Swoon!  Our old home!  Built in the early 1900’s I *loved* every square foot of our 1250sqft home.  Ok, maybe not every square foot…apparently people in 1900 did not need closet space (there were NO  closets downstairs & our “master” closet was the size of a door), liked tiny bedrooms and only needed one bathroom but our first home just felt like HOME! I often found myself looking around and thinking how lucky I was that this was our home.  I loved the moldings, the large windows, the brightness- I always felt calmed being in our home.

After Ava was born, we found ourselves at at turning point.  Slowly the toys crept around the house and even after finishing our previously unfinished basement, things felt cramped.  My husband, who loves a good renovation, suggested adding a garage and master in our driveway.  Things would still be tight, but maybe it would be a forever home after all.  We went back and forth for about a year on “do we add on or do we not.”

After debating for awhile (my husband was team “lets get started soon” and I was on team “maybe we should move”), I suggested (demanded)  we meet with a realtor to see her thoughts on value and resale.  We had her over and she said we could definitely do the work but certain things about our home would not change (small rooms, no closets, no dining room).  We risked not getting a return on our investment because the addition would bring our home into the next “tier” of homebuyers yet it would still lack things that next “tier” wanted.

We left the meeting telling her that our other idea was to buy a cape cod style home with a garage with the intention of expanding the second floor and build a master of the garage.  We mentioned in passing that we loved a certain area of our town by a huge park with quiet, tree lined streets.  Fast forward about 5 months later …our realtor called us randomly and started a chain of events that would change our lives.  But that story is for next Tuesday…..

Shop some of the items in our old home by clicking on their picture!  I looooooved those wall decals!