Monday, August 3, 2009

A little Shopping and house hunting news

Good morning blogging friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I have had a whorl wind of a weekend and I'm in a little bit of a funk. First of all Friday was my birthday. We had to leave to get my DD so it was mostly a trip in the car all day. However, on Thursday I went to one of my favorite little prim shops and bought a few goodies. If you want to know more about that read all about it here.

Here's my update on the house hunting. We looked at about 4 houses. First my mother and father in law, plus daugher had already looked at the first house. My sister had even drove past it too. They were all in love with it. They told us it's the one. It wasn't considered in a subdivision but had a city address. It sat on 5 acres and it was nestled at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. It had the school district we wanted. But, there wasn't any place for a barn or shop for my DH. I walked in and immediately couldn't believe how small it was, I started thinking where is all my furniture going to go. It was a cape cod style and the bedrooms were tiny. My DH said my daughter's furniture wouldn't even fit. She has a twin size bed, dresser and a matching night stand. We also want to get her a desk. The 2nd bedroom was even smaller. It was a beautiful home but not enough room. Sigh.... Then we looked at 3 more. The next one had a nice floor plan and it was in our # 1 school district but the kitchen wasn't perfect. My husband noticed a cabinet was falling apart. Then later they called with a price for us...way too much for the house. The 3rd house was out of our price range but we my DH wanted to see it. It was only .7 miles from our inlaws house. It was huge over 4000 sq. feet. The kitchen cabinets were cherry and the cabinets were corian. Not very country/prim looking at all. It had 3 large living/family room areas. The storage was amazing. It was gorgeous but about sixty thousand over our budget. We debated it heavily after seeing house # 4 which didn't meet any of our needs. After discussing it we decided to not put an offer in on the house. Now my DH is talking about building our home again. The huge problem has always been land. He wants to have it all rough framed and the foundation done and then do most of the work on the inside. We'll see... we're going to get an estimate. My hesitation is the time and $$ everyone you ever talk to says you always go over budget and you're about ready for a divorce by the time you're done. None of which sounds appealing to me. If anyone out there has advice on building/remodeling I'd love to hear your experiences. We feel like we're going to have to just compromise. We so much want a house in the country but when we look the houses are just old/out dated or the house is new nice and on a 1-2 acre lot. Thanks for listening! I appreciate it.





Here's my free garage sale item from my MIL. I thought it looked prim already!





This cake stand is a family heirloom. My MIL gave this to me while we were there too.

My DH got this for me for my birthday. I had seen it a Hobby Lobby in the Fall section. I think it fits in with my pie theme pretty well.


This bowl I got when I was shopping at a little store I had never been to near my house, thought it wasn't very country from the looks outside. It's called The Gift Box. They do have mostly florals and Christmas but I did find this granite ware bowl on sale!



I got this crow and little pick and an wreath from Homespun Primitives. The little yellow flowers like the ones from the cover of the new Country Sampler. I also ordered a set of pumpkins from the cover too. I'll let you know when it gets here.




These little pie candles were perfect for my little vintage stove. I got these at Renada's shop too. I almost squealed when I saw them in the clearance section.
I got an apple (of course) and a blueberry.
Have a great day, tomorrow I plan a trip to a shop in Lebanon that has reopened under new ownership and I'll post pictures of that later.
Carey













6 comments:

  1. Carey~I hope you find your dream home soon.
    I know the insides may not be prim...but just think of all the fun you can have giving it your personal touch!
    I was amazed at the home in CS...the outside definately gave no indication of the prim inside.
    I have a paper towel holder exactly like that one. I love that they can be hung on the side of the kitchen cabinet...it sure frees up my limited counter space!
    Have a great week...and my thoughts are with you to find the perfect home!

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  2. My lil piece of advice on building,just remember you will always go over your budget so if you do decide to build be prepared for that.It is very expensive to have someone else build so if you can do it yourself that's great but not so much if you are in a time crunch.Our Uncle has been talking about building one of those prefab homes and I guess they are suppose to be really really nice.Our uncle is very particular about things and if it wasn't nice he wouldn't even consider it.Maybe that could be another alternative.That way you could build what you want and make it your own.Good luck with the decision making,I am sure whatever you decide it always works out.Have a great day! Sherri:0)

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  3. I don't have any advice to offer because land and new homes around here are way too expensive for us to have ever considered it.

    I hope something comes along that you like enough to fix up and make your own!!


    hugs, Linda

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  4. We built a house about 6 years ago (we've since moved) and we actually stayed within our budget, but it is difficult to do. You have to watch every little thing.

    We were in the same boat as you last year. We wanted to be out in the country, but everything that had land with it was way out of our price range. We finally found our house with 5 acres and the house is only 5 years old. I did have to compromise on a few things - but not on the important things. We are slowly remodeling and making it our own.

    I guess my only advice would be its OK to compromise on some small things because you can always make it the way you want it later. Just never buy in a location that you aren't totally happy with. You can change anything but the location!

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  5. I don't have any advice in terms of houses, but I wanted to great pics! I love the bowl :)

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  6. I love the paper towel holder, and agree it does indeed look prim already!

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