Looking back
I owned a condo once, back when I was married, and I loved improving the place while learning how homes are put together. As my husband played video games, I painted, replaced fixtures and faucets, and updated surfaces. I lost the condo in our divorce and as I dug out of the financial and emotional fallout, I started saving to once again own a home.
It took nine years to save for my downpayment – working full time and living frugally like I had as a college student. That paid off in April 2017 when I combined my savings plus my inheritance (thanks grandma!) plus a chunk of my IRA to purchase a cute little place. Friends immediately recognized it was “a Brooke house.”
Release the hounds
There’s plenty to do and that’s great because I like making things, I’ve moved a lot so nesting is my thing, I have an eye for design, and I have a mind for visualizing processes. But I also don’t know home remodeling, I don’t have handy family and friends to teach me, and I am cautious by nature.
So here I go: strategizing, doing my homework before starting a project (pun, heehee!), and going for it.
Together
Since I have no helpers, explanations posted online are incredibly useful. But even then I have questions that aren’t addressed.
Maybe you have the same questions? Or you maybe you’re a friend interested in how it’s going? This blog shares my experiences in case that’s useful.
I’m naming products and contractors, yet I am strictly NO PAYOLA and NO PLUGOLA (no one is sending me items to review and I’m not getting any special discounts).
Message me to share your own findings or questions and I’ll find ways to share. Together, we can develop our houseability.
This house
My little place is in a central neighborhood of the proudly blue-collar town, Springfield, Oregon. It’s surrounded by similarly sized millworker’s homes.
My place was built in 1950. It’s 900 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, on an 8,000 square-foot lot. It’s 80% hardwood floors (pecan wood) with plaster walls and the original tub and interior doors. Each bedroom has two closets.
The home was lovingly updated by generations of handyfolks who added electrical, built in to the rooms, added a loft above the garage, landscaped and gardened, and remodeled the kitchen and windows. I enjoy their many upgrades and will gradually undo some of their slop to suit my standards.
Time to get to work. Happy housing!
Housable 