If I lived here, I would be home right now.
But not until we: put in our best offer, the house was accepted at the short sale, no one out bid us, the bank accepted our offer, inspections went swimmingly, but revealed what we already know, which is that the house needs a new foundation (a likely $30,000 and who knows how much time repair) and I am sure a number of other steps I have not even begun to think about yet.
I won't ever live here though. In my mind, the foundation is prohibitive to our making an offer on it. But here is my question - Why don't new builders build like this? A Craftsman home makes you feel like the architect who built it wanted you and your family to live in beauty and grace. There is a place for everything and everything is in it's place.
Look at this hearth. Someone ripped out the original sconces and replaced them with these ugly brass ones, but look at that gorgeous dark wood. Imagine the shelves filled with colorful spines of our favorite books. On each side, you can lift the lid of those boxes for storage but you could add a cushion to the top as well. Look at the beams in the ceiling. This room is the first one you walk into and it's absolutely striking. I can imagine dinner parties and Christmas gift-exchanges and the house filled with all of our favorite people and it's just as perfect as me imagining curling up on the couch in front of the glow of a fire, waiting for MJC to pull into the driveway at the end of the day.
Look at this amazing built-in in the master bedroom. The second I take an echoing step onto the pretty pine floors of the empty room I start to dream. We'd place our bed against the wall to the left. We'd search around and finally find close-to-the-original sconces (which have since been removed). In the evening, there would be a warm yellow glow when you entered the room to go to sleep.
I'd find a pretty little stool with a velvet top, to slide into the vanity so I could sit and do my make-up before we went out. If we have little girls some day, that would be there favorite place to play.
Counting the drawers, I start to think about how I would organize them...a calm slips over me as I plan out this space and begin to fill it with our things.
But, I can't let myself fall too far in love with anything until it is ours. The Craftsmans make it damn-near impossible to restrain myself, but it's too heart-breaking to draw the picture and then cross it out.
What makes me sad is as you drive through the area we want to live, the neighborhoods are littered with beautiful old Craftsmans and Jane's Cottages. In so many of them, the previous owners have ripped out the built-ins and added-on strange additions that pervert the original intention of the design. That said, what an amazing project it would be to buy the guts of a Craftsman and bring it back. I'd feel like I was performing a civic duty, a beautifcation project, a beauty duty.
I know we will find the right home for us, but my fingers are crossed it's a Craftsman.
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1 comment:
Mine too - I did not even see you taking pictures.
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