Sideways & Shipwrecked

That Stupid Instinct...

I told you about a month or so about my non-maternal instict -although I am feeling that one too now...thank goodness for just having the pups, because I haven't gotten any closer to knowing anything about babies. 

It's the house thing... and I have the bug. The I want a house bug. Where I can decorate and call it my own... it's driving me crazy. So crazy in fact that I started looking at houses in NC, and thought about staying an extra year or two. Yeah, that crazy. (Well that and the fact that our rent went up and all of our friends pay less a month for a mortgage!)

But anyway, the house bug got me tonight because I saw this...

and now I want a house with tons of chandeliers. And that one too.

I want  a house damn darn it. 

I need something to decorate/design!!!

(I guess I have a wedding to keep me busy right now.)

(And something else to design on the horizon. ;) more on that later.)

The Maternal Instinct...

    Apparently at my age I am supposed to be wanting to have children in the worst way. And I would love to have children, but my maternal instinct isn't calling just yet. I mean if I had children I would love them and care for them- I know I could do it (just not financial- although who can say they can fully support kids? It's expensive in the real world!)

    I know that about a year ago I seriously doubted my ability to take care of children... and I know that I have A LOT to learn... in fact so much to learn I would need to have my mom standing by her phone 24 hours a day.

    But anyway, I love kids... but the instinct that has really kicked in is not to have children... I WANT A HOUSE SO BADLY!!! I want a house that needs some TLC, but has a lot of character. I used to want that picture perfect house that is move-in ready and doesn't need a coat of paint. Or I wanted to build our own amazing house. While I would still love either of those options I have changed what I wanted. Someday we will build our own house, but I would like to own a house first and learn what I like and don't like.

    I want an older house that I can remodel that fits out character and our style. I want to give a poor old house with "good bones" a face lift... I love before and afters. I want to make something my own... I want to feel us in it. This is what I want in a house...

3+ bedrooms

3 1/2+ bedrooms

A large living room for lots of people visiting

A large open kitchen with an eat-in nook and an island! And built ins! And an overhead pot rack!

Walk-in closets

Window Seats

A fireplace

A studio for me- a funky space, like in an attic or strange shaped room

An office for Mr. Wright that we could also make into a library with a ladder

Garage 

A pool and hot tub with a large patio and fenced in backyard (this isn't a make it or break it, but I could live in the water.)

AND I DON'T WANT TO BE RIGHT ON TOP OF MY NEIGHBORS- I LIKE TREES!!!

 

    Okay, so yes. That is a lot of wants, but wants that are easy to create yourself. Thank goodness Mr. Wright used to build houses. Amazing houses. They all sound expensive, but really- all I need is space. I want to be able to post before and afters, but our apartment isn't very exciting. So I'll let you check out this awesome- The Lettered Cottage and you can check out others before and afters. 

    Seriously, this house-ternal instinct is killing me. Hopefully soon... once we figure out where we want to live... I found this house today and loved it... it has a lot of what I want and it still needs updating! Perfect... BUT I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THIS HOUSE... it has such charm (and such a price tag for my little budget!)

 

Ahhhh.... I need a house!

I found them! YHL's 1st Casa and Polk Street School

Okay, okay I am a bit of a stalker. But I am in Love with John and Sherry from Young House Love. I am so in love in fact, that when we were driving home last week from New England I made Mr. Wright stop in Richmond so I could check out their stomping grounds. But before we talk about that let's talk about how I happened to be driving through Richmond last Friday when I was supposed to be at work all last week.

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It's called Delta.

And snow.

And wind. 

And closed airports.

And cancelled flights.

I was supposed to fly home on Sunday the 26th. That flight was cancelled. It was moved to Tuesday. Yay, two full days at home extra! Hooray! But we got snow Monday... and the airport was an hour and a half away- 2 hours in the snow, and we decided we should drive to the airport Monday since we couldn't check the flight status and didn't want to chance that it was cancelled Tuesday while we were driving at 3 a.m. 

Why wouldn't we know if it was cancelled?

Because Delta's phones were off due to the weather.

Because Delta's website was down.

Because the airport Delta desk turned off their phones.

Because Expedia turned off their phones.

And because I was flying in LaGuardia which was already having its fair share of problems and closings I was scared to get there and be stranded for days.

So we got a hotel and went to the airport. The guy told me my flight was still scheduled and rushed me right outta there! 2 hours later guess who's flight was cancelled?

This girl's!

We slept in a hotel bed with funky shaped pillows, I woke up at 3 a.m. and was told that the soonest flight they could get me was Friday. So I got a refund- immediately. Easy peasy. They wanted me out of that airport and out of their hair. I should have asked for vouchers- it was their fault I missed a whole week of work.

But what I got to see may have just been worth it....

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I thought this was the closest I would get to my idols humble abode...

 

AND THEN I FOUND IT! (with some research and it turns out I was only 3 miles away!)

The original Casa Petersik! I wanted to go in so badly... but that would just be weird. Besides, I had already seen a tour online. Seriously, they are celebrities to me. And you should read their blog. Especially if you are re-modeling your home. They are awesome. My inspiration!

 

I also got to see the Polk Street School (which is actually the Bon Air Elementary, but who cares?) What's the Polk Street School? Were you deprived as a kid? Did you not read Patricia Reilly Giff's Polk Street School books? I loved them. I even wrote a letter to PRG in second grade, I think I told her I wanted to be a writer. 

I loved the names and the covers. They have changed the covers and they're not as awesome as the one above (courtesy of Amazon) but you can't judge a book by it's cover, right? Do you remember them? Anyhow, I got to see the school that was inspiration to PRG when writing these books that molded my childhood.

I loved Richmond and Bon Air too- awesome place to live- beautiful houses! I'll share some more about that, Christmas, Maine and everything else soon!

Great Blazes...

I have been enjoying some of the fall's newest sitcoms, including Better with You on ABC. I was catching up with it last night on the DVR and it inspired me to do a little research and I'm liking what I found. 

You see, on the show the couple Mia and her fiancé where looking for a new place to start their family- and he was looking for something unique and cool to convert. They found an old firehouse and he was so excited... she however was not. It got me to thinking though... wouldn't it be awesome to live in an old firehouse? 

There's so much history of the people who lived (because they do spend A LOT of time there) and worked there? I love thinking back to who the people where who lived somewhere- what they were like, what their lives were like. It's always like a mystery and I love mysteries. 

But I also got to thinking- if you like modern minimalism or home renovation or just want to live somewhere cool how awesome would it be to convert a firehouse? I was hoping at the end of the show they'd have it renovated so I could be surprised by the transformation, but I guess that's a little hard to do in 30 minutes. That's where my research came in- I decided to see what others had done to old firehouses- someone had to have done this first, right? Right. 

Here's what I found:

Engine No. 44 in San Fransisco is ah-mazing! It's also 5 million... Seriously though, look at the pictures.

Okay, it's pretty modern... but it is fabulous. It sort of had lost it's firehouse-ness, and if I lived there I would not want the fire pole to be encased in glass. But hey, I guess it would hurt if you missed the pole and fell 4 flights.    

Then there are these adorable firehouses on Cape Cod. They would make the cutest little houses... some of them are... and some of them are forgotten. It makes me sad... I love seeing the pictures of them back in the day. I would like to renovate them and then find the men in the pictures and have them over for chili...

And this firehouse was an adorable little cottage like firehouse. They did a great job with it!

So what do you think? Would you live in a firehouse? I totally would! Now off to bake some cupcakes!