After months(!) of searching we are finally under contract on our New England home. We looked and looked in New Hampshire. Everywhere we looked in New Hampshire we felt that we had to compromise something on our list. Every weekend we would look and feel disappointed. So in an attempt to get past the house hunting blues we went a little north into Maine. That is where we found our new digs! Onto another state (I am so sick of the DMV at this point). But we found a house the covered, what we felt, were the most important things on our list.
I shared the below picture about a week ago on Instagram (@tyoast). The view is what really sold us on the house. It's hard to say no to an ocean view.
The house was built in 1970 and is a split level style house. We were looking for a ranch style and we feel that we mostly got that here. We can live on one level for the most part and the lower level is a bonus. We have about 1400 sq feet finished on the upper level and 140 sq ft finished on the lower level with 800 square feet unfinished. We have 2 unfinished rooms and an unfinished laundry/mud room on the lower level.
Let's get to the good stuff...pictures!
Brick and wood shingles on the outside. I love love
the look of the weathered shingles. Gives it a beachy vibe.
One car garage. This was a compromise for Brian. He does woodworking so this will be tight with a car and his projects, but we will make do.
When you walk in the house it is a split staircase. When you go upstairs there is the kitchen straight ahead and a living space to the right. Also, WOOD FLOORS :)
The NEVER used fireplace. It has been around since the 70's and never even touched. This was another reason we loved this house, extremely clean and well kept. I don't actually know that we will keep the fireplace but for now we love it.
The kitchen leaves a lot to be desired. We plan to gut the kitchen eventually. In the meantime we will jazz it up with some paint, hardware, and add a dishwasher until we can do a total overhaul. Like I said, extremely clean and feels hardly lived in.
The kitchen has a large eat in area. Large enough for a table, maybe not our monster farmhouse table but big enough. We hope to have a deck off the kitchen and change those nice large windows to some french doors...eventually. The door that Amelia is looking through leads to the bonus room.
Brick wall in the kitchen...don't mind if I do. Love love love brick accents on the inside. Also you know I can't wait to get my white paint on all the wood trim.
The staircase up to the bonus room. This room was added in the late 80's. This room is also what has the excellent view of the ocean.
Unfortunately it was a rainy foggy day so the view is non existent in these photos and the lighting is bad but this is a nice big space that will be perfect for all family things. I imagine a TV, play, exercise room. With all those windows I want to spend all my time in here :)
Back to the other side of the kitchen. We have a hallway that leads to 2 bedrooms, an office, and a full bath. The wood floors are in all the rooms and office as well.
How fantastically tacky is this bath. Well I actually love the black and white tile. The rest has to go...eventually. That is my new word, eventually. It may be dated and, well blue, but it is nice and clean and we can live with it for now. You may like this one even more when you see the other bathroom.
Onto the downstairs. But first lets zoom in on that awesome outlet cover.
Ahhhhh yeah! And you better believe that these are on almost every outlet cover...in the entire house.
Unfinished laundry/mud room. It does have a sink and folding table area. Plus it is already framed and insulated so it wont be difficult to finish.
This is one of the rooms downstairs. It actually has a huge attached storage space (potential closet) and an attached finished bath so we will most likely turn this into the master suite. You know after we change the floors, tackle the wood paneling, and finish the closet. Oh and just wait for the "master" bath.
Time warp to elementary school girls bathroom, right! I sorta love this sink (sorta). But the pink needs to go.
Here is a little shot of the different floors we are dealing with downstairs. Pretty fantastic. I will not miss them when they go.
You can imagine how long our to do list is. We are breaking our list down into phases. Since we can live in the house without needing immediate work we will start with small aesthetic changes (lots of paint...lots) to give it some of our personality. Phase two will be finishing up those unfinished areas and floors. Phase three will be gutting (bathrooms and kitchen), adding a deck, and possibly knocking down a wall or two. We have a long timeline but can't wait to start tackling these projects. Now where did I put that bucket of white paint and my angle brush.
