Deja Vu all over again

Marybeth commented: Call me crazy but does the outside style of this house remind you of your old house.... the one on the hill (with lots of yard/land to care for)?

The old house circa 2013, just before we moved and then the new (old) house today, just before we invade.

There are similarities and there will be more in the future. We loved our first rural Tennessee house but it was a lot of work and far far away from everything. We loved the front porch which signified Southern living for  us. And we built gardens and fought the moles and voles...and lost often.
The new in-town home is a blank canvas, on a proper flat site, hopefully not full of plant eating critters.
We have BIG PLANS. And thankfully the years of saving have provided funds to put those plans into action.
This time I am using the 'yellow pages' as we like to call the internet. Landscapers will clear the weedy trees and trim the good ones. The minimal plantings in front of the porch will be dramatically expanded. Even tho we are getting older, we still love that feeling of digging in the dirt and planting a tree, for the future. Dave says we'll get a tree as large as we can afford for that front yard. 

 

Mostly we are hoping to install a koi pond. One of the homes we visited and didn't buy had a koi pond that was just the size we'd like to have.

If you don't have a dream, how can you have a dream come true?

Hitting the Jackpot

Ta Da! We found our little treasure and signed the contract today at 11am and will close December 4th. This sunroom clinched the deal.

The kitchen is just what I wanted. No more eating at the counter, and a brand new refrigerator is on order. The stove and dishwasher still have their tags inside.

The eat in kitchen is adjacent to the sunroom, and the formal dining room.

The staging folks placed area rugs, but there is no carpet in any of the rooms. REAL hardwood and ceramic tile floors.

Not a bit of brown, beige or tan. Silvery gray, which I love.
Three bedrooms upstairs, and a three full baths, one just off the kitchen!

And outside, a long covered porch, with a no fuss concrete floor.
And for the Pugs, a big fenced yard!

Adjacent to the sunroom is a brand new deck.

Upstairs, this bathroom is our master en suite.

The little master is just the right size for us.

The unassuming front view suits us just fine. We have mature trees for shade but which need a bit of trimming, and lots of space for hosta! A must for my garden. O, and the lot is FLAT. So rare.

 It must seem nutty to leave our pristine new designed-by-me yuppie home to go to a 52 year old home in a not as trendy neighborhood. The new/old house is much more homey, and even with its many to-do and fix-it needs, Dave is all excited about attending to them. I, on the other hand, have the Handyman Connection on speed dial.

We couldn't sleep and were up drinking coffee at 4:30am, reviewing each photo online and discussing which room would be the living room, sewing room and family room etc. At 6am we drove over there to see how many street lights would be shining in our bedroom window. Just one, far enough away to not be so awful. Here we have blazing street and factory lights which make the front bedroom seem like an all night grocery store. 

It was important to us that we spend wisely, and get something we could tweak and Johnson-ize. The fact that this house cost half of what our current house cost was cause for celebration. To say we have plans is putting it mildly. 

We wanted quiet and privacy and a yard again, as we both love to putter and the dawgs need to have safety and freedom to pee anywhere! The house is at the end of a cul de sac and close to all the places I already shop and bank and post stuff. The best part is it is still close to our church which was a major consideration.

So...now we are going to stage our current home and move some stuff to the new place in bits. Altho the square footage is larger in the two storey, we are still trying to downsize. Luckily, we still live in a construction zone and have three dumpster to take our trash. 

O, I forgot to say where my studio will be. In the living room! Yes. The dining room pictured above will work as the living room and we all know the sunroom will be the major hangout place, as it is heated and air conditioned. Those built in bookcases in the living room will soon be filled with fabric! Upstairs I will choose a bedroom for the yarn and art supplies and will shop from my stash.

We are giddy about our future.

Close, but no cigar

Hoping not to make your head spin, but the condo sale is pretty much off. The home inspection found a lot of needed fixes, which filled me with a sense of RELIEF.

Suddenly I realized that I gave up my 'must have, must not have' list and was feeling cognitive dissonance. Too much carpet, too many stairs, not enough privacy or fenced yard for the doggies, and too much BEIGE. What was I thinking? Well, the layout was glamorous and seduced me because of the open space, but naaaahhhh, it just won't do. The owners are willing to fix anything to which I say: Nevermind.
The search continues and we are seeing two more homes today. Sorry for the premature excitement.

What? ? ?

We're moving AGAIN! I kid you not. It all began when my sister and I were surfing Zillow, looking for a house for her. It is not her time to move, but what caught my eye were the lovely homes for WAY LESS money than we paid to live downtown. We thought being downtown would mean lots of fun stuff to do, but reality is way different. We really can't take advantage of any of the attractions and the busy streets are so difficult when walking the dogs. So Dave and I started having house looking adventures, on our own at first and then with an agent. 

Everything we loved was snatched up in minutes after we saw them online, and what we saw in person was horrendous! I wanted something with privacy and quiet and a fenced yard for the pups. Space for my studio (of course) and a place for Dave to have his guitars, tv, stereo, drawing stuff and above all, LOW maintenance.

What we bought (yesterday!) was a condo, on a cul-de-sac, two floors, 700 sq. ft. bigger than our house, for $115K less! What a bargain, even with the very small HOA fees. The pups will have a yard and we will have plenty o'space for all the stuff we do. With LOW maintenance outdoors.

I never thought I could live in a condo, but love conquers all and it was love at first sight. It has a big open floor plan with three beds and three baths, walk in closets, walk in attic storage and even cabinets in the 2-car garage!

All the closets are wonderfully large, and have pug-hair colored carpeting. I told Dave, no painting, no plumbing, no shoveling, just vacuuming.

This is the master downstairs and it is also huge. Lotsa beige. Hmm. I think I will have it painted before we move. 

Upstairs is a huge bedroom with adjoining sitting room, with skylight and walk in closet, full bath and access to the attic storage. At first I was thinking this would be my studio space but instead I am taking the front bedroom downstairs, just the right size for me.

The screened porch is right off the dining room and faces east for morning coffee.  

I am giving up my white on white interior for another beige one, but thinking ahead, the painters can come in and fix that before we move. We plan to switch houses slowly and stage our current place as this one is staged. What a difference it makes when you see the size of the rooms with furniture in them.

The eat-in kitchen is bright and cheery, with maple cabinets and granite counters (ugh). I will miss my white counters and gas stove  but that can be fixed too, eventually!

I love the turquoise living room pictured, but the reality is much darker than this photo. Too bad. Can't have dark and gloomy. White is needed, especially since we can have it done. Have it done is my new catch phrase. Yay!!!

Requested

 This is the bread recipe that I use. It is pretty basic and can also be used for pizza dough, leaving out the extra stuff.
A finished loaf, minus a few slices.

The ingredients.

 

 To the flour, add the dry yeast and the rest of the other ingredients. The seeds and onions are optional, or you could substitute fruit and cinnamon for a sweet loaf.

Add 12 ounces of tap water.

Mix in your fancy new red stand mixer with the dough hook until a nice ball forms.

 Then put it in a non-metallic bowl and cover and let rise until double or more. Turn out on floured counter and shape into loaf and place in greased baking dish or on a heated oven safe tile and bake for 35-40 minutes at 425. Of course you could brush it with beaten egg first and add sesame seeds if you like, or not. I like to do that and sprinkle a little kosher salt on top too. Makes a great holey crunchy loaf. Yum!

New Stuff #2

It's been raining a lot and my regular coat isn't really working to keep me dry, so I thought I would look for an actual raincoat. Off to the thrift store we went and voila! I got me a bargain. A real trench coat that fits with the tags still attached. And the sleeves don't need to be shortened for my tyrannosaurus arms.  I beat the system with this price, originally $215 for $20! I love the thrift store.

 My second 'beating of the system' is this brandy new Kitchen Aid 5 qt. stand mixer. I looked online and saw prices that ranged from $339 to $160. Of course I went for the lower price. Plus I got a coupon that gave me $8 off and free shipping. Total, $152.00. I am thrilled with my new gadget.

 It has a dough hook so first I made bread, onion sunflower, poppy, sesame seed. Yum.

 And then breakfast pork sausage with our garden sage, marjoram and hot pepper flakes. 

 And for good measure, I had lots of small yellow delicious apples which I peeled and sliced, added lemon juice and cinnamon, brown sugar, mixed dried berries and walnuts, and melted butter. I then topped that melange with a spice cake mix, using the eggs, oil and water as directed and baked. So yummy and delish. 

So now back to the sewing room which I have been avoiding because it needs a good de-clutter. Loving our warm and wet November!