A Bit of a Fixer Upper

We purchased our house sixteen years ago with no idea that we would be here this long. We looked about fifteen houses and none of them were quite right. Bathrooms were too small—one didn’t have a shower, one has a ceiling so low that my husband couldn’t stand up in it. Kitchens were actually hallways and not just galley kitchens. Our favorite house didn’t even have a kitchen. The house was owned by antique collectors and even the kitchen had been outfitted with a Hoosier cabinet, a butcher block, and an ice box, none of which would come with the house. We couldn’t afford the house and be able to outfit the kitchen with cabinets and appliances.

And then we found our house. Parts of it were built around 1900, and it has been added on to in fits and starts since then. There are at least ten different roof lines. It has hardwood floors and high ceilings throughout. The rooms are large and the windows are big. We have done a lot of work on it. We completely gutted the upstairs and removed plaster and lathe and paneling and carpet. This project had a lot of surprises. When we opened up one of the walls, we discovered that part of the roof was supported on a single two by four. I have since learned to ask my husband what surprise we could find when we embark on a project.

While there are a lot of features I love: the flooring,  the lights, the idiosyncrasies (the hill and valley in the hallway), and the locations, there are some upgrades I wouldn’t mind. I love our small town, but it would be nice to be closer to Lake Michigan and to have a little more land. I don’t think I would like a longer commute for school or groceries or work.

We do have two ‘living rooms.’ One is downstairs and has a couch, a love seat, and a couple rocking chairs. The other is upstairs with another couch and the television. Both of these rooms are great, but it would nice to have a rec room for the kids to build forts in and whatever.

This is how the living room looks quite often. Good luck finding a comfy spot to read a book.

We have a Michigan basement (which basically means the ceiling is low, it’s damp, it’s dirty and you don’t want to keep anything worth saving down there.), so it isn’t a place to hang out. It’d also be nice to have a place to put the exercise equipment. My treadmill has been in the living room and it now in the kitchen. My husband’s spinning bike is in the living room upstairs.

I would also completely update the electrical systems in the house. Much of the wiring is very old and the configuration is very old. One of the bedrooms only has two outlets which isn’t convenient in our electricity dependent age. In the kitchen, we can’t run the microwave and the dishwasher at the same time without the breaker tripping.

And as Patty suggested, self-cleaning!! I have discovered that there are so many things I would rather do than clean my house. Writing, reading, sewing, running, watch the grass grow, watch videos of other people playing video games (I find this exceedingly boring)… the list goes on and on.

So my dream house isn’t much different than my house with a few upgrades.

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