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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

How I Met My House!

An Nicole of Our Suburban Cottage has a Blog Party today, Thursday April 22 -- about how you, or me, or you over there hiding behind the davenport -- about how we met our houses.

For me, it was online dating that lead me to That Old House.
And I was engaged to another house at the time!

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In 2007, Howard and I had a contract to buy an 1890s house in another community; gorgeous yard, fabulous neighborhood, amazing new maple and granite kitchen, magazine-spread-worthy bathrooms . . . and just a few weeks before we were to close on this purchase, and the sale of our own house, I was stalking . . . I mean looking at . . . other houses for sale, and this picture popped up:


Now you have to understand the depths of my dottiness, in that I saw this picture, and it took my breath away. I am telling you, my heart skipped a beat. A normal person would have thought, "Whew! What kind of nutters would buy that old dump?"

But not me. No indeedy. For me, it was Love At First Sight.

There it was, the house I had always hoped to own -- a Greek Revival farmhouse, built in 1832, with loads of original fittings and features, a big front porch, a long upstairs hall with plenty of bedrooms, a separate "family" staircase down to the kitchen, a full walk up attic (I pictured Jo Marsh and her apples and pens), a stone foundation, old wavy glass windows, and even a recently built sunroom that doesn't even leak!

Howard came home from work that day.
Howard: Honey, I'm home!
Me: Hi. I found the perfect house for us!
Howard: Honey, we already have a contract on a house.
Me: This one is better!
Howard: Tough toenails, Honey, we have a contract!
Me: I like this one better!
. . . and so it went.

Then, our house buyers pulled out a week before the closing, meaning we couldn't buy the other house, and those sellers found other buyers, and suddenly we did not have a contract on another house . . . but by then, the online real estate listing for the old yellow house with the big front porch was gone. I assumed it had been sold.

Then, one day, months later, while stalking the housing listings again, I saw this:

Different season, same house, same breathless and heart-stopping reaction. My house was still single, still looking for that perfect partner, still available after all!

Kismet. Serendipity. Fate. Whatever . . . it was ours.

And it still is.
We are looking forward to a long and loving relationship.
It would help if That Old House would learn to stick to a budget, but one can't have everything.
She's lucky she's cute, you know what I mean?


Click, above, to have fun visiting other stories of matches made in heaven! -- Cass

P.S. I got pretty much all of my "wish list" features here at That Old House. Howard had one thing on his Wish List: a garage. Poor Howard. He is the best of husbands.


41 comments:

  1. Sounds like it was meant for you to have the yellow house!!! I love it and enjoy reading your blog to see how you are fixing it up. Love & blessings from NC1

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  2. It's a beauty and I know it's proud of you.

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  3. How cool! It was meant to be for you to get that house! It's lovely!

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  4. That's so lucky and so cool. I am drooling over your house...I hope you don't mind!

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  5. You and That Old House were meant for each other. As my mother always said, though, don't think you can change one another. That spending habit of your house will likely never go away!

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  6. Cass,
    It was Serendipity. Houses can do that to you. I had a Greek Revival village farmhouse in Maine. I loved it. Sadly we chose to build a new one after 20 years. I went by there last summer and they had painted it and it was gorgeous. All the gardens I had put in were beautiful. It did my heart good. Now I live in a townhouse and I love it.

    My mum was a knitter as well and I still have many of her "creations".

    Thank you so much for stopping by.
    Carol

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  7. Our story is very similar...we feel so very blessed.

    I love reading about your home. It is absolutely gorgeous.

    Becky K.

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  8. It was meant to be and That Old House suits you well. It is nice to get the house of your dreams isn't it!

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  9. A match made in heaven. I LOVE That Old House.

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  10. I do believe you live in my dream house! It is stunning!

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  11. What a fun and charming story..I do love that old house, too. That was a fun read for my wake-up coffee and blogging.
    Enjoy your day!
    glenda

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  12. The divine fates allowed you the house to own you. There is something in this and maybe deja vu. You should research the previous owners and see if maybe you were reincarnated form of some previous owner. Sometimes I sound like Sylvia Browne. This is Kismet for sure!

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  13. Oh I love happily ever after! What a beautiful love story! It was definitely meant to be.

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  14. Your house is GORGEOUS! My heart would have skipped a beat, too!

    I had to laugh at your husbands "tough toenails" response--I've never heard that phrase.

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  15. Love your house and it was definitely meant to be. Hugs, Marty

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  16. I agree - It was meant to be! :-)
    Thanks for stopping by. Yes, that is wisteria in my header picture. It is growing on 2 old silos in a very busy and heavily populated area.
    Glenda

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  17. Oh that is gorgeous - I will have a porch on my house some day - I will, I will, I will!

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  18. What a great story and it was fate that you ended up with that wonderful house of yours!

    Kat :)

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  19. So many parts of your story are so familiar to me. When things feel right, they are right ... no matter what the details. I think our hearts are the best judge of what we need.
    Connie

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  20. I absolutely adore your house! I found your link on Our Suburban Cottage's party post and I must say that porch is fantastic. And the color of your house, yellow, my fav!

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  21. Cass..
    love the story..
    love the house..
    love your love story with the house..
    and Howard..
    and Dion..
    just wished we lived closer/nearer!
    now, please visit me..
    I've answered your request!
    hugs!
    Loui♥

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  22. I LOVE your home!!! It is so beautiful and inviting :)

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  23. Cass, it was meant to be yours. So glad it worked out that way. It is a beautiful home.

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  24. I love your story. It's perfect. Everything happens for a reason. :) I love the thought of a forever-home. I know you enjoy waking up every. single. day.

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  25. When I seem a home like that I think ... man, I wish I could be the type of person to buy it and fix it up! It's beautiful and so glad the "depths of your dotiness" saw the beauty it has!!!
    -Sarah Marie aka Miss Mud
    http://MyMississippiMudPie.blogspot.com

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  26. Great story and beautiful home! I can see why you fell in love with it.

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  27. That is God, isn't his timing wonderful.

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  28. That is a beautiful house. I can see why you wanted it so badly. What a sweet husband.

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  29. Okay - your story totally gave me chills. In fact so far every post in this party has even given me chills or nearly brought me to tears...or both :). I LOVE that you ended up in the house that you were meant to be in - and I totally know what you mean about YOUR house reaching out and grabbing you through the computer screen. Spooky :).

    Thanks so much for linking up to my party!

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  30. beautiful story!

    how thrilling it must of been to see your home "in her single self" pictured again in a different season.

    have a lovely week!
    first time to your lovely blog.
    kellie

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  31. Perfect. This old girl couldn't have asked for a better family to take care of her in her golden years.

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  32. A little like our story, gone one day, back a couple months or a year later! It is beautiful, I can see why it was love at first sight.

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  33. it made this aussie heart- sitting in england in a lovely big ol'rambling house skip a beat too- its not just in the movies- people really do live in storybook worthy gorgeous american houses...in just a regular old day-to-day way...i would have done anything for it too!
    love it for us all...

    melissa
    miss sew & so

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  34. wow, what a beautiful home. it definitely was providence that the other two fell through. thanks for sharing.
    alely
    oh sweetlee me

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  35. She is gorgeous! And I'm sure she loves you just as much as you love her ...

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  36. Meant to be...sigh. I'd fall in love with it too. It is gorgeous. I wrote today about a house I dream of--a cottage of sorts. White with black shutters and the perfect red door. A girl can dream...sigh.

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  37. I LOVE your old house, our story is interestingly similar to yours. We also found our on a MLS listing online & the whole neighborhood of new houses calls our house that old one. I just happened upon your blog & look forward to following it:)
    Check out mine sometime if you get a chance:

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  38. Oops, I meant to leave a link:
    http://thisoldcountryhouse.blogspot.com/

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  39. Love ypur blogg...!!!
    You inspire me...I too am looking for my perfect soul mate of a house...and when I saw your blog....my jaw dropped!!!!
    I have dreams of a farm house just like this!!!!
    Becca...presently living in Florida(3yrs) married a floridian....who drug me away from my old KY home and who told her husband that we are selling everyting and moving back to the country!

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