home hunt, vol. 2: when open houses slam shut...

Getting much more serious in our search for a larger home, Mr. Boom and I attended our first Open House together last weekend.  Not too far north and that, by realtor description, seemed as if it could be a good match for us.  With George in the carrier, we walked our way through the two stories of a charming 4 bedroom, 2 bath center hall colonial.

Cute, right?  There were beautifully refinished original hardwood floors throughout and a h.u.g.e. master bedroom (just estimating, it was about 40' long by 15' wide) with his and hers closets.  The two other upstairs bedrooms were good size, both with full closets and architectural ceilings due to dormers.  This house had a TON of storage.  Closets everywhere, pull-down access to a sizable attic, crawl spaces in the bedrooms and an attic garage.  The full basement contained a laundry room with updated high efficiency appliances, another room that would serve as a great workshop and that rest of the basement was all set to be finished off. 

BUT...(here's hoping there won't always be a "but")...

#1 - The kitchen was impossibly small.  As in, smaller and with less cabintry and counter space than we have in our condo right now. The cabinets were tiny, original and not in good shape.  The countrertops?  Old woodgrain formica.  Original 1960's stove. Poor layout. and, did I mention tiny?  Not good.  Not functional.  The only good thing about this kitchen was the brand-new french door, bottom freezer refrigerator.  But, that could not nearly make up for the rest.  Moral of this Open house?  Beware relator listing lacking a kitchen photo.  Sad, so sad.

#2 - The living space on the first floor was very chopped up adn the exact opposite of an open floor plan.  The family room was so long and narrow that we weren't sure how we would even go about furnishing it beyond the staged teeny loveseat and miniscule ottoman/stools.  There just wasn't a good flow to this downstairs and we would have had to gate every single doorway in order to keep George in sight.  Not practical. 

Still, it was a good begining to knowing what is out there, what we do want and what will actually be liveable for our family. Stay tuned for more updates as we move forward...