I’m obsessed with BRICKS. I discovered that when you’re done with a project, you need something else to focus on. From what I’ve been obsessing over those last few years, my next venture has to be house hunting. I’m aggressively saving money towards a deposit on a house and my mind is firmly set on reaching that goal soon because I’m sick of talking about it. I was feeling a bit unmotivated earlier but I’ve now decided I need to get into action!
The bf and I know what we want. And what we want is a toilet that functions properly. Haha, no seriously, the house we live in is fine: cheap rent and we got to decorate it the way we wanted it. The main problem is that with renting a very old house, we can’t fix ourselves what doesn’t work anymore. Also, we find that there is not enough light shining through the main living areas: it’s making us a little depressed during wintertime…
So, we both want to move out and get our own place.
In fact, we have known that for a while. We just haven’t made it our priority. I feel like we’re very close though:
- we know that only since January this year !! (I’m sick typing this as I’ve just realized that we would never have gotten a loan before even if we had had enough cash saved!), we can easily get a loan with both of our jobs (we asked the banks!) and;
- we only need to save just a little bit more money.
Like I did with my job hunting related post, I have this feeling that if I’m more clear about my goals and write them down, I will be more focused and actually reach them. That’s what I’m hoping I’ll achieve now that this post is live. It’s like the whole wide world knows about my plans and I can’t screw up…
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
Pretty, isn’t it? Because THAT WAS IT. The house of our dreams. Unfortunately for us, it has now been sold.
It was almost perfect for us for all of these reasons:
THE RIGHT LOCATION
We are looking for a row house located right in the heart of our town. We need a place where we can just step outside to go and do our errands. Shops, cinema, banks, restaurants, … must be within reasonable walking/cycling distance from our doorstep. This narrows down our search quite a lot but we’re confident we’ll find it.
The house we will eventually buy has to be in a bad shape so we can do some work on it. We have crazy dreams of designing, knocking down walls, building extensions, sanding wooden floors… It also means the price should be quite low.
A WELL-LOCATED STAIRCASE
I know this might sound totally weird but a stylish staircase with a wooden banister are what we want. It has to be located on one side of the hallway when you come in so that there is no waste of any space nor light. Many row houses we look at online usually have this type of staircase going up to the first floor and up to the attic. The house we live in right now has the wrong type of staircase: dark, super steep and situated right in the middle of the house. It’s making the rooms’ layout totally awkward. Plus, it’s making the kitchen gloomy because of the walls blocking all the light coming from the windows. Also, it’s my ultimate dream to hang Christmas garlands on the handrail!
sources A LITTLE GARDEN
Oh my. We’ve debated this for a little while and decided we could not NOT have a little outdoor space for us and the cat to relax in. I’m really tired of staying indoors all the time and not have a little spot where I can sunbathe or have an alfresco dinner in. I want to plant flowers, have a little vegetable patch, maybe two or three chickens… Also, Gaston (our furry baby) needs some grass to get his teeth on!
A LOFT WE COULD CONVERT
Because we’re looking for a house we could renovate, the most idyllic thing would be that the house had a loft used as a storage attic. That way, we could redo all the insulation and install some huge roof windows. It’s my ultimate dream to install those long vertical windows in my future house. I don’t understand why people (at least here in Belgium), only buy the smallest ones in the range…
A WORKING FIREPLACE
Winters are very cold in our old rented house. Unfortunately, there are no working fireplaces in any of the main living rooms. We miss the smell of the burning wood and the cozy atmosphere a fire brings into a room as both our parents have fireplaces in their homes. It’s something we always said we needed in ours, either we would build a new one or have a functioning one already there. I also love the idea of having a mantel: you get to decorate it with stockings at Christmas time!
The major problem with the house we both loved is that the square footage was all wrong. The larger the house is, the higher the fees are. Even though the asking price was alright, we could not have bought it only because of the fees associated with the purchase.
Those are the major things we would love our future house to have: the right price, the right square footage (for us), a doer-upper with possibilities for a loft conversion or/and a room extension, a fireplace, a well-located staircase and most of all a pretty decent city garden. It’s not too much to ask for, isn’t it?
CURRENT PLAN
I made a plan to make it happen:
- aggressively save more money,
- visit some houses that could match our criteria,
- be more interested in renovation works and cost,
- find THE one,
- make an offer,
- move in!
Easy peasy.
Are you also house hunting? What do you look for in the properties you visit?
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