Lesson Four: Inner Beauty

When I saw this print on Etsy, immediately I thought that this was the story of our house.

Source: Etsy

When we decided to put an offer on our house, it wasn’t an “OMG this our home!” moment that you too often see on HGTV.  No it was more like… Should we do this?  Are we going to regret this decision?  Can we really afford this?  Will we be able to get rid of all that pink?

And most importantly…will this negatively impact my shoe purchasing habit???

The house was not conventionally “beautiful” as you saw in some of the before pictures.  It screamed “old lady from the 1970’s” with the pink carpeting and flower wallpaper, an abundance of statues, and bold colored bathrooms.  Oh, and did I mention there was no dishwasher?

But what drew us in were the things that no amount of money or hard work could change, and was the location, the size of the land and rooms, and the really good price.   Another driving factor was something that Tony really helped me see and that was that the house had good bones.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of a house, but at the end of the day, a solid home is a reliable home… and that is a happy and worry free home 🙂

So today’s home buying lesson (see previous lessons 1, 2 & 3) is a simple one, but something that is so easily overlooked…. And that is to focus on some of the “not fun” things during your search like the foundation, maintenance needs, and general structure of the house.  Because once the house is yours (and that feels pretty damn good, let me tell you) the inside stuff can be changed to become the beautiful space you want. 

It’s amazing what a little TLC can do to transform a place, and sometimes the love (and sweat and tears) that go into the transformation make it all that more beautiful in the end.

Aaaaand sappy post concludes 😉