An Alternate Universe

To be honest, when I leave my apartment on a quiet morning and admire the bright pink flowers in front of the house complementing the rich teal shutters, I know that this is really a lovely place to live. I love the size and the layout. I love the size of the yard and I can see LOTS of potential.

If we could transplant this whole house and yard to California, we would do it in a second (minus the basement, which isn’t appropriate for a state that gets lots of earthquakes… Also, unfinished basements are super creepy).

However, I know that transplanting the house is not economical nor possible, so we have come to terms with the fact that we’ve got just about 1 month left in our current adobe abode. I’ve been smiling at the exterior color that was an “oops” color–it has grown on me a lot, and the green lawn and bushes in front of the house have really helped me come to terms with it.

We still talk about what we would do with the house if we owned it and were planning on living here long-term. Here’s our brainstorming list! It’s presented in relative order of priority. And dollar signs on a scale of $ to $$$ …just for fun, I guess.

• Update the weird 80s track lighting in the bathroom $
• Quadruple the size of our usable backyard by fencing it in properly $$$
• Build a 16 x 16 wood deck in the back of the house $$$
• (Click here for a mock-up of my dream backyard)… 
• Remodel the kitchen with new cabinets $$$
• Update wiring in the whole house; relocate some plugs $$$
• Create an additional flagstone patio further back in the yard, with a chiminea $$
• Finish at least half of the basement with wiring, drywall, and carpet $$$
• Finish the laundry room with updated plumbing, relocate washer and dryer to south side of house, install cabinet system $$$

Needless to say, it would be easy to put $20k or more into the house. I love it but I am ready for some modern convenience, like, say a dishwasher or drywall, for that matter! But… I’ll touch on that in another post…