Dream House

I'm watching a "flipper" show while my hard drive defrags. If you don't know, a flipper is someone who buys a house in poor condition, makes repairs and upgrades, and then sells it at a generous profit.

Now, a little about my home (since I have published my real name I don't have to worry about details). It was a model home in a subdivision in Houston, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, built right before the housing crash. After it was built it was used as an office by the homebuilder for 5 years. Then it was sold, to a couple. They raised pitbulls in the backyard (I found the chains when digging my garden), and lived in the house for about 10 years.

Tropical Storm Allison brought flooding rains; but it wasn't the rain that flooded the house, but the sheriff in his airboat, looking for citizens in distress. A lot of distress, I'm sure, at the flooding!

The family sold the house and moved to a trailer park (I found them through a public records search). The home was purchased by a flipper, who then flipped it to another guy, who then sold it to us.

Having watched the flip shows, I am interested and amused by what "my" flippers did, and didn't do. On the positive side: they installed a new A/C unit. They fixed the drywall (but did a pretty poor job of mudding it - covering the seams). They installed a new stove, microwave, and dishwasher - mismatched. New baseboards. They painted in neutral colors, a light beige for the public areas, cream in Ron's room, a horrible gray in mine (now painted curry gold), light blue in the bathroom, and a ghastly loud orange color for the exterior. Were they high when they picked out the color?  Or, as Ron suggests, did the guy steal it from his job as an apartment handyman? I don't know, but it's grown on me.

The home has apartment grade brown carpeting in the bedrooms, old enough that I think it's original. That's fine. Ron and I are messy. I don't have to worry about my "precious" carpet if Bubba throws up. The rest of the house is tile floors, easy to clean, cream colored with a little marbling pattern. I once told someone if I could pick any floor covering for a Houston home, I would select ceramic tile - which I have. White trim and doors.

Honestly, I could care less about marble tiles, travertine, etc. I detest stainless steel appliances because they remind me of bad times running that awful deli. I prefer white or cream. The fridge is white, the stove is white, and the dishwasher is black. I guess it was in budget.

Don't get me wrong, I love my appliances. They work great, even that old dinosaur of a garbage disposal. Happily, I have copper pipes, which are considered the best, according to my guys.

Which brings me to what they didn't do. The kitchen has original particle board cabinets with a wood grain veneer. I'm fine with them. My side of the kitchen is so cluttered you can't see them anyway. I'm fine with that.

They didn't retile the bathroom, and it really needed it as you know. However, Pete did such a lovely job I'm glad I waited. And, he replaced the bad wood in the wall.   Now it's a lovely beige and cream neutral with a nice marble windowsill. 

They redid the roof - half of it, the side facing the street, and they put the best siding on: wait for it... the back of the house, away from the street. I think part of that was concealing the wood damage in the bathroom wall. Ron had to pay for a new roof, new rafter, and ridge vent. Thank God we could, at the time.

Do I like my house? Absolutely. I love it.  Even with taxes, flood insurance, and standard insurance, we only pay about $750 a month. We could maybe get a 2 bedroom apartment for that, but we wouldn't have the quiet or privacy. It wouldn't be in a decent neighborhood (my mugging and the house getting robbed aside).

Now, what about my dream? If we won the lotto Ron said "Spend a lot of money on the house"? Well, I would love to get some hickory cabinets with a clear finish, in the kitchen. I'd get matching appliances in white or cream, and donate the dishwasher. I'm fine with the floors. They work. I would like to get a dark wood floor in my room [Edit - thinking about it, I prefer carpet for my bedroom] and the computer room [wood or fake wood floors would be great for a rolling computer chair] - and see what Ron would like. Maybe get him those heated floors I saw once, he'd love them in winter.   It would be fun to cover his wall with interesting handwoven fabrics, or another texture. 

I'd probably hire an interior decorator and get some suggestions on paint and curtains, but I would want an inexpensive curtain. Baby Girl likes to claw the curtains when she's chasing lizards.

All in all, I love living here in my dream house.  It's the happiest place I've lived.  In another year, I'll have lived here the longest of any home I've had.