New or New to You

This is a peek into my new dining room. I'm in love with the light through the windows, the romantic feel of the fruit trees peering into sweet dining room. (Can a dining room be romantic?)

Obviously I've had houses on my mind a lot in the last 3 weeks. The big question as we mulled over this particular house was "Would we rather shop for something brand new, or can we handle, nay, ENJOY the projects a 15 yr old house comes with?"

I had to make some concessions with this house. But I've learned some things about my character and style, which made the decision easier.

#1. I rarely buy ANYTHING brand new. I am a self-proclaimed second-hand que

en. I doubt I'd feel at home in a brand new house. (eventually, I would, I'm sure) Most of the neighborhoods feel absolutely sterile to me, nor do I want to be "bad-cop mom" to my kids in fear they'll ruin what's brand new.

#2. The one true concession I made was in the number of bedrooms. It's a 3 bedroom home, but as far as extra rooms go, it has a family room & bonus room on top of the living room. It's much larger than we could have afforded brand new.

#3. There are definite projects. Some will have to wait even 2-3 years. But, out of the literally hundreds of Meridian homes for sale, there are few that have true character. I love homes that wander in their floor patterns....I dislike the standard box. I love porches, dents in hardwood floors, rows of roses and trees, even the fact that I have to repaint the pantry door to cover up the last family's growth chart. It all tells me the house was loved and lived in.

We sure live in our homes, it's where everything happens for us and for me personally, it's the place that I fashion my life's work in, my kids.

We won't have dark green sod this year, we may not get the fireplace up and running by winter and we sure aren't buying the house for it's siding color (grin), but it already feels like home, projects and all.