The real celebration around here should have been last Friday. That’s when we took possession of this old house – 20 years ago. Yep, two decades in this house. The previous owners did such remarkable work…. have I told the story of house-hunting?
We rented the first floor of an old house when we first moved back to Seward in 1995 and took our sweet time looking for a house. (When we lived back in Maryland and considered staying there long-term, we looked at houses that cost *gasp* $90,000 and upwards that were just little post-war cracker boxes. Here in Seward, we took our sweet time.) Our dear realtor, Claude, showed us houses for nearly a year and a half, getting a sense that we were deadbeats of our taste. I was too stupid to realize that if I didn’t like the color of a room, it could be painted. We wanted something with character that could be fixed up, yet lacked the fixing-up skills.
He showed us an old home that could have been so cool if someone would just knock out a few walls and spruce it up. Then he showed us the one next door that had all that done. This one.
It was not on the market, as the owners were quietly going through a divorce. They were asking $95,000, we haggled back and forth and finally paid $89,500. I still have the daughter‘s handwritten command to ‘take care of this house’ written in my closet. (She’s got to be in her 30’s by now.)
Anyway, on December 16th, 1996, I took the day off of work and ‘cleaned’ this house because people told me that’s what I should do. (It was already really, really clean.) My boss brought over a poinsettia, the first plant I let die here. I believe we had pizza on the hardwood floors later that night.
Twenty years. In the days of ‘Trading Spaces’ I was gung-ho to change every room into something inspirational. Now, I wade through the clutter and don’t see the cracks. It’s just home.
A messy, messy home.
Brad says
Congratulations on being mortgage-free! That’s amazing! Did you burn the mortgage papers? I think I would be afraid to do that. But maybe I would photocopy them and burn the copies. I mean, it’s fire, right?
Lauren says
Um, I don’t actually know where those are. Is someone going to ask for proof at some point? Dang it……
Kristi says
Awww. That’s such a sweet story. Congratulations on 20 years in your OWN HOME!
Rachel says
I love your home sweet home, bc when I am there I feel at home. Thanks, Claude, for finding this home that we could all enjoy with Lloyd and Lauren!