoot in the kitchen.

and there's a whole 2nd floor i won't even get into. not to mention the detached garage and yard. (really, check out the blog, its worth your time and you'll be completely inspired.)

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so of course we want this house. it may have been the drinks but after we left and came home, we squealed and fantasized for over an hour, talking about what walls to knock down so we could put in a wood stove (seriously the only drawback we could see was that there wasn't a fireplace or wood stove, which we thought would be a deal breaker.) but after some serious discussion, it was clear that matthew and i couldn't marshal our resources to buy this gem on such short notice. ML and SR may have been jumping the gun as well, it seems like there are still some pieces in their lives that need to fall into place before they're truly ready to leave TF. so for now, matthew and i are still looking. and holding up every house we see against this one. and come late spring we'll revisit the idea of spending the rest of our foreseeable lives in a bungalow just below the hill. retaining wall and all.

congratulations are in order

congratulations zara bode and stefan amidon, on the acceptance of your intial offer on what is, without a doubt, the best house on the market in turners falls.*

*for superstition's sake, i knocked on all the pieces of wood in my living room before i posted this.


i love this house. i can't stand how much i love this house. when zara and stefan surprised matthew and i two weeks ago, in the middle of a crazy wednesday evening of running errands, visiting my folks and trying to get our weekly budget done before midnight, with a visit right after they had seen this house i could only hope we'd see this day. i didn't think it would come this quickly though.

when i first saw the listing for this house, i was iffy. the exterior isn't what i had in mind for matthew and i at all. initially i thought it was a little too sweet, a little too cottage-y. no sir. it has just the right amount of quirkiness to make me love it.

these pictures really don't do it justice.


those excellent doors lead you into the next photo, which is a phenomenal sunroom. SO. MUCH. LIGHT. i hear that z & s want to use this as an office/reading room. i couldn't agree with the sentiment more.

one of the only awkward moments is this weird cabinet next to the fireplace. zara and i had an EXTENSIVE conversation about this space, revolving around changing out the firebox and destroying those sconces. there's a weekend worthy project here with a big pay-off. exactly the sort of thing i want to be able to tackle in a house. that cabinet should probably go too. it would be worth it to pony up the cash and have a real craftsman come in and build matching bookshelves on either side of the mantle.

the rest of the photos in the listing don't convey the perfection of this house for a small family. the bathroom upstairs has another week/weekend-ish project that involves ripping out a dated shower stall. but the rest of the bathroom is perfect! a linen closest, a huge window, tasteful clean tile and access to the pipes and whatnot through a semi-secret door that will give a child an afternoon of narnia inspired fun. the bedrooms aren't huge but there are three and the woodwork throughout looked flawless. (zara remember what i said about painting any of it.) there's a perfect pantry, a big deep sink, a water-closet right off the kitchen . . . i could really go on and on about this house.

full disclosure moment. having zara and stefan house hunting in the same pool of houses as matthew and i had the potential to be terrible. wouldn't it be awful to find a house that both of us fell in love with? what if we were blinded by real estate lust and couldn't overcome our need for sun rooms and water closests? thankfully, we're better than that. and matthew nixed my dreams of this house, because of its proximity to sheffield elementary school. so if its not right for us, i'm thrilled that it was right for z & s.

so congratulations on your first offer being accepted! here's to inspections, quick and painless, and an easy signing before christmas.