First off, my cheeky hubby has decided he’s deserving of a public “you were right.” So here it is. Check out this video from a year ago where he calls that we’ll move someday while I vehemently deny it (skip to 5 minutes and 45 seconds). Who’s married to a know it all? This girl (points to self with thumbs).
Before I climbed on the moving bandwagon UHaul with my smarty pants spouse, we rethought a bunch of potential layout adjustments to this house and even entertained the idea of an addition instead (which we also tossed out as an option in the above video over a year ago). But the fact that the already-here part of our home isn’t very flexible (the layout would have to stay pretty much the same) made us realize that an addition wouldn’t change things about the existing layout and allow us as much function and potential as an entirely new house would. So I slowly started to come around. But the revelation hardly happened overnight. Here’s my range of emotions over the last half of a year of so:
No! I love it here. I’ll die here. You’ll have to pry this house out of my cold dead hands. Wait. More projects? More function? I am kind of a function freak. I’ll think about it. Nope, I don’t care. We got married here! We can’t just abandon our beloved house. Grr, I wish we just had one more bedroom and a full second bath instead of a half bath. What about an addition? Hmm, you’re right, that’s not going to work. But I love it here! We love it here! It’s our home! Well, I am kind of bored. Are you bored? Fine, you might be right. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pantry? Oh don’t play the Clara card. Fine, I agree that it would be an amazing thing for our family. And we wouldn’t be bored anymore. And it would be fun for the blog since we’d have a million new projects to share. Geez louise. Am I actually considering this? I am? Fine. I’m in. Let’s do this crazy thing! Wanna go house hunting after dinner?
I’m one of those people. I can fight something with every fiber of my being, but once I decide to go for it I’m 100% in. No more fluctuating or hemming and hawing. It’s like I run a full body scan about how I feel for a few months by playing devil’s advocate to be sure it’s really what I want. And then I submit with boundless puppy-like enthusiasm.
So that’s how we got here. As for what we’re looking for, we basically have a good amount of living space in this house (a sunroom, a den, a living room, a kitchen, a dining area, a front porch, a back patio) but we only have three very small bedrooms on the other side of the house. So with a baby, a need for a full time two person office, and a bedroom for ourselves we’re bursting at the seams. And we realize that with a future kid (or kids) on the agenda in a few years it’ll definitely get even tighter. It’s amazing how when we moved in just four and a half years ago we didn’t use either of the two spare bedrooms and now we work/play/sleep guests in one and sleep our baby in the other. It’s just funny how things change.
Which is why we’re gonna go for a McMansion this time. Something with maybe 17 to 18 bathrooms.
Just kidding. Of course we’re looking for another modestly sized seen-better-days home – with maybe two full bathrooms instead of one and a half and one more bedroom, but nothing too insane. We’d hate to clean a huge house anyway. We’re more in the market for a home with just a bit more space than we currently have (which adds up to around 1700 square feet counting the sunroom and the basement, which aren’t heated and cooled, which is why our house is labeled as 1350 finished square feet). To have room for another baby someday would be grand. And a wee bit more breathing room would be nice in the meantime – especially since we live and work from home, so we’re here nearly 24/7. Oh and the idea of two showers instead of one thrills us to no end. You know, so we can renovate one while using the other (instead of hosing John down outside in sub zero temperatures like we did when we tackled our current bath redo).
And of course we’re looking for a different layout since we mentioned that part of the reason an addition wasn’t the answer to “saving” this house because the existing floor plan isn’t quite doing it for us anymore. Speaking of the layout, here’s what we’d love in the next house (we don’t think we’ll get all of these features in one house, but it’s nice to map them all out and hopefully find something with a good amount of them):
- Easy access from the kitchen to a BBQ/eating area on a patio or back deck (right now we walk through the den, laundry nook, sunroom and then go down stairs and all the way across our patio to get to the table and the grill- which is probably why we hardly ever eat outside)
- A kitchen that we can expand into a family room (yay for knocking down walls) with a big island for kids to do homework and a cozy sectional in the seating area beyond. We’ve always loved the idea of creating a place where a lot of our friends and family can gather (and being able to accommodate everyone in one big room would be awesome).
- A pantry. That would just be fun since we’ve been using two kitchen cabinets as a pantry for so long. We’d feel like royalty with a pantry to call our own.
- Four bedrooms (or three bedrooms and an office) of which at least three bedrooms are on one floor. Since the fourth room can be devoted to an office it doesn’t need to be near the other three – but if we have two kids someday we’ll want a way to keep their rooms and our bedroom on the same level while they’re in that young don’t-leave-them-up-to-their-own-devices stage.
- High ceilings would be amazing, but that might just be a pipe dream. Consider this bullet “icing on the cake” territory.
- A flat-ish backyard without a big treacherous drop off (for B & C’s safety).
We’re definitely open to all home types (colonials, split levels, bungalows, another ranch, etc). Just as long as it’s nice and old and not too monstrous in size. Who knows where we’ll actually end up. But speaking of the age of the house, here are some of our non negotiable must haves:
- Built a nice long time ago (we just love an old home with character and eons of potential behind all those dated decorating decisions of yore)
- Located in a walkable neighborhood (our long evening walks keep all four of us happy and sane)
- Within our budget (duh)
- Great schools (Clara’s education is the most important thing in the end)
- A safe and well loved neighborhood (the reasoning behind the word “safe” is obvious, and the “well loved” thing just means that even if our house needs help we’d love to be on a block with a few homes that have already been spruced up, so we don’t risk over-improving our house for a crumbling-around-us neighborhood). We’re trying to keep that whole” pick-the-worst-house-in-the-best-neighborhood” thing in our head.
We’re also looking for a house just like this one was (totally livable and safe for us to work on it as we went) as opposed to a falling down house that needs months of work to make it habitable. You know cause we have a baby and a dainty-ish small dog. Plus updating kitchens and bathrooms and making other cosmetic changes while we live there is the sweet spot for us anyway.
Beyond our must-haves and our layout like-to-haves, we have a few other would-be-nice features on our list:
- A fenced in backyard that’s Burger-ready (of course we can tackle this project if we don’t find one as-is)
- A private backyard (we just love ours so much that it might be the hardest thing to leave behind)
- A garage (since we have things like mowers and bikes that we’d rather not store inside- although a shed could work too)
We figure we’ll know when we find the one, just like we knew instantly when we walked into this house. And we’ll get to add another key to our key frame. So stay tuned for more house hunting details as we embark on those adventures. Of course we plan to share what we look at and what we like/dislike along the way…
NATALIE says
Hi Youngsters
This may have been asked already but I’m curious. You are adding “great schools” as a must have. Do you plan on being in the same house when Clara is at school? I can see you guys getting itchy feet again. I wonder if you’d consider another move in say 4 yrs time just before Clara starts school.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Natalie,
I learned not to say that a house will definitely be a forever house since needs and wants can change and evolve. But we at least want the option to stay in our next house for a nice long time without the pressure of needing to move into a better school district in four years. Especially since we’ve been here for 4.5 years and if we got a new place we figure it’ll keep us busy for at least that long! So school district definitely matters since more likely than not we’ll still be in our next house when Clara starts school. Yikes, that’s scary just to type that. I’m clinging to her baby days! They grow up so fast!
xo,
s
Jennifer S. says
Pssst….Woodmont! Great neighborhood — you know it is!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, we do love Woodmont! It’s definitely on our radar…
xo,
s
Kim says
You guys should go on house hunters!!
Kate says
We live in an incredibly charming house built in 1929 that is riddled with lead paint. Tests we asked for during the inspection process revealed that it is on almost every surface, several layers of (non-lead) paint down. We were told that because the paint is in good condition the best thing to do is nothing. We would not consider renovating it, given all the lead dust that would be stirred up, and we worry about our children’s lead levels. (All tests so far have been fine.) I would never buy a house with lead paint again; I recommend putting no lead paint on your list.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kate,
Thanks for your concern! If you scroll back we actually talked about the lead paint issue earlier in the comment section of this post (we learned about it thanks to our current house and have spent time familiarizing ourselves with ways to deal with it and live with it safely). Of course Clara’s (and our future bambino’s) health is our top priority!
xo,
s
wedding invitation kits says
Definitely understand the school district reasoning. I did the same thing when my daughter was 3 and never thought I would have to think about it for a long while. Well, now she is 20 and I am still in a great school district even though she is 200 miles away at University. But the great thing about that now is I am in a great school district which makes my house just that much more marketable to young couples such as yourself! Great story.
Ashley says
Loved your video! You all are too cute!
Jorja says
…sigh…your wish list sounds pretty similar (maybe even identical!) to ours. Unfortunately, our ideal neighborhood has the older homes (1920s-1950s) that we want, but the size we need (2-3 bed, at least 1.5 bath) just isn’t for sale right now (currently less than 25 homes available!). My new morning ritual includes a daily check of Zillow, Craigslist and our realtor’s website just PRAYING something new comes on the market!
Hope you guys have better luck than us – we’re sooo ready to be done renting!
Carolyn says
I would love your current house – three living spaces! (living room, den AND sunroom…*sigh*) That seems so luxurious compared to our tiny living space (about half the size of your living and dining area) but we do have three toilets!
Jennie says
You may have already talked about this some other time in your blog, but I’m wondering if renovating your basement was an option? Maybe putting your office down there or a second bathroom? I’m not sure what your basement layout is like though, so maybe it’s not an option!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jennie,
Our basement is a separate entry area (we have to walk outside and go down some stairs to access it with a key) and it’s not heated and cooled. But even if we got it heated and cooled it’s not really an ideal layout for us to have to walk outside and down exterior stairs to get into any part of our house that we use on a regular basis. It’s awesome for seasonal storage and bikes and paint though!
xo,
s
Kari says
I love that you wrote about your wish-list, I’ve been wanting to see that for quite some time. I think about your moving fairly regularly, as it reminds me of us in our early marriage–our first house was totally darling, and itty-bitty tiny, and we put a lot of love into it. 5 moves later and the thought of moving again totally exhausts me, so I applaud your spunk. I’m also pleased that you are both thinking this through financially. . .
But a note on wanting all the bedrooms on the same floor. Of course, every parenting style is different, and every family has different needs. You both have good instincts when it comes to this parenting-thing, it seems. But when we found our current house (a 1960’s ranch), I gave up having my kids on the same floor as us for a ton of other benefits, and haven’t regretted it at all. Our baby boy wasn’t quite 2 when he began living in the basement directly underneath us, and our daughter was 5. 3 1/2 years later and everything has still worked out just fine–I get added exercise going up and down the stairs. The people we bought the house from combined 2 bedrooms to make a large master suite, then installed a built-in desk in the 3rd upstairs bedroom. They punched out the kitchen wall to extend (much like the arrangement you’re talking about–one big happy space), so when our 3rd baby came along we temporarily installed her in the living room with plans to bunk her with big sis when it’s time. Totally unconventional and rarely a problem.
Best of luck to you, no matter where you end up.
Jamie says
Off topic, but… I just read Katie Bower’s post… Can’t wait to see pictures of Will and Clara together!
Karla says
That house Sarah K pointed out has possibilities and could certainly use your uncluttered/clean lines/minimalist touch. I probably don’t have to remind a couple of experts like you two to view houses with an eye toward adding on in the future. We bought our house when it had 3BR, 2BA, a tiny formal living room (what are those used for?), a tiny family room and an eat-in kitchen (when I hate eating in the middle of the kitchen, all crammed into 1450 sq feet. We bought it because we loved the neighborhood and there was room to add a new garage and convert the existing garage to a 20×20 family room open to the kitchen. If you can’t find everything you want in a house, choose one that can be easily added on to. Good luck with the search!
Tamryn says
oh my hat you guys are so funny in your blogiversary Q & A video clip :)I had a good giggle :) you guys rock ( you too burgs!)
Tammy says
I love your house now but totally understand the need to move. My family and I just moved off Three Chopt Rd. and Parham Rd. in the West End of Richmond and love it. All the houses were built in the 50’s-60’s and our inspector said ours was built like a tank! I’ve seen lots of houses for sale around here. I don’t know if you’re a fan of the West End but if you are, you should really look around here. The schools are great (a little down the road for you guys I know…).
Amber says
Sherry, you mentioned you would like three of the four bedrooms to be on the same floor. Are you also thinking of two story homes? I know two stories doesn’t always mean McMansions, just curious to how you guys feel about a bunch of stairs.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amber,
Yup, we’re open to any style of house as long as it’s old and not too big. Of course we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that we have a soft spot for brick ranches (we love the non-issue of avoiding big interior stairs with young kiddos).
xo,
s
cappy says
Burger just emailed and said he would prefer to be called small and “svelte” versus “dainty”. Sorry, I could not resist…that had me cracking up and reminded me of my mother when the vet called her cat over-weight and she said, “well, we like to think of him as husky!” Good luck with the house search!
Amanda says
I watched the video again (from the first time you did it), and Sherry your face is so cute when you’re talking about if you’re going to have a baby. It’s like you’re thinking “WELL YES WE ARE I’M SO HAPPY … but we can’t say anything.” And you look at John to say, SAY SOMETHING! It’s adorable. Then in Part 2, “We’re not having a baby?!” .. or something.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amanda,
It’s so funny because of course we couldn’t admit I was pregnant (we waited 14 weeks to tell the family let alone the blogosphere!) so I was doing my best not to lie and say ambiguous things like “when the time is right you’ll know”- haha.
xo,
s
Kate (and Ben) says
Can I just add that I am so excited about you guys moving?!? Because I am. Since we’re going planning on buying our first house in the next year or two, I’m glad I’ll be able to virtually follow you through the process first. Thanks.
-K
Laura says
I recieved “The Nest” magazine in the mail yesterday and there are a few pictures of your house starting on page 60! I was a little disapointed to see that they used your photos and design and didn’t give you any credit. Nonetheless, I totally had an “oh my gosh, that’s John and Sherry’s house!” moment (as though I know you in real life). :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Laura,
Ooh it’s fun that we’re in there! And not to worry, they actually shot our house a while back so they own the rights to those photos! We do wish they would give our blog a shout out though! Oh well.
xo,
s
Sarah says
Hey :) Interesting post! Good luck! Can hardly wait to see what you choose! Question, why high ceilings? Have you considered the costs of heating and cooling that empty space? My sister has high ceilings and but I do not. I have similar square footage (and home beauty!) as my sister and her heating and cooling bills are (at the height of each season when the heat is on or AC is on) nearly twice as high as mine. No exaggeration. We talk about it all the time. Obviously she could use her AC and Heat more than we do, but I don’t think she sets her AC polar opposite of what I do. Also, what are your thoughts on “development neighborhoods?” Like the ones with association fees? I find it hard to think about paying hundreds more a month when sometimes the only benefits are snowplough side streets and occasionally a neighborhood pool. Thoughts? Are you open to neighborhoods and developments?
It’s amazing what you learn after you’ve owned your first home. When we bought our first home I knew NOTHING. I can hardly wait to go shopping for a second. I know so much about needs v. wants, and random things like door thresholds and window quality! It’s such an experience!
xo from OH-IO!
Sarah :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sarah,
We just like 9 foot ceilings as opposed to the standard 8 foot ones. They just feel so grand. And we don’t believe they are a big energy waste or much harder to heat and cool (although big domed ceilings and cathedral rooms definitely are). Sorry if “high ceilings” was an ambiguous term! We’re definitely not looking for anything church-like and super high! As for development neighborhoods, they don’t have those around here with older homes (they’re all 80’s and up) so we’re not looking at those at all.
xo,
s
Sarah says
Thanks for writing back! Gotcha, yes, my sister does have cathedral ceilings actually! 9 ft is totally reasonable and I prefer those as well.
Take Care!
Jessica @ The Southern Belle Baby says
Oh my gosh, that video was AWESOME! I was cracking up when you guys put on your disguises… that had to have taken a few takes because I know y’all cracked up doing that. Anyway, just wanted to say that I give your video five stars (or maybe five paintbrushes or something themey like that), and good luck in the house hunt! I know you’ll find something fabulous that you’ll make even more fabulous when you give it the YHL treatment.
kristi says
“Know it all”
“Smarty pants”
“Cheeky”
I don’t know if this actually counts as an apology! Hehe. :)
katie @ k+b says
ha. this video was actually the one i thought of when you made the big move announcement! the weave comment was hilarious. and perfectly executed i might add.
very nice need/want list btw!!
becky says
we’ve come to the same conclusion in the last few months. it’s been so difficult and there have been many tears (mostly on the part of my mother-in-law who owns the house next door and loves her impromptu visits from the grandkids). this breaks my heart a bit, but we’re imploding in this house. it’s soooo small and so chopped up and there’s no storage and someday my daughter, charlie, is going to want her closet back and what will i do then? anyhoo, we understand the debate. but you’re right, once the decision is made and it’s right – we felt a certain calm. so, good luck.
Robin @ Chris & Robin's Nest says
John and Sherry – Reading your wish list brought back so many memories of our hunt earlier this year and that amazing “This is it!” feeling when we found our house. Thanks for letting us follow along with your house hunting adventure! Can’t wait to see what you choose!!
Laura says
Burger cracked me up at the end!! Ah, to be a woman! We are entitled to change our minds once… a year… and every other holiday. It’s just as much for your husbands sanity as it is for yours!!
T. says
We remodeled our house when our children were preschoolers, and the new configuration put our bedroom on the second floor while their bedrooms remained on the first. It was not ideal when they were so little, but it is *wonderful* now that they are tweens! We have our own little escape as adults! We got two-way monitors when they were little so that if they woke up in the night, we could hear them and talk back to them over the monitor to let them know we were on our way down. It worked for us. So, don’t let bedroom configuration scare you away from an otherwise terrific house. Our house is older (1940s), and in an older neighborhood where many of the houses have the bedrooms split between floors, so it will be something you run into in your house search, especially if you look at bilevels, trilevels, cape cods, and bungalows.
Melissa says
I was just wondering if you guys will (or can) take photos or videos of the houses you look at? I’d love to see the contenders for your future home!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Melissa,
We’ve decided that we owe it to the unknowing homeowners to honor their privacy and not splash pictures of their stuff all over the interweb but we plan to sketch a little and describe a ton so we paint a nice picture of the houses that we tour- stay tuned!
xo,
s
Erin says
http://homes.richmond.com/residential/1024385/
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve actually driven by that one. Alas it’s up on a huge hill so the backyard and the front yard are huge non-kid-or-dog-safe drop offs. Thanks for the link though!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Too funny…your wish list is very similar to ours! We found a great place we are closing on tomorrow, hope you find something too!
hi-d says
That was such an entertaining video! I love how you two have that healthy kind of banter…reminds me of my husband and me. :)
cristin @ simplified bee says
Okay, you too are so darn cute together. And yes, when will you have kids?! :-)
Don’t even look at the prices of home in San Francisco… crazy!
xo,
cristin
Janice says
You two are hilarious! Wishing you lots of luck in your selling your current home and also in finding the new home of your dreams.
Anna says
I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this but being English, I find it kind of funny when you say really old is the ’60s!!! The house I grep up in was built in 1850 and the flat we rent now is part of a house built in 1902!!!
just made me smile.
Have a lovely weekend… I just bought £30 worth of spray paint to spend all weekend spraying chairs!!! eeeek x
YoungHouseLove says
Anna,
Good point that our “really old” is so relative. I guess with so many homes out here in the suburbs of VA being built in the 80s, 90s and even 2000s it seems like we’re the odd ones look for something older. If we were to be looking in Richmond city it’d be a different story. They’ve got plenty of historic homes from the early 1900s and before. Too bad the schools aren’t better there!
-John
Jenn says
I *wish* you guys would buy a track-type home. I think it would be fun to show people how much you can change up a out-of-the-box house and make it reflect your personal style. I’m sure you would come up with some great ideas!
Yezenia says
OMG, I thought you were serious about the McMansion. I was soooo disappointed and immediately thought, “Great, another great blog bites the dust.” I am SO glad you were j/k.
Emmie says
Your list looks just like ours! My husband and I have just started house window shopping ourselves and apparently we are looking in some of the same areas as you. However, we are now free of the school district confines as my youngest is a senior in hs so we are also looking in some different places as well – the Fan and Westover Hills in particular. Have fun and good luck – oh – and hopefully we won’t find ourselves in a bidding war over the same house!