nola: your trip looks wonderful! i'm glad you went and had a lovely -- and safe -- time.
dh and i went out together to get a second look at some of out top picks. two were new to us, but looked good from the pics online. this was our opportunity to be super-critical and judgey.
i love it, dh will hate it: from here:
http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_wedding-woes_house-hunting-recapdh thought it was too dark. at second glance, it is too dark. we could rip the porch off to bring in some light, but that only helps two rooms. too bad.
oh you fancy, huh?: this house is owned by an investor. investor clearly had some ebbs and flows with the money because all the rooms that were re-done were done in completely different ways -- I HATE THAT. the kitchen was french country, one bathroom was modern and pottery barn, another bathroom was country like cracker barrel. paint is great and all, but no color in he world is going to bring together a house with a bathroom like this
http://cantonantiques.com/images/db/antique/furniture/955.jpg and one that looks like this
http://www.giftag.com/clip/17/single-sink-consoles-bathroom-vanity-sinks-pottery-barn-1-clip.jpgsmall wonder 2: this house was really teeny tiny and super adorbs. great tiny little space. she put in some nice updates to the bathrooms and the bedrooms.
the issues -- no bathroom on the main level and only a one car garage. we took a hard look at the yard to see where a 2 car garage can go and it would either split the yard in half or we could do an awky tandem garage.
far and away: this house was the biggest and the best we looked at. very bright, nice neighborhood. it would put me right between daycare and work. nice big bedrooms, big living spaces. horrible kitchen, but it would be an easy and inexpensive fix because it is just straight countertops without any weird angles. the carpet is not great condition but i would get rid of those anyway.
the issue: it is 1/2 mile away from a sanitary plant. apparently about two years ago, the plant bowed to pressure and put in a major odor treatment work. but still -- i don't want to deal and i also don't want a house i can't resell even if we do live there for 20 years.
so. it looks like dh and i are now in a waiting game and just looking for better houses to come on the market or some good ones to come down in price. we are not looking for the next two weeks because we have visitors and we are traveling.
overall, i am really disappointed in people. a lot of people apparently just
exist in their houses and don't really
live there. they also think that if they want to sell their house, they can just pack up and move out, and leave all their terrible taste just hanging on the walls. just paint over your terrible mauve, maroon, lime green, PINK AND ORANGE walls. leave it white or beige or gray.
i also don't understand people who re-did certain rooms, but didn't take into account any of the other rooms. cherry with brass pulls in one bathroom, walnut with balck knobs in kitchen with parquet floors, mahogany bedrooms with white doors, etc. maybe that was cheapest when they did the rehab but come on -- wait and save more money so it looks consistent.
oh, and i could not hate distressed finishes more. i hate them with the white hot burning hate of a thousand hoarders who hate throwing out a used bandaid. i want to be the banksy of interior design judging by making a stencil of "stop f*cking doing this"and spray paint it on walls and furniture.