house on the market - rags to the ready

Our house is for sale right now. We're planning on building as soon as we can sell it. Of course, right now we get to deal with showings and have to keep the house in order at all times, which is no easy task when you've got kids and pets. There's always toys to be put away, beds to be made, clothes to be picked up off of the floor, and floors to be swept or vacuumed. And that's not including the exterior of the house. Outside, there are weeds to be wacked, flowers to be planted, porch to be swept, and our patio furniture keeps collecting this thin layer of yellow tree pollen. I'm hoping that we won't be seeing as much of it now that the oak trees have fully leafed out.

Every agent says that our house shows really well, and we have already received an offer already, but it was a low one. So we continue to keep the house polished and primped, awaiting our eventual buyers. It sure isn't easy, though.

making your house your own

One of the reasons why I think we're so interested in building our own place in the woods is that we will have free reign to do whatever we like with it. From building materials and style, to energy and utility choices, to landscaping and other site considerations, removing ourselves from restrictive covenants and historic district guidelines will allow us to build a home that best reflects our lifestyle. I won't have to ask permission from some government agency to make our lives more comfortable. Where we live now, I can't even change the color of our exterior shutters without filing a request and paying a fee.

I have to admit that I am having trouble balancing my desire for seclusion with the necessity of easy access. We don't want to be in another standard neighborhood. We'd rather live on a large piece of land, where our nearest neighbors are several acres away. But most of these areas are difficult to get to, unless they are in super-expensive resort acreage communities. Those don't fit into our budget, so we are instead looking at middle-of-nowhere but still close-to town-acreage. I just worry that any money we save by purchasing remote land would be offset by the cost of road maintenance and an upgrade to 4x4 vehicles.

There is one piece of land that we are very interested in right now. It is only 10 minutes away from local grocery, bank, gas, medical center, hardware, and post office, but it is 2.5 miles of winding gravel and dirt road to get to it. It's not very far, but it feels very remote and secluded and there aren't too many neighbors nearby. We'd be very separated from everything, which may or may not be a good thing. We've looked at dozens of other pieces of land, but this is the first one that I truly enjoyed walking. There was something about it that just felt right. I think that part of its appeal is its mix of deciduous and evergreen trees, but with an overwhelming stand of evergreens right near the spot that would be the home site. Where we live now, the oaks drop so many leaves around our home that it is difficult to maintain, and they tend to serve as snake, tick and chigger refuges.

Another concern that I have is that I am not sure that a standard well drilling rig could make it to the property. The county road may be too curved and narrow in places, and I don't know if it could hold the weight. There are foundations from an old home nearby that has a well, but it is a very old house and the well was probably dug by hand (or however they dug wells a hundred years ago). Several books that I have read say to walk away from a piece of land if you can't drill a well, tap a creek, or get municipal water. A few others mention rainwater collection as a viable alternative, though, so that is something that we're going to look into. The price on this land is very reasonable and it seem like it would be perfect for us.

I also think that we are seeing the seclusion of this site as an excuse to really try to live off the grid and much more simply. We'll design and build our own home, and implement techniques such as passive solar to try and assist with heating and cooling. As for design, if we end up purchasing this lot, I believe that the sky will be the limit. There is lots of stone and native timber on the property that could be used, and I have been reading up on natural building techniques such as strawbale and cob. Best of all, regardless of how "experimental" we decide to make it, the neighbors can't complain because there are no restrictions against it.

homes are like art

...in that they are never finished!

My lower back is killing me today, as I spent the day yesterday painting the ceiling of our kitchen. There had been a number of "repairs" done to the ceiling by the previous owners that were painted over in various shades of white paint, some glossy, some not...some questionably close to shades of non-white, etc. Some creative putty work, hole filling, and a half gallon of "ceiling white" paint later, and the ceiling looks decent. Then I was able to hang our two new light fixtures, replacing the contemporary Dusenberg-headlight styled lights that the previous owners had installed (which I discovered were from Wal-Mart, and used weird replacement bulbs that cost $8 each).

There is still much to be done, and every time that I start a new project I run across an underlying problem that needs to be fixed first.

It is a bit difficult living in a small town, as we are limited in our hardware selection, too. We don't have mega-hardware stores like Lowe's and Home Depot battling it out at our high traffic street corners...not that I miss them that much - just their selection.

Fortunately, the internet is proving to be an awesome resource - even for home decor and hardware. In fact, in some cases, I think I prefer the online shopping experience for certain items. For example, when shopping for blinds, you ca spend a bunch of time at one of those cut-while-you-wait and hope-they-get-it-straight stores, or you can just buy some online. Online stores like Terry's Fabrics feature a massive selection of just about kind of blind you could want, such as wood blinds, roller blinds, and of course venetian blinds.

I particularly like some of their faux suede roman blinds, as I think they would fit nicely with some of the remodels we are doing in our dining area.

Considering how much gas prices have been going up, even sites that make you pay for shipping are worth considering, especially if (like us) you'll need to drive 40+ miles to get to the nearest hardware superstore.