So after my post on the imperfectness of our house yesterday, we wrote down all the things we like about it versus the things we don’t like as well as our wish list, and it became pretty clear. I can't really pretend that it will work out fine anymore, and the moving-again part does not appear to be so daunting when I consider the trade-off of finding a place that would really work for us. I'm not saying we're putting the house for sale tomorrow (God no!), I'm not saying that it will even be in the next year.
But I think you can all guess the conclusion we've come to. See for yourself.
(Disclaimer: I know this could seem like a First World problem, like boo-hoo, this poor two-good-salaries-family who needs bigger closets and a bigger garage to put all of their stuff. I know some people really can't be picky about the place they live, and cannot even aspire do that one day. I've lived in Europe, where families of four sometimes share a one-bedroom apartment because that's all they can afford in the city. I'm aware we've got it good, due to a combination of professional luck, hard work, and the real estate market in Montreal not having gone crazy yet. I'm aware just owning your own place is something of a luxury. I don't really have anything else to say except that I don't think we're being unreasonable either, and that it doesn't really seem like a good enough reason to stay.)
Likes:
- Great neighborhood
- Affordable for location and space
- Beautiful hardwood floors
- Fireplace
- Mature trees
- Garden now has many plants, shrubs and trees I always wanted.
Dislikes/minor annoyances:
- Not enough closet space
- Kitchen is dated and not very functional
- Bathroom is small for family of four
- Lacking storage
- No character whatsoever
- Entryway is small and awkward, cramped between two flights of stairs, with no closet. Always scared LP will fall down, and he has twice.
More major problems:
- No A/C, some rooms poorly insulated despite a certain investment on our part (insulating the garage, changing the windows…) This leads to unnecessary energy costs.
- At least one room missing, preferably two or three (kid room upstairs + playroom and gym/music room in basement would be ideal))
- Garage/work area too small (since we brought the Mustang in M has lost his workshop, and this is something that’s really important for him. We love the car and want to make it a long-term project, but as of now there’s no place to work on it, or do anything else (like forcing plants during the winter, etc.), for that matter).
- High-traffic street, with cars and buses going by way too fast.
- The yard and the pool are by far the main, unfixable problem. The pool is a 30 year-old massive concrete hole. I used to think swimming pools, like closets, could never be too big, but I was wrong (and I really don’t understand the era’s reasoning behind having a semi-Olympic diving place in one’s smallish yard). The pool has been nothing but a very high-maintenance, costly source of problems and worry (small kids!) for the past five years. Having it filled is both really expensive and a sure way to waste a whole summer while wrecking the rest of your yard and the neighbor’s because of the heavy machinery they need to bring in, so status quo it is. Since it’s so big and unheated, the water is never quite warm enough and we get very little enjoyment out of it (this summer has been the welcome exception, though). To top it off, since it takes up 90% of the yard, LP doesn’t really have a place to play, and we don’t have space for anything (no swings, no sandbox, etc.)
Wish list:
- A big(ger) yard, space for the kids to run around!
- A place for a good vegetable patch. I only have a few things in containers, and it’s great, but I really want more, if only to increase our family’s source of fresh and organic produce.
- A sizeable shed, for storage but also for M to fix things, make furniture, restore antiques or other similar projects he loves doing but can't anymore.
- An in-suite bathroom and/or powder room
- A breakfast nook or place to have an extra table for homework/projects/puzzles and games, etc.
- A mud room
- Some architectural character or charm (doesn’t have to be grand, just interesting… In general I find new homes and newly built areas a bit soulless), with some curb appeal.
- A place that simply has a better flow and is more functional, promoting better organization/clutter control.
9 comment(s):
I think that those of us in the first-world are allowed our first-world problems! Sounds like you guys are ready to move on...
I agree with your wish list. :)
Good luck finding the ideal house! Start looking now. You can sell your hosue later (just put a condition on your bid that you must get financing, which will give you time to sell your house).
We have a pool, but we also have a large yard - um, we have almost 2 acres in the country. The pool is fully fenced in, but I still worry. (I don't have kids and I'm already worried!) But we've already started to childproof our pool.
I agree, many new homes are cookie-cutter simple, soulless places. A mud room sounds great. A/C is definitely a "must" in our humid summers! If you find the interior of your dreams, you can always add the exterior charm later!
It's great to put what you want/need on paper (or on the screen!) so you know what to look for.
I think it's great to write it all down and look at the pros, cons & put together a master wish list. It should make your future house hunting go a little smoother. I hope that you find your dream house when the time comes, honey! :)
Of course wanting more space is kind of a first-world problem. But even if one wanted to live a life as materially simple as possible, there would still be the weather component. Because of our climate, we have to spend a LOT of time indoors, which increases the need for indoors space--we don't just sleep in our houses!
Before becoming parents, we lived for three years in a 2-bdrm, less-than-900 sq ft condo that was great for us (although it limited the amount of stuff we could keep, which was fine for us). We also had a large patio i.e. one extra room in the summer, which we used and appreciated a lot. When we decided to start a family, we knew that we would feel tight in the condo, but we wanted to wait a bit before moving. It was clear for us that unfortunately, we could not afford a house in the city, and before settling out of town, we wanted to chose a place that would be geographically compatible with our career plans. We were ready to move when our son was 16 months, but then it took us one full year to find a house that suited us where we wanted to live. So we've been *desperate* for space for 2 1/2 years... that was long.
The most difficult things to find, surprisingly, were 3 bdrm on the same floor AND a useful yard. Houses I visited from the '80s and '90s often had a lavish upstairs masters' bedroom with luxurious ensuite bathroom, and two small bedrooms in the basement. Sounds good for a family with teens (although as a teen I wanted a room as large as I could imagine), not with two young children who often require nighttime presence... We also had criteria for a yard for children to play in, and in an area with lots of mountains, that was not easy to find. Some houses were on 30000sq ft of land, but with steep slopes so only 1000 sq ft was really useful. In some cases, the direction of the slope meant that, on top of not being able to use most of the land, those 1000 sq ft only had sun in the early morning, making it even less appealing during most of the year...
We finally found THE house for us, in the best possible neighbourhood and in our price range. It took a while, but it was worth the wait! We did have to compromise on a couple of things, like the absence of mature trees in the immediate neighbourhood, but it had most of the items on our wish list and we love the place. So I'm sure that when time comes, you will find a house that will be the home you want for your family!
I love our new house and I'm glad I went to the trouble of moving, even though I had to do it with three kids while my husband was overseas. The right space for your family's needs makes such a difference. I have peace of mind in a way I never could have achieved in the old house. (Ah, the wonders of decent storage and real counter space....)
I hope you find the right thing for you!
What is a mud room?
(Sounds cool, whatever it is!)
It's a room/entrance that's different from the main, front one, like a less formal place to come in. I think it was called like that because this is the place where it doesn't really matter if you come in with your dirty boots of something. They may be typically Canadian (created in response to the climate) I'm not sure.
What I would love is how you can organize the space with everything the family needs before getting out: coats, umbrellas, shoes, outdoor gear, sports equipment, motorcycle helmets, stuff you need to carry to daycare, work, school, or whatnot. Everything that now clutters our house, basically! :-)
Here's a nice example (probably Canadian since there's hockey gear!)
http://www.liluinteriors.com/blog/?p=1965
You don't need a disclaimer! Life is what it is. I hope you find a great place that you can stay in for a long time. That is my dream one day, too!
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