Home is the nicest word there is.
— Laura Ingalls Wilder
It was a long process, but this week I moved into my own place. Now that some of the whirlwind of the process is past, I want to slow down a bit to write and reflect about some of the things that I’ve learned and enjoyed about the experience of buying, renovating, and settling into my first home.
For those of you who don’t know the background story, this past year, I started looking for a house to buy. This was a big jump for me because I was living with my family and had never even rented an apartment in the U.S. so I had no furniture and no experience being on my own. I had some specific things I was looking for so the house hunting process took about 6 months. In late October, I finally found the right one for me.
I was checking for new listings (again!) when I saw an unusual one. My search filters must have gotten reset because this listing was a condo. I had only been looking at houses, mainly fixer-uppers in the historic district. This particular condo was different though. The condominiums were in a large 1917 historic building. The original carriage house had also been converted into a condo unit…and was for sale. A carriage house?! Yes, really!
For about 3 months, my parents have helped me with cosmetic renovations and painting so I could move in. I am so thankful for their help and expertise! Some of the work is still ongoing, but I’m happy to be somewhat settled in.
So what will future blog posts contain? Likely including, but not limited to…
- house hunting/buying process
- renovations
- organizing and decorating
- sighing over historic details
- craft and sewing projects
- literature or art that inspires me
- my experiments with natural cleaning methods/zero waste (we’ll see how this goes)
- philosophical musings
- and yes! I will show pictures! (for now, please enjoy this teaser of my happy little succulent while I work on capturing more relevant pictures of the house)
Welcome To The Carriage House 