The Forever House

Do you currently live in your forever house??? This is such a funny question but in our society it is one that is asked all the time. If you asked me that question, I would have to say "no". It doesn't mean that this couldn't become our forever house but we feel that in 5 years time we will out grow it and need something with another bedroom. We would also like to be in a neighborhood so that Z can ride his bike (and we wouldn't mind having a larger kitchen too :)).

Our friends D and S just moved into their "Forever House". We were there over the weekend and it is beautiful. They were glowing as they showed us around and shared with us their plans to improve the house and yard. It is already a very nice house and when they make the changes they have in mind, it will be fabulous. Their two girls seem very happy there and they have a a lot of place to play:) It is the perfect for their family to grow up in.

S and I spent the drive home talking about the changes we would like to make in our house. We have a laundry list (as I am sure most people do) and we have put them in order of importance and cost. We love our house (despite its many faults) but don't have a lot of money to update it at the moment. It was our first home purchase and although we were young, pregnant and naive when we bought it...it is the perfect home for us. There are many things we would do differently looking back on our purchase and we have learned many lessons about the home buying process through owning this home.

I have attached some pictures of some of the fun stuff we found in our walls (that our building inspector failed to find) that the previous owners had covered up with hot glue and duct tape. In the spring after we moved in, our master bedroom started to smell like a fish market whenever it rained. After some investigation S found that the deck off of our master bedroom was rotting away as well as the part of the house it was attached to. We found millions of carpenter ants that had been feasting on this rot for years. We sprayed them and when they took off the back of the house, millions fell to the ground like a black rain! YUCK!!!! Long story short, we had to redo the entire back of our home (windows, insulation, siding etc.) and take off the deck that was attached to the master bedroom. It was a bit of a job (especially with me 9 months pregnant) but we were able to get it all done and fixed before the baby came.

So what is your forever house like? If you are living in it right now, enjoy. If you are dreaming about it, the sky is the limit. After all money might be tight these days but our imaginations have no price limits ;) Happy daydreaming!!!!


the floor of our master and the ants handy work


where the deck used to be and the inside of our home


the rot up close