Doug and I have dreamed about this day for years and honestly the way the housing market was looking recently, it did not look promising. We made a few offers which all inevitably fell through due to our lower end budget. I had seen this house on Realtor a few times and each time passed it over as it was not the interior that would draw someone’s attention in a good way... it was not exactly ‘move in ready’.
Built in 1965, a 1500 sq ft multi level side-split; it was the epitome of houses from that time and it kind of remained stuck in that period. It was in a beautiful well established neighbourhood, with tall trees and 3 houses away from a forest with trails and streams. Being an outdoorsy person, I was starting to see the potential of the location.
After being on the market for almost a month with no offers, we figured we should have a look and see if we could see past the cosmetic fixes. It was definitely not the house we imagined for our first home; blue carpets, dark paints, old oak cabinets in the kitchen, wood panels and the 1960’s style encompassed each room. We went in with open minds and it led to us seeing the potential throughout. There is original hardwood under the hideous blue carpet, the dark paint can be easily covered with creamy light hues, the main floor is almost completely open concept except for a wall or 2 that could come down or be moved, and we were able to envision a new space that would become our home. It is also huge! 4 bedrooms and 3 levels of living space… We were having trouble imagining what to do with so much room.
We placed an offer under asking and it was accepted thanks to our optimism for what the house could be. We have been living with my MIL until this point and prior to that I lived with my parents so it will be our first experience not living with parents- kind of a big deal. This also means that we don’t have many home items / furniture yet so will literally be starting from scratch except for a few things we got off of our wedding registry. Starting from scratch will be nice, but also very expensive. We aren’t opposed to buying anything second hand and I have had my eye on Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist for any furniture that we think we can add. I think reno blogs and youtube videos will be our friend since neither of us is very handy and have had zero experience with any home projects - *yay for learning*!
So here we are on another exciting adventure, this time in being homeowners! Can’t wait to share what we hope to turn this house into.