Sweet Home.

Since we've gotten our mortgage approval and squared away all that other jazz, I think it's finally safe to publicly brag on our new home. This is the three bedroom bungalow that we are closing on in just two weeks:


We first saw this house before we "officially" started house hunting. They were having an open house, we were driving by, and we stopped in impulsively to see it.

After we got mortgage preapproval, we went out with a real estate agent and crammed 16 houses into one Saturday, because Mike has so little time off. The next day he went back to work and I saw three more houses alone. After seeing so many places, my mind went straight back to that first open house. I knew it was the best fit for us by far. Our agent managed to get me in to take a second look that day, and the next morning we'd put in a an offer.

The house is everything we wanted - an older, small home in excellent condition, in a nice older neighborhood, close to Benson's business district which is one of our favorite places in Omaha. We'll still be close to our health food store (where we buy dog food), our beer store, a library branch, and all those bars we never go to. The house itself was built in 1925 and has a bit of Chicago Bungalow flair, with natural wood trim, all hardwood floors, lots of sunlight, and a simple but pleasing floorplan.

The only drawback to the place was - at least for Mike - that the master bedroom is upstairs with no bathroom. This made him want to keep looking, and so we did. But ultimately we saw a lot of dogs and oddballs in our price range. One house had no bathroom on the main floor. Two houses had bathrooms that were in the master bedroom, and in one case that was the only bath in the whole house. One frightening home had a shower in the basement that prompted Mike to remark, "Now I know where Psycho was filmed."

So I knew - this was it. I suggested to Mike that we should buy the house but didn't try to talk him into it. I put the idea out there and let it marinate. I wanted him to fall for it on his own accord, and luckily he did.

This is the ochre-colored dining room that immediately grabbed my attention as we entered through the living room. It's such an intense, enveloping color that Mike and I are both having trouble envisioning any other hue in the room. We may even just repaint in something very similar. The corner hutch at the right is one of a pair that are staying in the house.

The front living room is very small. We plan to use it as a quiet sitting/reading room with no television. It gets lots of sun and is open to the dining room. It also contains the staircase leading up to the dormer bedroom, of which unfortunately we do not have a photo yet.

These are the listing photos, and I'm guessing that they couldn't get a flattering photo of the dormer master bedroom. It's large, with lower ceilings but still high enough that Mike (at 6' 2") won't hit his head. The chimney of the house bisects the room, and there someone has installed a small closet in the middle of the bedroom.

Two bedrooms are on the main floor, both being your standard square bedrooms. All have hardwood floors, which we love. One of the bedrooms will be an office and one a guest bedroom for the time being. The current owners painted a Dr. Seuss mural in the front bedroom that we are waffling on whether to keep or repaint. It's cute, but so bright, and do we need a Dr. Seuss mural?

The kitchen is small but cute and with a lot of cabinet space. The countertops are red tile and the owners put in a new wood laminate floor. They're leaving all of the appliances. This means that for the first time in our life as a couple, we will have a DISHWASHER. Mike is going to have to come up with new ways to spend a half an hour every morning. I'm sure he'll think of something.

Downstairs is the finished basement... family room, den, TV room, whatever you want to call it. We would like this to be the only TV room in the house. We currently have zero furniture for this space, other than the television, so IKEA here we come! I think we're going to paint all this dark blue paneling in a creamy off-white to brighten up the space. The floors are wood laminate. Have I mentioned how much I'm going to love having NO wall to wall carpeting? I hate wall to wall carpeting with an unholy passion.

Also downstairs is a laundry room (we have to buy the machines), a half bath that the sellers installed, and some storage space. There is also a shower head just sort of hanging off a pipe in the laundry room, near a drain in the floor. Not a place I'll probably ever bathe myself, but it might be a convenient way to wash the dog!

Out back the owners built a nice deck, and the yard is fully fenced. I had uploaded a photo of the yard too, but it disappeared and Blogger is driving me crazy. As you would have seen in the photo, we have neighbors all around, but they're not right on top of us, which is nice. You would also have seen that we have a detached two car garage with automatic door openers and a lot of built in shelving that will come in handy for all my painting supplies.

And here's the best part, the part that will make all our Bostonian and Californian friends puke: we're getting all of this loveliness for less than $115,000. Life is sweet.