We’re staying …for now

front before

I have a love-hate relationship with my house. I think it knows it. I love that I have what I need – a place to sleep, cook, sit, and keep me out of the elements. I love that it’s my “practice pad.” I have changed just about every room in the house, some of them more than once. I like experimenting with ideas BEFORE I subject my clients to my creations. I’d rather spend my time decorating and remodeling it rather than replacing the HVAC and other mechanical items. I hate that it’s only 10 years old and we’ve had to replace or will replace the “constuction grade” crap it was built with. I’m not going to dog on home builders – there are good ones and there are some that cut corners so they profit from the rest of us who are mesmerized by the shiny and new low quality materials. I’ve seen worse homes and I wish those builders could be held accountable for certain things. But this is not what my post is about, so I must move on.  

We love landscaping! Added new lights, a walkway and lots of lovely plants and trees

We moved to Virginia in early 2002 after Mark received orders to the Pentagon. We only thought we’d be in this great state for two years, so we rented a home, expecting the next duty assignment would take us to yet another part of the country or world. Well, God has a way of making things work out for different reasons and here we are, eight years later, in the home we ended up purchasing in 2004. It’s a nice home, had many of the things we wanted, but we never thought of it as a long term home, even though we’ve put ALOT of money into remodeling and upgrades into it over the last six years.  

- A side note – I bet you’re wondering why someone would put so much into a home they aren’t planning on staying in for while. I have a philosophy. I believe in fixing a home up with resale value in mind, but I also want to enjoy the upgrades. So, each year, we save what we need in order to put in a new HVAC system, remodel the bath or finish the basement and so on. I think if someone is going to spend all that money, they should get to enjoy it – especially these days when the “Return on Investment” is a gamble.  

Back to my “love to hate to love” home. I often find myself browsing real estate listings to see what else is out there – and even went as far to get pre-qualified for a loan and get our real estate agent to show us a couple of homes in the Glens and around the area. We looked at a couple of homes – one was nice, had a unique floorplan, but wasn’t maintained well – My take on finding rotten wood rails and mildew around tubs – if the owners have not taken care of minor maintenance, chances are, there are bigger issues in the house. The next one was a gorgeous “shell” – it was in the Glens and had such great potential. The exterior was breath taking. The interior STUNK! I don’t just mean it looked bad – which it did – it had a ginormous hole in the ceiling from water damage and mold growing on other ceilings, but it literally stunk like dirty laundry, mold and Lord knows what else. I got physically ill. A million dollar home that wasn’t worthy of the price tag.  

Then we saw a home in Sawhill Estates. It was absolutely perfect. Everything about the home was just perfect. Gorgeous and well built, had all the bells and whistles. Alex, my youngest son, was with us and was excited at the prospect of having the second master bedroom…or maybe the entire home within a home which was the basement. My husband was excited too. He said he wouldn’t mind the extra commute time. So, on the way back we were giddy with excitement and started thinking about the logistics and everything else one has to do when purchasing a new home and moving.  

Then, as we pulled up to our humble little home, Alex quietly said from the backseat “Look at this house, it is so beautiful.”  

For such a little dude, a very grown up point of view. Just because we could have bigger and better, doesn’t mean we should. His comment made us re-evaluate all the reasons we should stay here. Our kids. Our neighbors. The fact we know this house like an old pair of shoes. It’s broken in and we know what it needs when it needs it. The kids’ friends come over all the time and our kids will have that sense of nostalgia after they grow up and come back to visit with their kids. Plus, on the common-sensical side – we never know what the future holds and I’d hate to live in a beautiful home we can’t maintain, furnish or pay for!!!!  

Now, this is not to say we won’t get the “itch to move” every couple of years. Afterall, we’ve got 40 years of military service between us – moving every couple of years when the military wanted us here or there – it’s like instinct or something to want to start putting things in cardboard boxes and living with nothing but the basics for a few weeks or months.  

But we are staying. Not just because we want our last child to graduate with the kids he’s gone to school with for the last eight years, or  because we have the best neighbors in the county, and not just because we will eventually move to the main floor bedroom when we’re too old to go up the stairs, but because my husband and I made a deal. If we EVER decided to put a pool in, that would be the final marker.  

Now, this isn’t an easy decision to make. After all, one of the very first projects we completed was landscaping. First the fence to keep our Rocky dawg safe and secure, and then a retaining wall, Koi pond and so on…  

Here’s the so on…(click on an image to start the gallery slide show)  

So…five years ago I started scrimping and saving in anticipation for Mark’s 50th Birthday…initially I had hoped to get him a 1961 vintage muscle car, then thought …maybe a Soft-tail Classic…or maybe a new car.  But, being the wonderful and thoughtful man he is, he told me he would like to have something everyone could enjoy…PLUS, our “garage” is a workshop – no room for vehicles    

So, in celebration of his 50th birthday, Mark is getting a pool. In just a few weeks, the digging will begin and we’ll say goodbye to that beautiful back yard we worked so hard on.  A pool … a new project for me to focus on.   MAYBE I’ll stop messing around on the inside for a while….And commit my heart to this house  – to never leave… for now.