Ingleside Rising

Wow. It's been quite the arduous journey getting to this place. But I'm so grateful to finally be approaching the finish line in the house hunting marathon of 2016/17.

It seems we've found our Ingleside in the City!

The day we first set foot in Ingleside, we had toured two other maaaaajor fixers. Like, woah. Nearly gut jobs! They both had low ceilings and really dark interiors, so I think what hit us most dramatically inside the door of our future home were the bright cheerful windows, and the more-than-adequately high ceilings and doorways for my 6+ foot guy. We looked at each other and smiled before we were even out of the foyer (yes, it has a foy-yay! ;-)). I think even then...we just knew.

Once we started adjusting our course toward looking at existing homes, we planned on finding a house that needed some renovation work so that we could build our own particular style into the place. This house however, had already been reno-ed inside 13 years prior (the exterior is a different story, so there will still be plenty of opportunity to get our hands dirty!). We were a little disappointed in this scenario, but the decisions the owner made were tasteful enough, and not at all extreme or offensive- even though they may not be what we would have chosen ourselves. We started instantly envisioning our life there!

So we thought and prayed about it a. lot. Made an offer that was rejected. Walked away. Thought and prayed about it some more. And eventually came back and made a second offer that was actually accepted. Of course all of that took place over many weeks...such an oversimplification of the agonizing process to spare you six or seven paragraphs ;-)! Ha!

Now here are some bullet points:

What we love:

+ It's old! She'll turn 100 in just a few years! So: CHARACTER.

+ There is a huge wrap around porch *swoon*

+ A guest apartment is already built and ready to go in the basement!

+ There is a fireplace (though, gas... womp-womp)

+ It has the space to potentially have an in-home photography studio(!!) 

+ The floors are original, and delightfully creaky

+ Every room is pretty bright and cheerful

+ Walk up attic

+ Lots of off-street parking

+ Plenty of room and sunlight for gardening (and chickens!)

+ A place for Patty

+ The location is really the ringer: we will be less than a block from a darling village-within-a-city. Living in a small walkable "main street" area has always been a dream of ours...though we usually attached that dream to living in New England. You just never know how your life will piece together, do you? But steps from our front porch are an old renovated movie theatre, several great restaurants, a park, farmer's market, and local greenway trail. We're excited to move right into the heart of a micro-community!

What dreams are coming true:

+ Community, yet space. A busy foot path runs in front of our house-to-be and we love the opportunity that might afford to meet people and socialize, yet we are not in a neighborhood, and therefore have found some "breathing room" in the city.

+ Less outdoor landscaping upkeep. Once we get the outside spruced up and landscaped, we think it will be much less day-to-day doing, and much more day-to-day enjoying! Plus: paved parking! *cue jazz hands* - Our long gravel driveway at Windy Poplars was a HUGE (never-ending) maintenance load for Jesse.

+ Living in a home with character and a history

+ Having separate rent-able guest quarters (Who wants to live with us??! We are taking on a long term renter at least for the first year.)

+ Room to entertain, host small groups/workshops, and easy parking for those guests

+ A destination out of town family will actually enjoy visiting (close proximity to so many fun things!)

+ Supports our current businesses well

+ We can have chickens! (Ok, maybe this was MY dream, not so much my husband's ;-))

+ They deliver the mail right to your front door. Might seem like a little insignificant checkbox, but it's always been on my bucket list (after walking an uphill tenth of a mile to get the mail everyday for thirteen years)! Ha!

At this point, we're still in the waiting-to-close stage, answering a million emails a day from realtors, inspectors, lenders, and contractors, and hoping that everything shakes down quickly and without too much drama. But we are so excited to jump into the adventure of making this house our home!!