meet our neighborhood

Blue sky.
A whole tree full of Spring Robins.
Melting snow.

Looks like a day for a walk to me! Lucky you......I took my camera along.

We have a great neighborhood. There are lots of different directions to walk. It's full of cute mailboxes like this and this.

It has lots of friendly cats who let me take their picture.
It also has a lot of other homes we could always "move up" to if we wanted--- and not have to go further than around the corner. This one's for sale right now. Great view-- but lots of mauve and gray inside. I love the diagnol-paned storybook windows on this one--even if it is kind of purpley.

This one also has a great view--but something about all that brick makes it look awfully serious!
See it tucked behind all the big trees? This is the beauty we've got our eye on. And it's only about 6 houses from ours. Who wouldn't want to live at the end of your own private drive that you could name whatever you wanted? Seriously--I'm selling my kidneys if this one ever comes up for sale!

It got me thinking about why we chose this neighborhood in the first place. Guess you can consider this some real estate advice from me (though remember I'm an interior designer--not a realtor, so don't count it as a professional opinion :)--this is just the conclusion we came to ....) BUY A LOCATION!

The little house we moved from was great when we bought it--all brand spanking new in a new, small subdivision. Everyone around us was so proud of their "first home". Fast forward seven years when we left-- and our neighborhood was a mere shell of what it once was. Nearly everyone had sold their homes during the big real estate boom, and a lot of the second home owners weren't nearly as "proud". Scarier yet, a lot of them rented out--and all, it seemed, to about 100 teenagers living together-- driving those cars with the loud mufflers. Some yards went yellow. Some never got landscaped. Some got waaaaaay too landscaped. We just never saw it coming, and we didn't want to repeat the mistake.

SO, with the price range we were looking in, we could have got another brand spanking new house in a new subdivision. Of course there were a ton of smothering covenants dictating everything from what color you could paint your house (brown gray or gray brown), to how many shrubs you had to plant, to how often you had to mow your 2 feet of grass, and even to how long you were allowed to leave your garage door up. I know all those were put into place to preserve home value-- but they're only as good as the people who enforce them--and you just never know.

Knowing that, we started looking in older subdivsions. Our goal was to find the "ugly duckling" of the neighborhood--where everything around it looked good, but it needed a little makeover magic. We found our place right away. The subdivision was 20-30 years old, but the homes were all still in good shape, with people obviously still updating and caring for them. The lots were all at least 1/4 acre and up--and land will always hold its value (I hope!). There was a nice mix of young and old people. And there was no where that they could suddenly hook our road up to the highway or build a Wal Mart in our backyard or anything that city planners are known for doing. Plus our house was priced just right--smaller than all the others around it for its lack of second story or basement--but just enough room for us. A garden spot. Mature trees. Nice neighbors with kids the ages of ours. And a hot tub to boot. We took it. And we loved it all better. And I painted it this nice shade of yellow-green because there weren't any covenants to tell me I couldn't.

And now I look forward to walking in this front door every day and saying "I'M HOME!"

My yellow-green heaven ;)!