The Beginning

The purpose of this blog is to provide an account of the experiences in owning and preserving an old house. I meant to start this blog several months ago before the house search began, but, alas, life got in the way.  The first post will be lead-up to a consolidated update to the start of our house search.
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My Wife and I set out on this journey over four years ago to find the perfect Colorado location to call “home”.  There have been countless trips where we drove and walked many neighborhood streets countless times, as well as, rented houses in targeted cities, just to get a better feel for locations.  We, also, shopped local the grocery stores, visited coffee shops, and, occasionally, ate at local restaurants.  Along the way, we fell in love with the older, established neighborhoods—the ones, typically, part of the original plat of a city.  The quiet, mature tree-lined streets with houses of all shapes and sizes had an unique charm not seen in most modern day developed areas.  I’ve, always, considered new as better, meaning free of the maintenance and repair stressors of owning an old house; my logical mind would never dispute this.  But, a spell had been cast and caught us in its lair.  All I could think of was a Craftsman style home with a large front porch, original windows, exposed rafter tails, and a gabled roof adorned with knee braces.

Three years ago, we settled on a city to call our own.  The last and most important detail was to pinpoint the neighborhood.  This entailed driving and walking neighborhoods countless times and visiting locals shops and restaurants. In the end, our initial neighborhood choice was where we would purchase our home, but we still looked in all nearby areas just to make sure.  You see, this isn’t a home we plan on living in temporarily; we are hoping it will be our last house; a place where we will become deeply rooted.  It wasn’t until less than a year ago that we made the decision that our first neighborhood choice was, indeed, the best for us.  And, with a sigh, we knew where our “home” would be.  But, the stressful part, at least for me emotionally, was finding the perfect house...