When we moved to Indiana at the beginning of July 2017, we thought we would find a house right away, and be in within three months. Well, spoiler – 9 months later we finally found our home, and moved in on March 1st! Wahoo!!
Here in Southern Indiana, our neighboorhood is in a “hot” area. Everywhere you look brand new homes are being built – the school system is award-winning, and the community is incredible. So it has become very highly desirable. Even though the new homes that are being built are stunning – they are just “Not Us.” They are so close to their neighbors; there is almost no backyard. Growing up in Central New York – we had hundreds of acres of land at our disposal, so no yard was a huge deal breaker for us. So we waited… and waited… and searched… and waited UNTIL.
The house we bought dropped dramatically in price – so much so it finally fell into your price range. Once it did, we snagged it.
Why the price drop?
- Well in this area a 30-year-old home is considered old. To us, it just barely broken in!
- It needs updating. Compared to the brand new builds it is dated.
However for us:
- It hit every must-have item and a lot of wishlist items
Our Must-Have List:
- At least four bedrooms.
- Basement
- Large kitchen
- Office for me
- Pool
- Room to move and grown
- Outdoor space that feels private
- Two car garage
The bonus items that this house has:
- Half court basketball court
- sunroom
- 3 FREAKING OVENS IN THE KITCHEN
- Full basement
- Three car garage
- Large flat community yard directly across the street from us
- In-Ground pool
- Built-ins Galore
- Ohio River view
How were we able to get this house?
- We waited. We waited until it fell into our price range
- It needs a lot of elbow grease, and paint and caulk to bring it up to (and even exceed) the standards of new homes in the area.
So are you ready to check out some photos? These photos are all from the listing – so even though we have only been in this house for 2.5 weeks, it already looks SO MUCH DIFFERENT. If you are not already, be sure you are following me on Instagram to see updates!
First up the Exterior/backyard:
For the front of the house, we are looking forward to adding some nice shutters and have the trim painted. I am thinking black! I hope the shutters and trim will not only give it a nice “pop” but also make it look less like a giant rectangle.
The backyard just needs a good old fashion cleanup. There is a lot of debris (Sticks, leaves, gunk) that needs to be cleaned up.
As for the basketball court, it needs to be repainted/restained. I will have to do some research to figure out how the heck to do that.
We are also planning on reusing all of their outdoor chairs and tables. I think with some spray paint, and new cushions we can create a gorgeous outdoor space!
Heading inside, let’s start with the kitchen:
We are planning on building an “L” shaped bench in this little nook and adding a small rectangle table.
So far not much has changed in here, besides taking down the pot rack. It helps to open up the space! I still cannot get over the fact that there are three ovens. I am excited to bake Christmas cookies in here this year!
You cannot tell from the photos above, but there is also a small walk-in pantry. It will be getting a makeover here shortly.
Living Room:
We will be repainting this space next (Just finished up repainting the guest room, which was teal and black!) we are thinking a beautiful shade of green for this room!
Those built-ins… they absolutely delight my soul! I am thinking about changing out the ladder hardware, to add a nice metal track, and a nice wood & mental ladder. I also think that changing out the trim on the cabinet doors will be nice. Thinking about a nice shaker style!
Basement:
This area needs a lot of work. It is really dark down here. I am not sure where or how to start, but I trust that we will figure it out!
Formal Living Room, Dining Room and entry:
They left the baby grand piano – and we have already started the process of having it tuned up, and restored. We also splurged and bought a new dining room set. We have wanted one for years, and now that we have an actual dining room we were thrilled to get one!
My Office!!
It is very exciting having our own home again – and even more exciting to start decorating it. I plan on taking all of you along with me as I tackle these design challenges. More than that, I am excited to share with you how I decorate this home. See, I am not a decorator, but I LOVE decorating my homes. It is so important to me that my family has a beautiful home – HOWEVER I do not have a budget or desire to spend like a professional home decorator. You won’t find $1,000+ light fixtures, bed or outrageously priced anything. This will be me with a real budget, making it work!
gabriella says
how incredible that nobody else just snatched this up…
wishing you much happiness in there!!
greetings from vienna, austria and thanks for your wonderful work. i can only use some of it because i teach in german….
Stephanie says
Your house is beautiful. hi from Evansville, indiana. it gets pretty humid where i live.