Tuesday, June 14, 2011

2 Month Hiatus: Houses and Homes




Thank you to everyone who is "Yay'ing or Nay'ing"!  If you haven't voted yet, click here to leave a comment and "yay" or "nay"!

Something I learned over my 2 month hiatus if that I really do love real estate.  Houses.  Homes.  All of the above.

At first I thought I was interested solely because my husband is drawn to it.  He started buying property before we were ever married or even knew each other, before the market tanked and before he became a field traveler.  While our investments are both a blessing and a headache, real estate has become a fun and interesting hobby of mine.  I love looking at new and old homes and dreaming away. I enjoy determining if I think it would be a good investment.  I LOVE finding ways of updating and creating something new out of old walls. I thrive on reading design and house blogs and then in my spare time, little by little putting into practice what I've learned.



Why?!

Because life starts at home.

I love going through open houses and experiencing someone's life there; then envisioning my own within those walls.  I enjoy hearing house-hunting friends' wish lists and dreams of what their home will be like.  I occasionally pop onto RMLS to check out whats for sale and always walk in an open house in our neighborhood if there's one going on.  Not because I'm not content where I'm at.  I love our home like Paula Deen likes butter. 

Why then?!

Because life starts at home.

Home is where everything happens.  The walls of our homes endure our tears, our excitement, our joy and anger, our accomplishments and disappointments.  Home is supposed to be a haven where we are safe to just be, to let our guard down and open up.  Home is where the people we love are.  It's where we should want to be and look forward to returning to after a long day at work.  It's where we dream and plan and rest.  To me, it's the most meaningful and the most sacred of all places.  It's where precious life happens!

Maybe that's why I enjoy beautifying our house and starting improvement projects.  Maybe it's why I constantly move furniture and rearrange things.  Maybe it's why I'm constantly in conflict between career and home and finding balance between both...


During my 2 month hiatus I finished painting the kitchen.  I'll show you pics here shortly, stay tuned!  It looks like country farmhouse meets polished Portland :).  I hung a chalkboard.  I painted my kitchen island BLUE.  I made rolled flowers again.  I enjoyed playing house in our home.  All these pictures you see are "before" pictures- before all the improvements that I'll share here soon, the risks and mistakes and small victories we've made here!  That's what home is- a place to be creative and take risks and just be who you are- content with where you are- because it's the place where it's safe to just be.
www.aliciadart.com

 Alicia, a dear friend of mine and also my realtor, recently made a bold move and went out on her own in the Real Estate biz.  Don't worry, I'm not trying to sell you anything and she honestly doesn't know I'm writing about her in this post (sorry Alicia, I can't talk about my love of real estate and homes without bringing you up!) but I have to tell you, if you're thinking of selling or purchasing a home, Alicia is amazing.  In a spicy garlic shrimp kind of way (more to come on that soon!).  She treats everyone like they're her only client (and she has many!!!).  She has the experience and knowledge that are hard to come by in this industry. She found us our home now, when we we're on a tight budget and crunched for time (can I just say $8k tax credit?!) and landed us in a house perfect for us in a neighborhood we are thrilled with.  And she would do the same for you because she just rocks like that.

Again, I'm not trying to sell you Alicia but I just had to mention her amazingness because without her, I don't think we'd be where we're at.  We love our home.

Why do you love your home? Is it the people that live there, the architecture, maybe both?!  Whatever it may be, you can have your perfect home right now no matter where you are...  because life starts at home.

***And if you haven't voted yet, click here to comment on this post to "yay" or "nay".  40 'yay' votes gets my husband to blog for 1 month and I'd love to read what he has to write.***

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