Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Does size matter? Relax, we're talking houses.

JENN MCKINLAY


Rainbow over my house!
Hub and I bought our starter home, well, when we started eighteen years ago. We picked it because it was in a good school district, although, at this point the hooligans were still a theory and not a reality, and it had a pool, which was critical for this New Englander in the desert. It's a modest three bedroom home with a good sized yard, but if I need someone I can pretty much yell and be heard on the other side of the house. Yes, this is a plus point for me.

After ten years, we fully intended to sell and move into something larger, not much bigger but with an office for me since I was a paid writer at this point, but then the recession hit. The newspaper where Hub was a music editor folded, and the library where I worked part-time as a children's librarian slashed everyone's hours. Good times. Not. We decided to hunker down and ride it out.

The hooligans thrived and life got crazy busy, hectic with activities for them, deadlines for me, and gigs for Hub. Years passed. We debated moving on and off but something always came up and, quite frankly, Hub and I are both kind of lazy in the whole sorting and packing -- ye gad, we own a lot of stuff! -- department, so here we sit.

But now, we know it's time to get ready to do...something. In a few years, the nest will be empty. Since we move with the speed of a glacier (the ones that cruise at one meter/day not the swiftly melting ones), we figure we need to start fixing up the abode now and we might be ready to sell and make a change when the youngest one escapes us. Why the change? Well, we're both longing to live near water, so we're hoping for an oceanside or lakeside location. But here's the new dilemma - what do we buy next? We have no idea.
Darth Vader bathroom.


We like to rent VRBOs when we travel because you can try on different houses for size, like hats but with beds and junk. On our recent trip to Oregon, we rented a riverside house that was, frankly, ginormous because I got a smokin' good deal on it and we wanted a river view. We're talking three car garage, vaulted ceilings, a hot tub, three decks, a master bath that included a lounge chair, jacuzzi, and a ceiling of skylights that was pretty rad. Oh, and it had another bathroom that looked like it came right out of Star Wars so we made everyone hum Darth Vader's march when they went to the can because why not?




View of the Deschutes River from the deck.
There was a lot to love about the house, like the windows overlooking the river, but there was a feeling that whoever owned it had their self-esteem tied up in it. You know what I mean, those houses that say "look at me I have pots of money" instead of "welcome home". Personally, I will take light and airy, cozy and comfy, over showy and ostentatious every time. Truly, just the thought of walking up and down two flights of stairs to do laundry makes me tired. Needless to say, Hub and I knew right away that while this was a fun house to play in, we have no interest in owning anything this cumbersome. I think deep down we might be Hobbits.


While we fix up our house and get ready to launch the hooligans, we'll keep renting houses to check out places we think we might want to live. So far, Maine and Oregon are in the lead even as we'd like to keep a foot in Arizona. After this last rental, I think the size of the house will have to remain simple, environmentally friendly, and without a toilet that requires a sing-along.

What about you, Reds? What are your thoughts on house size? Are you a the-bigger-the-better type of dweller or a just-enough-space-to-get-away-from-my-people-when-necessary sort?







68 comments:

  1. I’m more of the cozy and comfortable than a bigger-is-better, I think. We’ve lived in four different houses in the years that we’ve been married . . . two were quite small; the other two were somewhat bigger, but not so big as to be ostentatious . . . and never once did we live anywhere that had a three-car garage.

    With just the two of us, we could downsize, but the extra space we don’t need means that there’s always room for the children and grandchildren to have a comfortable room when they visit. So we happily appreciate the extra space that the grandchildren refer to as “their” rooms [and they actually were at one time when two of them lived here with us for a while]. So we’re content in the “a bit bigger than we need for us” house that has enough room for family to come and stay awhile . . . .

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    1. Oh, I like that, Joan. Not ready for grandkids here but it's good to be prepared.

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  2. I live in a two bedroom condo. I'm kind of ready for something else, but I'm not sure what. But after being here 14 years, the idea of packing up and moving is downright scary. Not to mention the sorting and weeding and projects and clean up I'd need to do. You've seen nothing on glacial until you've seen me. There's always a book to read or a TV show to watch after all.

    Maybe my feeling of wanting/needing to move will be satisfied when my roommate moves out here in a couple of weeks and I'm living on my own for the first time. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do with something bigger than what I have. It's just me, so a two bedroom is more space than I really need. And since my house cleaning is lacking at best (books/TV again), anything bigger wouldn't really be useful to me.

    See, you talked me out of trying to move. Thanks so much! Honestly, I think if I found the initiative to clean and sort and weed, I'd be quite happy here. Well, there are the neighbors I can't stand, but that's another issue.

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    1. Oh we've seen that photo of the books on your upper bunk Mark, LOL! You might be happy as a clam staying put:)

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    2. I'm right there with you, Mark. There are ever so many more interesting things to do in this world than clean and sort. It all depends on what I call your "yuck point." The yuck point is the point beyond which you can no longer ignore the clutter or dust or tiny little rabbit trails between towering stacks of stuff. It's the point at which you HAVE to do something about it. It's different for each of us, so here's to finding the proper balance between what you want to read, and what you're really going to have to clean out.

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    3. You are my people, Mark. I clean my house religiously - you know, Christmas, Easter...

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    4. LOL, Jenn. I ran across something I'd shared a couple of years ago on Facebook. "I don't clean so you'll feel better about your house when you go home. You're welcome."

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  3. I guess I'm more the enough room for everyone to have their space, but nothing grand at all. We live in a house that has 2,500 square feet plus a screened back porch and a two-car detached garage that sits on a little under an acre lot. Three bedrooms, two baths, large living and dining rooms, nice size foyer, adequate size kitchen, little room I call my library, and a large family room. I'm usually here by myself and will be until hubby retires next June. Room for the kids and grandkids to visit. I think that works great for me. Also, I have built-in bookcases in the little library, the family room, and one of the bedrooms. For a bibliophile like me, that makes the perfect house.

    When I was recently at my 45th high school reunion, one of my male classmates showed me a picture of his enormous house, and it was a beauty, but I thought it was rather interesting that he wanted to share that. Seems a lot of his self esteem is tied up in how large his house is.

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    1. A library? Okay, I could upsize for that! Yes, I do think some people are driven to own the big house in the nice neighborhood - rather like I am driven to publish books and hit the NYT so no judgment here - but the idea of my house owning me has always kept me from wanting to go too large.

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    2. I think you have a wonderful attitude, Jenn, and you phrase it perfectly about the "house owning (you)."

      Oh the room I call my library is a very small office type room, which I started out calling the reading room (hence the title of my blog) when my kids were little. Then it had a loveseat where I snuggle up with the kids and we would read. When I got the built-in bookcases, the loveseat had to go, but we found other places to read.

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    3. In reading the rest of the comments, I see I forgot to add that I do have a laundry room. I think I try to forget because over half of what's in there needs to be chucked. It's one of the projects for when hubby retires next year.

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  4. My home is a 3 bedroom house, my childhood home. Given how much stuff is here from a lifetime of living in the dwelling, it would be a big job to get rid of everything. After all, my mom's stuff is here as well. It's big enough for me but at the same time, probably too big as well.

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    1. I'm afraid when the hooligans leave we'll become their storage unit. I understand the dilemma of stuff, Jay.

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  5. We downsized five years ago to a modest three-bed, one-bath (not that we lived in a palace before by any means) to which we added a bath upstairs. Hugh has a den downstairs where he can watch TV, we have a guest room, and my office doubles as the second guest quarters. I have a sunny spot for a veggie garden and I can walk everywhere in town. It's just the right size, and I also go for cozy and comfortable. Not moving unless I have to go to the nursing home.

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    1. fingers crossed that's a long way off Edith, your place sounds perfect!

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    2. That sounds ideal - I love that you can walk to town.

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  6. Joan and Kathy both mention room for grandkids and kids to visit--that's our conundrum too. Eventually we will downsize, but for 8 days we had our baby Dorothea visiting plus kids and other relatives and the house held everyone. It was happy chaos! Except for poor Tonka who howled and howled when he was sequestered in our bedroom!

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  7. When we moved to Rochester from San Francisco, we were gobsmacked at what we could afford compared to California real estate prices. Besides, it was December, Julie started her new job at Kodak in January, we had five cats, and we needed something turnkey.

    And so we bought a 2500 sq ft almost hundred year old house. This is about 2000 more sq feet than two people need. And the original builders forgot to add decent closets, back in the days of wardrobes.

    This is our 17th summer in paradise. I have never ever lived in one place as long as I have in this house. Last year we did a big kitchen remodel. This year we repainted everything else. I can't bear the thought of moving even though the last thing I need is three stories plus a basement. I admit the finished attic is only opened up for a large influx of guests, and that doesn't happen so much any more. The laundry is in the basement, nice aesthetically but damned inconvenient.

    Space seems to be something that we have the urge to fill up. Nature abhors a vacuum, and I can't stand an empty room. Last year with a dumpster in the driveway, we got rid of a lot of shear crap, much of it boxes that Julie moved to California in 1996, then back to Rochester. Seriously, if you haven't seen it in 15 years, you probably don't need it.

    So downsizing? Not in the current plan. We just scored a gorgeous Harden couch at a consignment shop, curved to fit our front bay window. I have my dream kitchen, and our back garden is a little bit of heaven. There's a fireplace for those snowy January days, neighbors who look after each other, two dogs and a cat who know no other home, and room for Julie's very extensive family to come to dinner all at the same time.

    I'm set for as long as I can drag this carcass up a flight of stairs at night and sleep with the windows open. I would prefer to leave feet first.

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    1. Ann - I love it! Sounds like you and Julie have found your spot. Oh, and I've done the dumpster decluttering - very liberating!

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    2. Ann, your house and garden sound absolutely perfect.

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  8. I prefer smaller... where I can manage to keep on top of cleaning and repairs. And the idea of owning two homes makes me nauseous.

    We bought a 3 BR 1 BA 40 years ago and have added a bedroom and a bath and a half-bath. Our daughters and son-in-law and grandkids stay with us often and I LOVE that... so we'll stay here until death or infirmity dictates otherwise.

    Not that I don't dream of downsizing. No snow shoveling. Plumbing breaks: not my problem! But I love my garden and my husband would be loathe to part with all the space he has to store his 'stuff' (attic, basement, garage) not to mention the stuff itself.

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    1. Your space sounds just right, Hallie. We've debated adding on but then there's the whole wanting to live near water thing. Sigh.

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    2. I can't imagine lol bing 40 years at the same address. Heavenly

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  9. I moved to a house just a bit larger than my old condo, motivated by my condo neighbors' smoke. There was no way to keep it from creeping through the walls. Outdoor stuff is (mostly) covered by the association fees, which is good for my allergies. A friend moved to a larger house after he kids moved away, in order to have enough space to host holidays at her home once those children had families. (I think her S-I-L also had just bought a bigger home ;-) Another friend is outfitting a van for living in while traveling . . . small appeals more than larger, but what about all the books?

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  10. Count me in on the small size. My previous home was a quirky little cottage northwest of Columbus, OH in Mt. Air. I was pretty much surrounded by mostly mega-houses in mega-developments (10-min drive to downtown! hooked a lot of silly people--only in your dreams, people!). Large keeping room with original wood floors and huge stone fireplace, loft bedroom over a small, efficient kitchen and bath. Many-windowed enclosed porch was my study. Laundry in scary basement. Traffic, lack of closets, and not being able to stand upright in the bedroom were the downsides. Now I have a 3-bedroom ranch near the 'North Coast', 1-1/2 baths, full basement, attached garage. Small, but lives larger--open, light everywhere, on nearly 3 acres, and still surrounded by trees. Even when the boys spread their wings, I could be happy here.

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    1. Sounds lovely - I especially love the surrounded by trees part!

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  11. We've just moved into a three-bedroom apartment, about a thousand square feet smaller than the house it replaced. We were eager to get out from under our demanding yard and extra rooms. So far it looks as if we've got about the right number of spaces: the second and third bedrooms are offices that can become guest rooms as needed. We're definitely enjoying not mowing, trimming, etc., although my wife would like to have a little space to grow a few veggies. We're continuing to take notes on the changes that we want in the next place (bigger kitchen), and doing some research on a few possible destinations that are closer to the kids and grandkids, as well as my parents.

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    1. I like the idea of transitioning like you are, Jim. I've been trying to talk the Hub into renting until we know what we want but he balks at moving more than once.

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  12. We live in a very small house (3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths), but it's on a lovely, wooded 1/2 acre lot at the end of our road. It's very small. Very, very small for me and my 2 giant 6' plus sons and their equally ginormous dad. Oh, and we have a dog (but at one point we had 3...). That being said, it's cozy, and I like that fact that I can call anyone at anytime and they can't use the excuse that they didn't hear me (although they do seem to wear headphones quite a bit, lol!). Most of the boys' friends live in giant houses you have to actually go looking for someone if you want to talk to them.

    We're looking to move within the next 10-15 years at retirement time, and we won't have to worry about downsizing, lol!

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    1. Yes, that's it exactly. I don't want to have to perform a search and rescue op every time I want help unloading the groceries!

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    2. I kid you not, I've known of people who had to use their cellphones to locate each other (kids in one wing, parents in another, etc...)

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  13. My house is a 2,300 square foot classic 1960 brick ranch. It's probably about 1,000 sq. ft. too big for me, but it was the right price in the right neighborhood, and it came with a huge yard that my dogs adore, plus room for all the stuff I've accumulated and all the stuff my late husband accumulated that I haven't managed to get rid of yet. I have a vision of what the house could be, and I hope to get there eventually, but the progress is pretty slow. My current challenge is the large front living/dining room, which is packed to the rafters with boxes from my old storage unit. I still have to go through them all and find places for everything, but I'm trying to hold fast to the rule that, if I haven't needed it in seven years, I don't need it now.

    There are things I absolutely love about my house, including the fact that it's all one level, so there are no stairs for my bad knee to contend with, and the fact that it has a lot of large closets and built-in cabinetry for books, linens--even a cedar closet for coats. The things I didn't like about it when I bought it, like the faux bordello lighting fixtures and Barbie's Atomic Dream Kitchen (all pink!) are gone. Probably the thing I like best about it is the potential for making it my own. I've already replaced the hideous carpet (pink shag!) with the hardwood floors that should have been there from the beginning, and my next project will be installing the glass panel I've commissioned from a friend as the front sidelight. Like Ann, I'll have to be rolled out on a gurney.

    By the way, Jenn, I thoroughly enjoyed "About a Dog," but my current foster dog, Kata, might have enjoyed it a little bit more. She snitched it off my nightstand and ripped large chunks out of three pages in the last chapter. I had to chase her down to save them before she did more damage, then carefully tape everything together again to find out how Mac finally won Gavin back. It wasn't pretty, but I savored every word--and, apparently, so did Kata.

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    1. Aw, thanks Gigi! You are lovely to be so kind. Kata can come play with Annie and Otto anytime - they chew the garden hose instead of books. Always a surprise when I turn it on! Also, I had an Atomic pink bathroom in my 1949 duplex in Phoenix (my singles pad) that I decorated in flamingos :)

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  14. We've been in our house for nearly 18 years. The kids are gone off to college in two three years (The Girl next year, her brother two years after), although they'll still be home in the summers. So it'll be over 20 years by the time they are "gone-gone" and yeah, the packing will be a nightmare even though our current house is on the small-ish size.

    I'm a cozy and comfortable size because who wants to clean all that space? And should we ever move I think it'll have to be to one floor living. The stairs and I don't get along all that well these days and I kind of like the idea of the laundry not in the basement. Although all the houses I truly adore are rambling Victorian farmhouses in the country, so it's definitely a battle between the heart and the head!

    Mary/Liz

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    1. Ha! Yes, always the heart at war with the head. Single level really is fabulous, though!

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  15. All three of my daughters live away, six to nine hours by car for two, and the other one a four-hour flight away. Two are married, and one is happily a deux, plus now we have three grandkids (thanks to daughter #3 marrying a man with kids). So even though we want to "downsize", we will still require some guest space.

    I put that word in quotes for a reason. Currently, we own three properties: the house we've lived in for 32 years, our farm an hour away in Kentucky, and the studio/office where my husband, his dad, and his brothers have worked for nearly 50 years. I want to consolidate our home and the office.

    The office, a five-room brick house, was built in the 30's, and it sits on four acres of what is now a very desirable neighborhood. If we sold the property as it is, someone would knock down the house (with no regard to the gorgeous trees), and put up three McMansions. This has happened to a lot of the old properties on that street.

    I've been researching home plans for a year, and have settled on either a ranch with a walkout basement where we can have some bedrooms, or one with a partial second floor, possibly over the garage. Which will be a three-car, because we will still need a riding mower there, as well as something to clear snow off the long driveway. Which is flat; our long drive here is steep, and dangerous to clear on icy days.

    The new house will have studio space for Steve, an office/sewing area for me, a master suite with a sitting area, but a modest sized bathroom--with no chandelier. (Why do model homes have chandeliers in the bathroom? That makes no sense to me.) And a big, open kitchen/family room/eating area. NO DINING ROOM. What a waste. In fact, this is a big trend right now. I toured the five homes in our annual builders showcase, and none of the $1,000,000+ homes had dining rooms.

    And the house will be energy-efficient, along with Karen-efficient (central vacuum system!). Further, we will be able to age in place there. Wide hallways and doorways big enough to accommodate a wheelchair, plus an accessible shower without a curb, and accessible entries, too.

    But I'm exhausted thinking about it. Aren't you?

    Jenn, your religious cleaning cracked me up!

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    1. I think you need to come design my next space, Karen. It sounds like you've got a solid plan - but yes the starting is the hardest part!

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    2. My brother-in-law, the mad scientist, put heating elements in when he poured his new driveway. Then, whenever it snowed, he just strolled out to the garage, flipped a switch, and the snow melted away . . . Something to think about, Karen.

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    3. Gigi, I'd love to do that, but this driveway will be long.

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    4. Karen, I admit that I felt like you about chandeliers in a bathroom, but when I had our main bathroom remodeled two years ago, I found a small chandelier that is perfect over the vanity. It really completes the room, without being ostentatious at all.

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  16. We have been thinking about this so much! Our house is wonderful, and we love it, but-- it is big. On the other hand, all the kids can come stay, and have some privacy. And we have storage.
    But… I just cleaned out the entire basement. I threw away years and years and years of stuff. It was glorious.
    So stuff tends to fill all the space there is, and it is a constant effort to keep closets not for, and shelves not overflowing.
    Would we ever move? I have to admit to you, that is very difficult to think about.

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  17. And it is a Victorian, not a farmhouse, but all kinds of nooks and crannies, and… Impossible to heat and cool.

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    1. Oh, but it sounds delightfully unique, Hank.

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  18. Donald and I have lived in only 2 houses. When we sold our house in Atlanta and moved to Boone, NC we bought a home that is the size of our Atlanta basement, so we definitely downsized. Two bedrooms (one of which is no longer a bedroom, but a mini library slash dressing room), two baths. And a small (one butt, says Donald) kitchen. If it weren't for the fact that there was a sunroom added by the previous owner, the house would have been too small, but the sunroom runs the entire length of the house and overlooks our pond which is fed by a creek that we can listen to when the windows are open. The sunroom serves as our "everything" room. When I start loudly wishing for a house on the water (which I do often), Don will point at the pond. We have a little acreage which is wooded and no real close neighbors, although the neighbors we do have on our mountain road are a very close knit group. We outgrew the house the day we moved in, honestly, but a few recently purchased vertical spine book towers is a kind of miracle help. Isn't it amazing how we can always find a way to make room for our books? Like Edith, I hope to be here till it's time for the nursing home.

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    1. Kaye, I saw those spine towers you were talking about on your FB page, and they look very useful indeed. And, we do always make room for our books, don't we!

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  19. For 14 years, I've lived alone in a three bedroom two bath house in the desert that between writing and music I have completely outgrown. One of the bedrooms is a working office, of course, but writing files and books have expanded outside those walls into the living room (for the books) and the garage (for the files.) Then, music entered my life about 4-5 years ago. I discovered that guitars, ukuleles, dulcimers and their instrument cases take up a lot of room, along with sheet music and song books and music stands and all the other equipment that goes along with playing an instrument. So, yes, I need a bigger house, but if I were to sell mine now, I'd move back to small town Colorado where my heart and spirit remain. And where the temperatures are more moderate. But Arizona has been very, very good to me.

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  20. What fun to see (virtually, anyway) people's houses! A couple of you have seen ours (Gigi, obviously, since she lives two blocks from me) and Ann, when she was visiting kids here. We've been in this house 22 years next month, longer than I've lived anywhere other than the house I grew up in. The house was built in 1905, so it's early Craftsman, with a lovely front porch, a huge corner lot, and hundred-year-old trees. The house was originally two-bed, one-bath, but the contractor we bought it from had renovated (sort of) and added two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a laundry room in the huge attic space, as well as half bath downstairs. (We have since completely gutted and redone the kitchen, the sun porch, and two of the bathrooms.)

    So I suppose the house now too big for us, but we use two bedrooms as offices, I also write in the sun porch, and we love having a guest room (Wren's room now, when she sleeps over.) The downside to all this charm is that it's a lot of work to keep up (I couldn't manage house or garden without extra help) and it's really hard (and expensive) to heat and cool. Energy efficient it is not. We've thought about selling and building a smaller, more energy efficient house, but the property prices are crazy in our neighborhood now and we don't want to move out of it. Sigh. So I'm going to enjoy this house as long as I can, and figure that all the yard work, housework, and running up and down the stairs keeps me in good shape.

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    1. Those old Craftsman homes are elegant and lovely, but all those single-pane windows make them ridiculously inefficient. My oldest daughter lived in one in northern Ohio for a few years, and they complained all the time about their utility bills. It would have cost a fortune to have all the windows replaced.

      I'm looking forward to having my vegetable garden and my flower gardens in the same place, instead of an hour apart. And I will probably also have to hire help, eventually. But it will be a lot easier to get in the city than it is in a rural county of 9,000 people.

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    2. Karen, we have 34 windows, and only four of them are new double-glazed! Many have the original wavy glass, which we thought was charming when we bought the house. Ha. But the cost of replacing all these windows is just impossible.

      I love it, by the way, that you are going to keep your city/office lot and not let it go to McMansion developers.

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    3. Thanks, Debs.

      Gor, 30 windows to replace. That would be outrageous.

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    4. Our house was built in 1928. We replaced all the original windows with energy-efficient ones...10 years ago? Fifteen? I forget. But we bought so many windows that the company gave us some for free so we only had to pay for 20.

      Mary/Liz

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    5. Your house is lovely, Debs--the perfect combination of showplace and comfort zone. But, yeah, the heating and cooling issues would cripple my meager budget.

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    6. Debs, I always love hearing about your house and seeing pictures. My dream house is a craftsman style house like yours. It's probably the only house I would go through moving for. Oh, but 34 windows does sound like about ten too many. Hahaha!

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    7. Deb's house is so charming that it makes you want to move in. Old houses were built to last, back in the pre-plastic days. We too have lots of windows, 40 of them, and they all have storms. Most are leaded glass and we'd never replace them. We just keep the heat at 68 and put on another cat if it gets drafty!

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  21. I live with my grandson in 2,400 SF of what was new construction when I bought it 12 years ago with a cottage garden that I can't keep up with. It's too much. I dream of a little craftsman that looks like Debora Crombie's house for my dotage.

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  22. This is the fifth house we've owned. Not going to count rent houses! Mind you each "new" house has been in a different city and/or state. My thoughts for the future are not what kind of home to live in but where to live. I know that I don't want to have my "retirement" home here in Houston. Parts of New Mexico appeal to me. The Carolinas. The Black Hills. I've thought of getting rid of a lot of stuff and moving to different areas and renting for several months and then moving on to somewhere new. Could we be retirement vagabonds? I don't know if my husband could embrace that lifestyle for very long.

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  23. We live in a 2 bedroom + den condo, which is just right. The second bedroom serves as hubby's office/guest room, and the small den with an amazing view is my office. The big test for us was when we left a 1500 sq. ft. house in MA and moved into a 900 sq. ft. condo when we first got to Seattle. We got rid of so much stuff! It was a challenge, but ultimately, liberating. I love to get rid of stuff and organize, and I'm a big believer in the concept of paring down what you have before you get more space to store it.

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    1. Ingrid, you are welcome to come visit me and purge and organize anytime! But I suspect you'd rather wait until it's a wee bit cooler....

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    2. Ingrid, you and my daughter sound much alike. She continuously purges and organizes. I have a running joke with my granddaughters that if they treasure something I give them they need to hide it from their mom and her purges.

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    3. I love decluttering, too, but am lacking in the organizing skill set. Help.

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    4. I always ask permission before I purge, but there are moments when it requires self-restraint, Kathy!

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  24. I would love to! But yes, I will wait until the mercury drops a bit!

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  25. I admit it, I rarely read all of the JRW comments, but today's were singularly fascinating! This topic is very much on my mind as I spend the summer in our Cape Cod house, which does have room for all the family (four daughters, three sons-in-law, six grandkids, and a dog) but which is in many ways so overwhelming. My husband and I now spend most of our time in a two bedroom apartment in New Haven, CT -- it is so relaxing! But, like many of you, we have sooooo much stuff.

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