Home is where the heart is

Do you remember dreaming of your first home and what it would be like?



Do you wanna see what I imagined mine to be?



An Old home, Craftsman style, with bay windows (which is perfect for a beautiful Christmas tree), 10ft ceilings, Large mop boards and molding around door frames and windows, and all the old style charm that only comes in these old homes.



When Jason and I moved here from Arizona in November of 2007, I drove by this house. It had been for sale when I was looking online prior to our move and in October, it was pulled off the market. We had had Jason's folks drive by it and they peeked through the windows and liked it, except, from what they could see, it had a tiny tiny kitchen! Kitchens, in my mind, are probably the most expensive remodel and it sounded as if we would have to knock out walls, etc and that just wasn't in our budget. But somehow, we were never as hopeful with any other property in our price range. So when we drove by in November, there was no sign of occupancy or that it was still for sale. I contacted the county and found out the owners names and luckily, they were in the phone book and lived just a few streets over. I called the woman and she said that her husband was reflooring the house, and doing a few repairs so it was for sale, but not right now.
I was so bummed. So we looked at other properties, and were pretty unhappy with what we were coming up with. It seemed that, for the amount of money we were able to afford in a mortgage, we were going to be purchasing a home that needed TLC, yet we wouldn't have the money to do the repairs while paying a mortgage that high. Then in Mid December we get a call from the owner of the property. YEAH!!! Her husband was finished with the new flooring and paint and we could come and see it. We went right over, Jason and I and his mom and dad. These are some pictures from that day.

This is from the dining room looking out to the living room and front entryway. It was hard to capture the sizes of the rooms. From here, if you go to the entry way on the left, there is another door that goes to the first guest bedroom. It's a nice sized room and we have a hide-a-bed couch in there and will be setting up our computer desk in there too.
This is the living room still, looking at the North and East walls. I love the bay window and all the dutch windows (that's what the inspector called them). I wouldn't trade these original windows even though they are single paned, for any new vinyl window period! I love it!
So then from where I took that picture in the living room, turn around and you are in the dining room. There is a large open archway that separates the rooms, but still leaving with the feeling of openness. In the dining room on the outer wall facing east, is another bay window. The prior owners put in this Engineered Hardwood floor. Underneath it is old vinyl, but underneath that is the original wood flooring! We are thrilled to be able to restore back to original at a later time.
This is in the dining room looking along the east wall at the bay window and also on the left you can see into the living room. Behind me, on the west wall there is a doorway that leads into a hallway where you have entry to the 2nd guest bedroom, the bathroom, and the master bedroom.
This is in the dining room looking South. There is this great original built in that is accessible on the dining room side and the kitchen side. It's great! On the kitchen is nice sized!!! It wasn't what they had seen through the window. This house was PERFECT for us! It also has a full unfinished basement that we will finish which will double our square footage!

We were able to buy the house directly from the seller, without realtors and their fees. We were so excited to get such a nice house, within our budget. This is our first home! We had the inspection done and the inspector loved this house and said how well made it is. This house is in The Dalles, Oregon and we were really wanting to buy in Hood River which is about 20 minutes away, but the prices in Hood River were just out of this world! This same house in Hood River, would have been almost double what we paid for it here in The Dalles. We have a plan though. We hope to be able to live in this home, do some improvements with the down stairs, maybe finish some square footage in the attic, and then when the housing market comes back up after a few years, sell it (or rent it out) and hopefully we can find a great place in the Hood River Valley somewhere with some land.

We have been so blessed and I've heard that it takes only two things to know when looking for a house, that it is the one for you. You feel the heartbeat of the house when you come in. This house definitely is home-y feeling and had a heartbeat when you walk in. The 2nd is you know immediately where you are going to put your Christmas tree!!! I love Christmas and even though it's not even Halloween yet, I've suggested to Jason we get the lights up on the house so while the weather is good! lol

What's life without dreams?