Congratulations Sally - what an exciting milestone! I'm a bit of a gypsy and love moving/buying homes. (Selling, not so much ;) It sounds like you picked a winner, but now I want to see pictures please?

Sue

Congratulations! Ditto on the photos, before and after please!

Sally, I'm excited for you. Think of it this way... you now have three years to get the house ready for the final move in. Not sure how far it is from your home now but it will be fun planning and doing all the fixing up. The three years will fly by.

Congratulations!!!!

Nancy

Congrats!

Congratulations - It's good to hear a happy ending to a real estate story these days. All your hard work and determination must make it all the more satisfying.

Don't know if you are familiar with the Kitchen Forum on GW - that's how I found my way here - but there are a lot of caring and talented people there who will be willing to help if you need inspiration or advice when it comes to sprucing up your kitchen space.

Good for you for seeing the diffult process through to a happy end!

Sally, congratulations on the retirement home! I think your timing is about right. Three years gives you plenty of time to make changes but not too much time...

We did the same thing...bought our dream 'retirement' home about 6 years ago (we're also about 3-4 years from retiring). We've completely rebuilt the house (literally) & love it. Unfortunately, both of us were born under wandering stars & dog-gone-it if we're not now out looking for another house! Looked at one just this past Saturday. So, I've got no idea if we'll actually retire in this house. We just get restless...always have.

/tricia

Congratulations, Sally! I bet you feel like a huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders now that all the paperwork is signed and the place is yours!

Three years will fly by, as Nancy said. (I can't believe we've been in our house almost 7! Where does the time go?)

Yes, you definitely have to share before and after pictures!

Linda

Great news Sally! Yes, it sounds like you'll be a frequent visitor at the kitchens and bathrooms forums.... thats how I wandered over to cooking after our bathroom was finished. I've gotten good advice over there!

Grace

Yes, I spent a lot of time over at the kitchens forum several years ago when we remodeled the kitchen in our current house. Here we go again!

I thought we had better pictures, but we don't have good ones yet. Here's a few that DH took when he first looked at the house. It was full of stuff. The people we bought the house from were quite messy and trashy, so one of the main jobs we're going to have will be cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.

I thought DH took a good picture of the front of the house, but I must have been thinking of the picture on the realtor site, which is now gone. Here's the front of the house.

Here's the kitchen.

Here's the living room from the kitchen. The floors are one of the main reasons we bought the house.

And, here's one of the other main reasons we bought this house - for our Grandson's climbing fun!

Luckily, that RV in the background is gone, now.

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us!

Sally

Sally, yes you do, but the house looks so charming & I think you will have a great time making it what it should be. That front porch will be nice in warm weather (but 2 doors - was it a duplex?)

Great climbing tree. Do you know if it is alive or just dormant?

I don't know why, but that was the style back then. One door opens to the living room, the other to one of the bedrooms. The seller had all the windows and the bedroom door going outside covered up with furniture, and all the blinds and curtains closed. The first thing I did when we actually we able to go into it as our own was to open all the blinds and let the sunshine in. That's about all the time I had, too, before we had to head back to Dallas. We'll get it in shape, a little bit at a time.

Sally

I love that tree. It's like a sculpture. Well, this should keep you occupied in your retirement. The piece of land looks lovely. Will you change the kitchen cabinets? The grain in the wood of the current cab kind of makes me dizzy.

I hope you will give us occasional updates about your progress.

Yay Sally! I love renovation...before and after pictures are a must. Enjoy your new place.

Sally, congratulations. I love porches you can actually sit on and the floors will be lovely when they are all polished up and done right.

I actually kind of like the cabinets in the kitchen but the black appliances are kind of dark. Keeping the floor the shade it is, it will probably look a lot bigger with lighter cabinets, countertops, etc.

Of course, I'd just paint everything white, LOL, except the floor! And I love that old tree, it would make a great "horse" for a little cowboy, also a fort to protect him from marauding Indians and a great outlook to spy outlaws ready to attack and maybe a ship discovering new worlds and very possibly a rocket.....

Annie

How exciting, it is charming and I too wouldn't be to quick to do anything about the tree until I saw it in all seasons.
Good luck with your project.

We were told the tree is still alive. It's a Bois D'arc tree, aka Horseapple, aka Osage Orange, even though it produces green fruit. We're guessing that many years ago it was hit by a very strong wind, maybe even a tornado. This kind of tree naturally looks a bit like a punk rocker.

We're planning on changing the color of the cabinets and removing the paneling. The cabinets and the paneling sure do clash! For now I think we'll just clean them and paint them - probably white just to brighten the room up. I'm thinking of painting all the walls white just to begin with, then start adding color as we get the feel of the place.

Sally

charming cottage!
What kind of wood are those cabinets? I'll bet if you leave them as they are and lighten the curtains and get a better light you will like them.
and if that's an Osage orange tree you won't want your grandson to be climbing it.....thorns! Big thorns!
Linda c

How exciting! Buying a house is always an adventure. Is your hand cramped from signing your name yet??

Congrats many happy years and memories to you!

Congratulations Sally. Very cute.

Ann

Cute little place..
If you want to find a neighbor or atleast someone familar with the area. Go over to the Kitchen Table and ask for Stacy, screen name Grinch Gut. I believe she lives quite close to your new digs.