It looks as if we’ve got ourselves a new house.
We’ve been looking for a little while, finding places that had some features we liked and others that were seemingly insurmountable. We found a house we loved but after careful thought realized it was simply too much - too much money, too much house.
Yesterday, we found one that fit nearly every important criteria. And we were surprised, because it’s not what we expected to love. In fact, we almost didn’t look at it because it has two bedrooms instead of three, and we’ve been set on three bedrooms all along.
But what happened was that when we walked inside, it felt like home. We wandered around the rooms, growing more and more comfortable, already being able to sense ourselves inside there, drinking coffee in the cozy seating nook in the master bedroom, curled up on the sofa in the sunny living room, puttering around in the bright and spacious kitchen (oh the pantry! and dozens of cupboards besides), seated around the dining room table in front of the doorwall leading onto the deck.
Part of the reason for this sense of familiarity is that this house is very much like our home in Florida. In fact, the master bathroom is almost an exact duplicate. It was built by the same builder, so we have confidence that the house is solid and well made. And it’s so reminiscent of that home we loved so much, it didn’t seem to matter that it was a bit smaller than we’d originally hoped for. Even the community itself is somewhat like Island Walk. It’s a golf course community, so there are small lakes and ponds scattered throughout. There is a restaurant where we can ride our bikes and have breakfast. There are plenty of places to walk.
Place is so important to me. I’ve lived in the same place my entire life, and it has fit me very well, making it even harder to relocate myself. It seems there is only so much you can do about finding the right place. Many of the places we looked seemed perfect on paper but were absolutely awful in person. I’ve been inside homes that gave me such a sense of disconnect - I might even call it uneasiness - that I know I could never live there. I realized yesterday how important it is to trust your feelings and rely on your instincts.
You were all privy to my whining and moaning over the loss of our Florida home. As we searched and searched for homes here - on the internet and in person - I realize I was needing to find something with the flavor of our Island Walk home.
Yesterday, we found it.
Yesterday, we bought it.
We’ve got ourselves a new house.
Here’s a link to a video of the community, and to some photos of the house.