Thursday, January 26, 2012

Introductions

I have an interior design degree and old house-itis running through my veins. I am an old house groupie if you will, a bit too passionate about them for my practical husband’s tastes. You see we currently live in a, gasp, new house. Yep built in 2006 so it might as well have been built yesterday as far as I’m concerned. Prior to this house the newest house I have purchased and lived in as an adult was built in 1948, the year my mom was born coincidentally. I am also a serial mover, I LOVE to move. Adore it. But that is a whole other story for another day. This house we are in now is a perfectly lovely faux Tudor with a stone and brick façade and even a nice big smattering of lattice paned windows prominently placed right on the front and center just in case you were wondering if it is maybe Tudor style or not. The problem lies with me that I am a visual and sensory based person, not only does my house have to be old, charming, a bit crumbly and lovely it also has to smell right. You know the smell of an old house, that slightly moist basement smell, like my grandmother’s house in Connecticut…ahhhh love that smell! The reason we are in this new house is a practical reason, the schools. The school system here is amazing and with 2 little kids that was a practical decision, but I’m not sure I can handle this practicality. It doesn’t feel right. Not for me. My husband says I am the only person on earth that he knows who can complain about a new 4300 sf beautiful house and want to go back to a crumbling dump that is half the size and full of issues. But yes that is me, I admit it fully. I have been trying to convince him for the past year and a half (exactly how long we have lived here) to move back to the city. You see we are now in suburbia too…ughhh. Boring… “We can do it” I say, “we will just downsize $$ wise and square footage wise and then we can afford private schools” and I will be happy and viola he will be happy too. He is not buying it so far. Sure we looked around a bit last summer but didn’t find anything that suited him, I could have bought at least 10 of them but I am more easily swayed by the romance and charm of an old crumbling house. The projects, ahh the projects…I rub my hands together thinking of the glorious projects – I LOVE PROJECTS. Maybe it’s the lack of projects here that is the problem. Everything is already done. No walls to remove, kitchen and baths to gut, problems to creatively solve…nothing. Blah. We have repainted and added some wallpaper and changed out a few light fixtures but that is pansy every day boring old stuff. Give me a meaty project with debris flying and studs exposed, now that is fun! I need it. It is therapeutic to me. I want to save the old ones, bring them back to life and I actually think the houses are grateful for it especially when they are in keeping with their original integrity but made better and more elegant in a comfy up to date way. So here I am, trying hard to convince my practical, type A, number crunching husband that we need to move again. We will be married 10 years this spring and we have bought 5 houses so far.  The numbers are in my favor at this point but I think he is getting tired of it. I don’t blame him, “but just one more” I say, “I promise this will be it for a while”, but the next house has to be old and have the right “feel” and right “smell” (maybe I shouldn’t mention the smell part).  In the meantime I will dream and vent a bit here and find fabulous homes and tidbits and share with you as I wear him down and we move…again. YEA, I can feel it!  I think it’s time for my daily on-line real estate stalking and see if something new and fabulous has been listed today. New and fabulous being old, quirky and full of charm and projects that is.   

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