We have purchased a new house. I kind of superstitiously didn’t feel like I should talk about it because we it took a long time to hear back on the offer and then to even get signed copies of the offer to purchase. But I always do this – exciting stuff happens and then I don’t feel like I should tell my blog until it’s a done deal. And then once it’s done, telling the blog means going back way too far and I’m busy dealing with exciting stuff anyhow.

But anyhow. This spring, I did this amazing grand-suggestions and turn-on-a-dime-plans-for-life routine that I seem to do. Where I’m like, “let’s build a deck instead of getting married.” “Hey, let’s build a deck in one week this summer when we have to take a couple of weeks off anyway.” “Hey, those weeks off are about five weeks away, let’s see if we could get our house ready to sell in three weeks. Who knows, we might sell it before we bother building a deck.”

And so we about killed ourselves trying to get the house ready to sell in three weeks. We did it, we listed it, then we about killed ourselves trying to keep it clean and hustling the children out of the house whenever there was a showing or an open house (which almost always seems to happen during naptime, mealtime or bedtime). But then, we DID get an offer before we built a deck. The whole thing just tripped merrily along and is still continuing with a velocity of its own.

Tuesday all the conditions were removed on our house sale. Wednesday we removed all conditions on our house purchase. The possession date is in just over two weeks. And then the possession date for the current house is two weeks after that. So it’s not rush-rush-rush. But it’s sure not dragging.

Things that are awesome about our new house:

1. The neighbourhood! OMG. It’s full of old trees (like I’ve had in every neighbourhood until two years ago). It’s close to the river (like the neighbourhood where I grew up). It’s good for aimless walking – full of picturesque houses, grid-streets and awesome accidental destinations.
2. The bedrooms. There are four of them, they’re all upstairs and we don’t have to do anything constructiony to make them work. One of the reasons for the house-shopping is that Ethan would like an upstairs bedroom (we bought our current house the week before we found out we were having Hannah, so we had no option but to put Ethan in a guest-bedroom). And it’s hard to find 4 bedroom houses, and we were willing to look at 3 bedroom houses that could become 4 bedroom houses with some work, but it’s fabulous to find a house that has the bedrooms we need and doesn’t need work.
3. It’s got character. Like every house I’ve ever lived in except for our current one. New houses have their advantages, fo’ sho’. But I don’t feel at home in the current one like I do in a character home. The new house has some creaks and heaves and a mature yard and some plaster walls. The cabinet doors don’t stay closed. It’s had an addition which has given it interesting angles. It has personality and history.
4. It’s not drowning in character. The hardwood is new. The floorplan is pretty open. The main floor is drywall (not lathe and plaster). It has air-conditioning and a two-car garage – two things we lamented how we would miss when we started shopping for a character home.
5. It has space. We haven’t figured out our configurations yet – but there’s room enough for me to think of negotiating a craft/sewing space.
6. The yard is bigger and nicer than our current yard. Don’t read too much into that ’cause it doesn’t take much. But it is a nice yard. It has giant trees and a deck. It is completely the kind of yard I’d be happy to go out and sit in just because.
7. It is three and a half blocks from the kids’ school. Also three and a half blocks from the studio where my dance classes are. Three blocks from the river. Also three blocks from the best cheesecake in town, half a block from the best chili lime shrimp in town and stumbling distance from about six bars.
8. It has nooks. I’m a person who loves built-in niches, window seats and cozy nooks. There is a front office-nook with a window overlooking the front yard (which is so nicely landscaped as it could be referred to as a front garden). There is a side deck, just big enough for two to sit and have tea, enclosed on 3 sides by the house. A perfect place for enjoying the evening air, or sitting and writing on a weekend afternoon. There is a back room which is meant to be a family room, but it is just big enough for a sectional and a tv, and the wall facing you is dominated by a large window with a view of the backyard. Which leaves one with the sense that the whole family room is just an oversized window seat.
9. It has proper mudrooms. Front and back. And the back one has benches and a bunch of storage space. I’ve never had mudrooms, but I’ve often suspected that with children running in and out of the house they would be awesome to have.
10. I’m gonna reiterate: the neighbourhood. ‘Cause there’s so much about the neighbourhood. Its age, its proximity to everything that matters, its urban-hipsterness (I mean proximity to cool restaurants and shopping), its walkiness, its trees. Oh the trees. Come October, I’m going to take a picture of our canopy of autumn colours and then I’ll come back to our old neighbourhood and take a picture of this neighbourhood’s “canopy” and you’ll see. Oh man. It’s gonna be awesome.