The House in Hooterville

I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who left such encouraging comments regarding our impending move to Hooterville.  I really am trying to focus on the positives and look at this move as a great, fun adventure but I’m the type of person who doesn’t require much change.  In fact, I feel most comfortable when things are the same, secure and predictable so this huge change is rocking my formally secure and predictable world just a wee little bit.

The move to Hooterville wasn’t planned.  Buying horse property was  something we have talked about…  

“Maybe someday…”  or “If we ever won the lottery…” kind of conversation. 

Certainly it wasn’t anything we dreamed would happen right now, if ever.  But less than four weeks ago, this opportunity just suddenly dropped right into our laps, so to speak.

Due to a foreclosure,  the property was already listed far below assessed value.  Then the bank ended up accepting our offer of  $77,000 less than their original asking price.   We are still a bit shocked because we aren’t usually this lucky.

We spent the better part of this past Monday over at the house while several pre-purchase inspections were taking place.  So far, everything is progressing along nicely and we are scheduled to close on November 10th.

The house needs considerable updating inside.   I’ve taken a lot of photos so let me take you on a little tour.  But brace yourself because some of the photos you are about to see are not pretty.

The outside is not too bad…a typical brick ranch style home. 

If you come in the front door entry and turn to the left,  you see the  formal “sunken”  living room  (in the  foreground)  and dining room (in the background). 

This photo is taken from the dining room, looking back across the living room to the entryway in the background.  Fresh paint and new carpet is planned for these two rooms.    I’m not real thrilled with the two different levels in the floor and I’m hoping there is a simple, economical way to build the living room floor up to the same height as the rest of the house.

There are two of these crystal chandeliers…one in the living room and one in the dining room.  You can see them both in the above photo.  I can’t wait to take the spray paint to these!

 

There is a nice bay window and a massive  stone fireplace in the family room.   I’m not loving the hugeness of the fireplace  or all the orange and yellow tones of the stone.  I’ve never had a fireplace before so I could use some suggestions on what to do to improve it!  Definitely  lots of paint and new carpet is needed in here too.

This is the wall opposite the bay window.  Just look at that wallpaper! 

Everyone seems to love the rustic look of the kitchen.  Everyone  but me. 

All the dark orangey wood and terracotta colored tiles on the countertops and floor make it feel like a cave to me.

 

In my humble opinion, this was a DIY project gone bad.  Note the gap between the dishwasher and pantry.  Also, there is an unfinished piece of plywood in the bottom of the pantry.   The pantry door is a piece of lattice.  The tile backsplash isn’t even finished off.  The rough edge of each tile was left exposed. 

 

Eventually, I would like to gut the whole kitchen and start over but I will probably just paint the cabinets for a temporary facelift.

 

Behind the kitchen  is the breakfast room.  At first I thought the lower walls were just painted a hideous blue but no such luck.  More wallpaper!

Right off the breakfast room is the office (or 5th bedroom, although there is no closet).  As you can see, this whole room is wallpapered!  After my recent nightmarish experience with wallpaper, I am NOT looking forward to removing all this wallpaper!

 

On the other side of the breakfast room is a sun porch.  It’s a cute little room and I am looking forward to decorating it.

 

Down the hallway from the breakfast room is one of three bathrooms.

And then a little farther down the hall is the laundry room.  If you could see the little dirty, dreary corner of the garage where I currently do laundry, you would understand why I'm so excited about this laundry room.   It's almost 10 feet x 15 feet!!!  It doesn’t look like much right now but believe me, I have BIG plans for this room!

Now that you’ve seen some of the rooms, if you have any decorating ideas, please let me hear them.  I’m going to need all the assistance I can get!

Next time I will take you on a tour of the bedroom end of the house.