Home is Where the Heart Is...

For my close friends and family (and probably even extended friends) I have been talking about buying my own home for a LONNNNNG time. While I love my job and experience great satisfaction through progress and growth, a huge part of me is totally domesticated and cannot wait to keep a house, decorate, cook and bake - pretty much just be like a homemaker on steroids (and yes, I realize this fantasy will likely go away when I have to clean, cook, and do all other house keeping tasks on a regular basis - but until then....)

My mom (who reads this blog and whom I love DEARLY) and I have very different takes on how to run a house; and seeing that I live in HER house, I don't get much of a say (she makes that very clear). I can't wait for Justin and I to have our own space, Chauka to have his toys all to himself (he's not a big fan of sharing), all my small appliances out on my counter, and finally being able to actual satisfy my obsession with Pintrest (and now houzz.com which is like the home section of Pintrest times a hundred billion)

I am THRILLED to say that the day of home ownership has finally come!!!! Justin and I fell in love with a townhouse in the new phase of a subdivision development in our home town. It was a complete fluke that my mom and I were driving by on a night the sales center was open (this phase is virtually sold out so hours are spotty at best). The literal recreation of what happened went like this:

Meghan: *loud gasp which startled Mom* "OMG the sales center is open! Can we go in really quick?!"
Mom: (understanding how annoying I will be if we don't - literally pulls a u-turn on one of the major streets in our town) "fine, we can go look"

Okay, so it sounded more eventful in my head but writing it out... not that dramatic. Either way - we go in and there are two houses left in this phase; next phase will be released in January however, prices will be going up approximately $30k. The sales person showed us the two models available, where they were located, pricing, square footage blah blah blah. I was most interested in closing....

When Justin and I started talking about looking for/buying a home we were hoping for Spring time (April or May) that would give us some time to save more money for a larger down payment and it wouldn't be too "rushed" (Justin's words, not mine). I promptly asked the sales person "when will the house close?" her response? "Early May" - I could have screamed right there in the sales center...

Now if I know one thing about my sweet, loving boyfriend is that he hates feeling pressured, rushed, or pushed into things (now when I say this I mean anything faster than a GLACIAL pace). I knew I was going to have to keep an even tone and not let him know how excited I was... I texted him and asked if we could talk that night, I had found a house that looked promising but I had some reservations. He came over and I opened with the elements I knew he would pick apart - this strategy allowed me to wow him with the awesome elements at the end....

Things we were apprehensive about:

• Townhouse (originally we were hoping for detached)
• Attached completely on one side (see above)
• Brand new so we would have to wait to fence (Chauka is going to get a LOT of walks)
• Single car driveway (turns out we got the side with no sidewalk so it's not as bad)
• No model home (with our floor plan) to tour

Overall, those are really all I can think of right now (I'm literally on a cloud I'm so happy). In short, there were definitely some elements we were worried about but when we weighed the pros against the cons, the pros definitely won...

Thing we LOVE about the house:

• Its a linked townhouse (so on one side we are completely attached but on the other side, only our garage and one upstairs bedroom are connected - from there back we have a laneway to access our back yard, separating us and our neighbour)
• 4 piece master ensuite
• Ideal square footage (1700 and change)
• Location we wanted
• Brand new (we like how customizable it will be)
• Price was right
• Closing time was exactly what we were looking for
• We agreed on it (I think this was the biggest one)
• Laundry on upper floor
• Cold cellar

Once we sat down and went over the good and the bad, timeline, price and about a million other things we decided we really liked the house and wanted to try our best to make it ours. After countless sessions with the bank, meeting with the lawyer, and a lot of um... parental input, we signed the paperwork and had 10 days to secure everything. TODAY IS THE 10TH DAY and everything went through smoothly so the house is officially ours!

The picture at the beginning of this post is literally what our house looks like right now. When Chauka and I go for our daily walk we always stop by the house to see what progress has been made (I imagine this exercise will get much more exciting when I have more than dirt to look at). Chauka stares blankly at me when I tell him how excited I am and how this will be his new house soon.... I think I give the dog too much credit sometimes...

NOW - one of the most exciting elements about home ownership will be the fact that I can post recipes (with a sequence of nice pictures and pretty serving arrangements), DIY projects, decorating, holidays and more!!! When that house closes I feel I can truly flourish into the domesticated housewife I've always wanted to be (while also holding down a satisfying full time job of course). So hold on readers we are close (approx. 6 months, so close ish) to blog actualization!!!

Couldn't wait to post this but wanted to wait until it was really really final before I put it out there...

Until next time...