good faith

an apology to faithful blog-checkers for the lack of new postage in the past few weeks. i've been busy trying not to let noah drive me crazy, he's been busy trying to drive me crazy and we've all been busy attempting to buy a house!

big things first: we bought a house! (i think...) well, we signed a purchase and sale agreement on 1716 iron street, a cute 2-bedroom craftsman in the york neighborhood. in our process of looking at homes around town, only this one fulfilled most of the criteria we came up with for our ideal house. really, the only thing it doesn't have that we were hoping for is 3 bedrooms, but that was low on our priority list. highest on our list was location, and for that, this house wins hands-down. here are some other stats about 1716 iron street:

--it's only a block away from our current house in the york neighborhood, the best neighborhood in bellingham
--it's a classic craftsman, built in 1915
--it has a spacious front and back yard, with room for a garden and a garage
--it has a west-facing porch
--the inside layout is open and flows well
--it has been largely untouched, structurally, which makes it easier to restore
--it's a bit bigger than our current apartment
--and it's affordable!

we are super excited but also aware that nothing is set in stone yet. this process is so involved! it's overwhelming but also interesting to learn all about it. just yesterday we had the house inspected, which revealed mostly things we already knew--i.e. the house needs a lot of work. it did reveal that a new roof, new wiring and new plumbing need to be done asap, and these are things that the bank might not like to hear. next is the appraisal, which will say for sure if the house is mortgage-able as is. if so, then we pretty much just wait till closing and make a game plan! if not... then i'm not sure what the next step is.

aaron already has a detailed plan for the work that needs to be done before we move in, and he's thinking it'll take about two and a half months of some full and some part-time work. so we'd stay in our current apartment during that time, and aaron says i'll be a single mom. (anyone want to come visit?)

and aaron's mom has worked a few late nights on a detailed design for how to best orient things to make the smallish space most useful. she has some fantastic ideas and hopefully we can make them reality. see below.


my plan is to sit back and watch the house get pretty! well, not really, although i can't actually be very helpful, given a) noah and b) all the toxins that will be floating around the house. aaron says he'll put me, noah and irene in charge of building a picket fence.

so if everything goes according to plan, our closing date (i.e. when we get the keys) would be may 15th. and we probably wouldn't move in until late july or early august... hopefully in plenty of time to get settled before this new baby arrives!

for fun, here's a map of how to get to the new house from our old house. we've joked about moving everything using noah's wagon.

so that's that, regarding the house, for now. i'll keep you posted!

this weekend we're off to oregon to visit john, jess and kate, and to see their new house. i've got lots more to report on noah's recent hilarity, but i'll work on that next week. hope everyone is well!