I’m already imagining how I’ll decorate for Christmas.

Welcome back to “Angela Goes On and On About Moving But Never Actually Moves!”

Do you remember two and half months ago when I started singing songs about falling in love with a house? Yep. Well, that wasn’t our house. (It was MY house, but it wasn’t my FAMILY’S house. The Downing Rule? It takes four yeses, but only one no. (Yeses doesn’t LOOK correct, but it is. I looked it up. Someone needs to endorse my fact checking skills on LinkedIn!!!))

The last time you and I hung out, I was talking about seeing three houses on Saturday. We actually ended up seeing FOUR houses, and two of them were Fast Nos. (You really do think there should be an apostrophe in that Nos, don’t you? I know!) One of the Yes houses was super nice and empty (move-in ready!), but had no privacy in the back yard. (I need privacy in my back yard, and that sounds dirty to some of you, but it’s not.)

The other Yes house? Despite the cruddy paint job and the fact that it needs a bit of work that we don’t know how to do (PROPERTY BROTHERS!), we quickly fell in love with it. And now, because I like to share everything with you, I’m going to show you WHY we fell in love with it.

This is what’s going on in the kitchen.

Kitchen

It needs a microwave above the stove, but we’ll cross that bridge when it’s time. (It’s time.)

Please know that although I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, meaning I’m WELL AWARE of what’s possible on the internet, I’m trusting that you won’t run these photos through a special real estate filter to see exactly where the house is located so you can steal it from under our noses! I TRUST YOU! Anyway, check out that back splash. (Is it weird that I wish the appliances were black? When I’m 50, I’ll consider replacing them, as I hereby proclaim 50 to be The Year of Black Appliances. (Or maybe BLUE! It WILL be 2020! We’ll probably be riding around in hovering wagons by then! Imagine the possibilities! STAINLESS STEEL!!!))

Anyway, do you see all of that natural light at the end of the photo? That natural light is a result of this.

Stairs

That staircase is lovely, and is up against a wall of windows. If we move into this house, I promise to hire a choir of children who will stand on the stairs during the first snowfall to sing Silent Night in German while holding tiny (non-drip) candles.

Wait. I just found the photo of the wall of windows. This is the back of the house.

Wall of Windows

I know I don’t deserve a house that looks like this. I’m absolutely amazed that it’s sort of in our price range and that the neighbors seem like nice people and that there is a lot of diversity in the subdivision. (All of these things are more important to me than how many bathrooms are available and if the garage holds one car or two. I want the girls to grow up around good people who don’t look just like us.)

This might be our house. (It also might not be. You know I’ll keep you updated.) ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>

20 thoughts on “I’m already imagining how I’ll decorate for Christmas.”

  1. Love it! I understand about wanting the appliances to be black. That was the first thing I noticed. (That and the cool backsplash!

  2. (I’m immediately parenthetical when I say that I thought Yeses was the last Kanye album.)

  3. it is weird that the only thing I want to say is ‘don’t put a microwave above the stove!’ – first of all it always comes with less than adequate ventilation for the stove. and your kids can’t reach it. trust me, kids being able to use the microwave is LIFE-CHANGING. either counter top, or remove one cabinet and put it UNDER the counter.
    also I feel this is the kitchen I will finally visit you in.

  4. First things first: EXCELLENT grammar lesson on those yeses and nos. I invariably stumble over that sort of thing, but believe that, thanks to you, this will finally firmly imprint on my brain!

    And now of course WOOO HOOO on the house! I immediately saw lovely holiday swags coming down the bannister on that staircase. And the back view is spectacular!!! But, no fence between you and adjoining property? So “privacy in backyard” must be on the “to do” list — no sweat!

    Black appliances — yes, for sure. It will make a world of difference. Just budget for some kind of combined wall unit thing when you’re microwave shopping and you’ll be good. On the other hand — totally postponable. Countertop microwave will do just fine while you pinch the invariably necessary pennies to get that “to do” list up and running.

    Optimistic thoughts streaming your way for a smooth transaction on this and a speedy sale of your own place to an equally besotted family :-)

  5. Keep us posted (duh!). We’ve been talking about moving to St. Louis, so I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t want to move into your old (sounds good, no?) house.

  6. My husband would try to talk you into a glass handrail. I envision a pool in that backyard. Good luck!

  7. Oh, yes you do so deserve a house like that. All that natural light is a premium most of us don’t have. I would live in that house right now.

    But what is it with you youngsters and black appliances? My daughter has them and loves them, and I admit they look nice, but I wouldn’t want them in my kitchen. After years of stainless steel, my next appliances will be white. Maybe you people didn’t have to deal with harvest gold and avocado and whatever that awful brown was in the ’70s.

    That looks like a deck off the master bedroom. What a great place to read the news with morning coffee. What time should I be there?

  8. Wait — is the deck what we see when looking through the family room from the kitchen? I can still enjoy morning coffee there. Let me know when it’s brewed…

  9. Yes to back splash. Why is the wall of windows by the stairs? Please tell me there is an intervening room? There must be! That kitchen looks party ready!!!
    Also-we knew we were buying our current house when we discussed Chrisymas decorating-so this definitely could be the one!

  10. I could send my kids to sing “Stille Nacht”, they sing in a Swiss kids choir (I’m not making that up!). Best of luck with house hunting and moving!

  11. 1. You TOTALLY deserve a house like that. 2. I can sing “Silent Night” in German! That’s one of the few things I remember from my high school and college German classes. I can also find the train station and the bathroom, discuss whether or not we should see a movie this evening, and order a piece of raspberry cake with whipped cream. Pretty sure that’s all I’d ever need to do if I actually visited Germany. 3. The other day I was watching a lovely elderly Sikh couple load groceries into their car while waiting for H to get out of driver’s ed and musing to myself that within 5 miles of our house we have lovely elderly Sikhs doing their marketing, a group of Pakistani men playing cricket next to the fire station, that our neighbors to the east are from China and our neighbors to the south are from the Caribbean and the world is a rainbow with many kinds of people and when we work together it’s such a sight to see!

  12. Such a pet peeve of mine to see words with an apostrophe and then an S to denote plurality versus possessions…and sometimes it’s necessary, for plurality, apparently! In some cases! I looked it up! Like “mind your p’s and q’s!” Drives me batty. Batty, I say!

    (I could listen to new house talk and grammar discussions all day long. No lie.)

  13. Gaw-juss house! I vehemently second the veto (Robert’s Rules be damned) against the over-the-range microwave. They don’t provide anywhere near the amount of ventilation needed. And the flood of natural light — wow! (And I salute your avoidance of unnecessary apostrophes. I am an official member of the apostrophe police, did you know? Now I won’t have to arrest you.)

  14. I really, truly hope this home will belong to your family soon!!!! Will keep my fingers crossed and send out good vibes to the universe!!

  15. That house looks amazing. What’s the yard-privacy situation, because you seemed to be a long way back & there were *no* trees. Or shrubs. And I have to say I’m not a fan of horizontal tiles for a (as we say here in Oz) splashback, but the windows!!!! Jump on it, quick!!! ‘s.

  16. I’ve been on vacation – and I had to come back and see if there was an update…..fingers firmly crossed until we hear more!

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