And here it is folks. This is the house that will become Mr and Mr Blandings’ dream home.
Our purchase of the house has been in the works for a number of weeks but I wanted to wait until we were certain that it was actually going happen before announcing it. And right now it seems quite certain. We’ve had the inspections, the bank approves and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we’re all set to close on it at the end of the week.
I’m only going to give you this little sneak peek right now. Once we’re in the house I’ll be inundating the blog with all my plans and schemes for making it our dream home. I will, however, give you a little bit of info about the house – if only to help you understand why we chose this house. There are three things about this house that made it seem like an unlikely candidate for our dream home.
First of all, it’s much bigger and older than we thought we would want. Built in 1917, the house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms spread out on two levels, plus a partially finished basement. We never imagined we’d buy someplace so large!
Also, the house is a little farther than we had planned. Clocking in at four and a half hours from the city, we’re more than an hour over our initial limit for distance. The upside is that by the time we reach the house, it’s easy to forget that our lives in the city even exist.
Lastly, the house is in a small town. Like, right in the middle of it. You might have noticed from the other houses I’ve posted about that we were initially interested in a rural property. We had visions of being gentlemen farmers in a little house surrounded by acres and acres of land. While this house does feel somewhat rural, it is in a small town, surrounded by other houses.
So how did we look past these three issues and decide to make this our dream home? Two words: architectural significance. Mr. Blandings discovered this little gem of a house on a blog about notable architecture and, well, it was just too good to pass up. The house is in amazing condition, inside and out, and will provide the perfect setting for the DIY projects that will turn it into our dream home. We’re also excited to buy a little piece of history. Which is rich, considering the fictional Mr. and Mrs. Blandings bought their dream home because the real estate agent promised them that they buying a piece of American history! “General Gates stopped to water his horses here,” he promised.
I look forward to showing you the inside of the house. More importantly, I look forward to sharing all of our projects with you. The house is in great condition but it needs some major cosmetic enhancements. Think of it as Joan Rivers pre-plastic surgery. Can we talk!?
Stay tuned for a room by room assessment of the house as it is, along with our plans for turning it into a dream space.
Image: Mr and Mr Blandings
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