Home Sweet Home!

We made an offer on the first house we saw on Thursday. Just to confirm our choice, we did look through the other houses on our list. All of these were in Oak Cliff which is the funky, bohemian neighborhood south of the river here in Dallas. Nothing compared. In fact, this was actually cheaper per square foot than many of the others (though it was close to our upper end).

The offer was accepted yesterday! We'd asked for a June 30 close and $15,000 off the asking price, he countered with closing May 30th, $6500 off, and then renting the house back from us with a possession date of July 1. Done!

Forgive the excessive photos, but I love looking at houses, so I'm sharing the fun with you. (my fun = your torture, right? bwah hah hah. evil laughter)
Most houses in Dallas don't have great porches. This one has room for a porch swing and table and chairs on the left and then our sky chair hanging on the right. My mom always lusted after wrap-around porches. I really wish she could enjoy this one with us.

Note the doorbell. It has a little bronze label under that says "Pull" and it rings a physical bronze bell inside the house. Jrex and I have joked about having a house where we could feature a suit of armor as a decor element. We could almost get away with it in the foyer:


Now into the kitchen. Those doors lead to a fenced back yard.

This eat-in area is to the left as you enter the kitchen. We finally have a great place for friends to hang out while Jrex does his magic. The stove is an island, so it allows for cooking as entertainment.

Why, yes, there's a wine fridge! When we said the house was perfect for us...


Mudroom at the back left of the kitchen.

Dog Door! That's my personal 'sign'. I kept thinking about how we could let the dog have an inside/outside life. Done.

Powder room opens off the passageway between kitchen and dining room.


Now back to the front foyer, this is the view when you look left after coming in the front door. We LOVE all the ceiling fans. AND all the windows in the house are new, double-paned glass and they can be opened. The sad truth is that here in Dallas, many people go directly from heating to air conditioning and lots of the houses don't have functional windows.

View back out to the foyer.

Turn to your left and you see this:

Working from home is seeming fairly appealing!

Now back to the foyer and let's go upstairs. This is the view from the top of the stairs.


Looking up into the hall, on the right, the master bedroom. Next door on right, utility room with washer/dryer. Ahead, full bath. Two doors on left, first would be for kid room, back is the guest room.

View into Master Bedroom.

And yes, it deserves all caps...
Working wood-burning fireplace. Walk-in closet on left. It's big enough that Jrex looked at it and claimed the back third for his office space. Master bath on the right.

The left rear third of this opens up and there's an area that's definitely big enough so we can put in a desk. Elfa shelving by the Container Store. All modular.

We're kind of hoping the seller asks if he can take the chandelier with him. Note the little cupids on top! It's just so us, don't you think?

And now, the master bath:

Dual sink and a jetted tub! Mommy needs her alone time now, kiddies, go bug your father.

I love having a water closet! Means the bathroom can end up becoming family time (as I've heard it does), but you can still get some privacy.

Future nursery. Across from the master bedroom.

I already think of this as Mom K's room, though other guests will be welcome to use it, too! ;-)

Utility room.
Now back downstairs, through the kitchen and out to the back yard.

I'm really excited that the house feels perfect as is. I don't need to paint anything or change any fixtures. Nada. The backyard though... I think one of our first projects will be to tear out the rickety back porch that's there and get a deck installed. We'll have a table, chairs and grill up there. Then pull up the brick that divides the yard in very strange ways, put in stepping stones, ground cover and probably a little play house/structure where the patio is now. If you turn around and look to your left from this view, you see the garage:

Behind an automatic gate, we'll be able to fit both cars into the cleanest garage I've ever seen in my life! It will never be so pristine again... There's even a 220 volt plug on the wall in case we opt for an electric car. Through the door you see on the left is the workshop. It's insulated and with the ceiling fans blowing, felt cool even though it was 87 degrees and humid yesterday. It's got it's own circuit breaker, so we can easily install a window AC unit if we need it.

Exercise room (maybe we'll eBay an elliptical machine and weights), carpentry workshop and art studio!

I've developed a serious case of 'pregnancy brain' this trip. Sure enough, I forgot my purse in the house. The seller came home and called our realtor, "I think she feels really at home here because she left her purse in the living room." We got to go back and meet the seller (which made me really happy.) He's moving cause he broke up with his partner and the house is too big for him now. He's had it for five years and done all the wall paint and fixtures as well as planting all the trees and transforming the yard. The guy before him was a woodworker who put in the front foyer and the kitchen. Both men seemed to be incredible craftsmen!

I can't tell you how happy and humbled we both feel. This whole process has been incredibly clean. After so many years where many things were uphill battles, it's a little freaky to have everything aligning and moving smoothly. We'll take it though!