Michelle Smiles

Teaching my children to question authority, except mine.

Going All In

August8

Anyone whose husband has fallen asleep on the couch with a poker tournament on the television has likely heard the players say they are going all in.  We’ve been in TN for over 3 years now so we decided the time has come for going all in.  We are giving up the safety of renting, the pipe dream of moving back to the ‘Burgh, and buying a house.  Or at least we are trying to – you just never know how things will turn out.

We hadn’t planned to buy a house for another 8 months but we happened upon one we fell in love with.  It has everything we want and more.  The ‘and more’ is actually the only thing wrong with the house – we didn’t want one this large.  We’ve baffled many realtors and builders by declaring other houses too large for our needs.  We weren’t looking for the biggest house we could afford (you have to clean and furnish all of that space) – we were looking for one that felt like it could be home and suited the way we live.  We like our current town a lot aside from 2 things: 2 homogeneous and all of the cookie cutter houses in subdivisions.  We’ve decided the pros outweigh those 2 cons but home shopping is a little boring because there aren’t many unique houses (home owners associations frown upon unique).  But this house and 2 others that are similar were built to be models for a new phase in a development. The home owners saw them and threw a fit – there were too different! They didn’t fit in with the aesthetic.  The builder sold those 3 houses and went back to building the lovely (but cookie cutter) brick houses that graced the rest of the neighborhood.   Wouldn’t you know that the rebel houses are the ones that we love above all others?

I was planning on posting some photos of the cute house but I’m a little uncomfortable doing that.  I’m certainly not super anonymous here but I also don’t go out of my way to advertise how to come and stalk my family.  (Scary stalk not friendly cyber friend stalk.)  I’ve shared the link of photos with some friends on facebook and you’ll get to see lots of interior photos in the coming months…but I don’t feel good about plastering the front of our hopefully new house on the net.  Trust me – it is cute (some how it seems wrong to call my rebel house cute – but it is).

Features I am especially in love with: balcony off the the master bedroom – perfect for quiet Sunday paper reading and coffee sipping (isn’t it cute how I pretend my kids might allow such a thing?), the pantry is bigger than my current laundry room – we can actually put our chest freezer in the pantry…don’t believe me? that photo with the stool is the pantry, the kitchen is ginormous, there is a sunny little Florida room that makes me smile just thinking about it, and a room that we can make a play room so that my living room no longer has to look like Toys R Us.   Also? Without question, woman was involved in the design of this house – there are closets everywhere.  Even in the powder room.  And my bedroom closet might have made me openly weep the first time I saw it.  The girls favorite thing?

That’s 2 slides with swings in between.  They can hardly wait to call it their own personal playground.  And I get to sit here and watch them play:

A covered back porch that doesn’t get afternoon sun – an awesome thing here on the surface of the sun in the south.

I am feeling pretty optimistic about things because we signed the contract on Friday…but the sellers have a history of flaking out even after having signed a contract so we can’t call it ours until the keys are in our hands.  Closing is set for the first week of October if all goes well.  The house inspection is tomorrow.

posted under nashville
8 Comments to

“Going All In”

  1. On August 8th, 2010 at 2:01 pm heather Says:

    Okay, I agree completely on the cookie cutter house thing…hate that!! Glad you found something different that you love!!! Fingers crossed for everything to go like clockwork!!! and I loved your “friendly cyber friend stalk” phrase…so awesome!

  2. On August 8th, 2010 at 2:23 pm dana Says:

    This is so exciting! It looks beautiful from what I can see, porch looking out on your girls playing while you sip coffee in the afternoon. That does seem more reasonable than reading the sunday paper with a cup of coffee on your balcony. It was a cute idea though. I love the pantry too. I have a good size kitchen but hardly enough cabinets. I can’t wait to see more pictures. Fingers crossed everything works out great.

  3. On August 8th, 2010 at 5:45 pm Martha Says:

    wow congrats! It looks great, love the rocking chairs, hope they leave those behind for you!

  4. On August 8th, 2010 at 7:51 pm Bobbi Says:

    I am in serious lust!!!! Congratulations!! You will come to LOVE all that space—and then hate it when you are cleaning it!!

    GOOD LUCK!!! They won’t flake this time

  5. On August 9th, 2010 at 10:06 am Sonia in MO Says:

    I don’t blame you for not wanting to post the front of the house – in this age of TMI sometimes it’s wise to be just a bit cautious 🙂 And total Congrats to you all – this new place sounds so exciting! How cool is it that the girls will each have their own little fort and slide 🙂 Personally, I am envious of that pantry…. now that’s some space I would love to have!!!

  6. On August 9th, 2010 at 2:40 pm Shannon Says:

    oooh congrats! I hope everything goes according to plan!!

  7. On August 9th, 2010 at 4:21 pm Stephanie Says:

    Great News! Congrats and good luck! Now you can have a real garden too!

  8. On August 10th, 2010 at 10:19 am debbie Says:

    Congrats. Hope it all works out. The house looks like a dream. The back porch is incredible!