Hi! I’ve been getting a lot of requests to share photos and information about our new house! Personally, I think it’s a pretty great story. ;) To give a little history on our house and our move, we knew during the summer that we would be moving to the Madison, WI at some point during the next year. My daughter will be starting school this coming fall, and we wanted her to go to Kindergarten in the district that she would remain in permanently. I had been researching towns and school districts for a few months and had decided upon the town/school district that we wanted to be in. Even though we had no plans of moving immediately, I always have loved surfing Realtor.com for homes. I'm totally a sucker for old homes, and often just go on there to see cool houses. One day last spring, I came across this beautiful 89 year old "arts and crafts style" home in the area that we were looking. It had gorgeous original woodwork, amazing built-ins, four bedrooms, an updated kitchen. It was perfect. It was calling my name. But, we weren't planning on moving yet...
Over Memorial Day weekend, I talked my husband into going to see the house – even though I knew that it would never be our home. We figured we would probably move in the Summer of 2014, right before the new school year. I knew it was a little rude to make the realtor show us a house that we would never buy, but it was so beautiful in the photos…I just had to see it in person. After we visited, I was in love. It definitely wasn’t perfect, but there were so many wonderful things about it. I looked at the online listing photos at least once a day. I constantly thought about the house. I even dreamed about it. I had plans for this house – including an entire secret Pinterest board dedicated to how I would decorate every room. ;) I knew that this house was meant for our family.
To make a very (very) long story short – the house stayed on the market, we kept in touch with the Realtor (who was AMAZING. – if you ever need a realtor in the Madison area, let me know…she was phenomenal), I went back to work, we had a baby, Justin’s job situation changed, I ended up quitting my job, and somehow, against all odds, we are now living in THE house. It is truly my dream house – although, it’s OLD and needs a lot of love and care. After our final walk through before we bought it last November, I said to my husband, “Well, I think in about 20 years it will look exactly how we want it to.” ;) But there is so much to love. For the first month we lived here, I would sometimes stop in my tracks and look around in disbelief that the house was OURS. Since I first saw it back in May, I have scoured every real estate site looking for other homes, and I have yet to find a home that I like more - for maybe the first time ever in my life, I don't have any buyer's remorse!!
As for the house itself, I'm kind of reluctant to show a lot of photos because, thanks to home blogs and Pinterest, I want it to be perfect before I share them. ;) So...in 20 years you can see some photos, ha!! No really, I plan on sharing more about it - and the ups and downs of owning an old home!! And if you follow me on Instagram, I've created the hashtag #ournewoldwihome so you can quickly see photos with pictures of the house. For now, here are the two listing photos of the front (which I have shared before)...
And here is the outside photo that I took once it snowed (so pretty!) and we cut down those obnoxious trees!!
Do any of you own an old home?? I'd love to hear about it. I've been looking all over for decor ideas that feature the original wood trim. It seems like most of the blogs I read have homes with white trim...which I do love, but it is not realistic that we will ever paint ours! Hopefully I'll be back soon with some indoor shots! Have a great day!
