Our new camera finally arrived, and we didn’t waste any time putting it to use. We have a lot of pictures of the guest bedroom and hallway to share, but we’re still working on those posts. We didn’t get into Brooklyn until super late last night, and it’s been work-work-work ever since. Also, it turns out that writing about putting up sheetrock is as boring as actually putting up sheetrock. Yiish. Give us a couple of hours to work that one up.
In the meantime, we’d like to share with you the reasons we moved from Brooklyn to the middle-of-nowhere. A lot of our friends think we’re insane for moving to a small town, and double-insane for buying a fixer-upper. They they don’t understand why we would keep our NYC jobs and drive back 3 hours to sleep in a friend’s closet just to show up at the office 2 days a week.
We think this makes it all worthwhile:
We start seeing those rolling hills about an hour into our drive, and both of us get super excited.
By the time we get up into the hills, we’re in a completely different state of mind. We’ll roll down the window and breathe in the fresh air, and marvel in the greenness of everything. Everything is so lush.
Everything is so quaint and quiet.
Sorry. It’s quaint and quiet and cute. Did we mention there’s a trolley? Even the word itself is cute. Trolley — instant cuteness.
But the most important reason we moved out here is this:
The minute we saw her, we knew she was The One.
Sure, she needs a coat of paint, and we’re not crazy about the white screen door, but we still thought she was stately and classic. She had presence.
Even now that she’s all naked without her ivy.
Once we stepped inside and saw the original details, we were smitten. Check out the front door from the inside:
Ignore the pup. That 90lb attention-seeker isn’t ours. We were dog-sitting for a friend, and Paulie wouldn’t get out of my door shot no matter how nicely I asked. He’s pretty geeked about his 5 minutes of internet fame.
To give a frame of reference, those doors are so tall and neither of us can reach the latch up top to lock the door. I’m 5’5″ and Bradley’s 5’10″ (and Paulie’s a bit over 4′). We need a chair to get way up there:
It was love at first sight. And that, overly-judgmental friends, is why we became part-time New Yorkers and full-time small townie homeowners. For those of you who requested a peek at the outside of our house, we hope you enjoyed the pics. Coming up next: that brick wall we were exposing is done-zo and we have the before-and-afters to prove it!
ok so your house was built in the 1800′s is that picture with the trolley from the 1800′s? there are seriously women walking around with full length poofy skirts and parasols?! time warp.
Ha! One word: prom =)
Wait, two more words: rainy day.
Dear Brave Souls,
Having moved from Seattle to small town Paonia, Colorado, then to the mountains of Panama, from my perspective I can say that you are on the right track. Please continue to follow your dreams. Dreams not followed become nightmares. I am enjoying seeing your progress; I redid a Craftsman style home in Colorado and it was non-stop fun. Ah, the memories of plaster dust.
An insulating tip should you want it: do you have a brick chimney running up from the basement, through the floors, and up into/through the attic? If so, the biggest energy saver you can do is to seal the spaces around the chimney in the basement and in the attic. Insulation stuffed in the spaces won’t do it (any time you see dirty fiberglass you know that you are filtering but not stopping air flow). Use sheet-metal (it is non-combustible) and spray foam in a can to seal the spaces. This will stop a massive amount of heat loss from your house.
Best regards from tropical Panama, Fred
Panama Fred, your comment just made our day. Not just because of the super helpful insulation tip which we totally plan on doing (thank you!!), but also because you’re actually living our dream. We’ve talked a lot about someday moving to some warm, faraway place and building a shipping container home! Someday… Anyway, thank you again for both the encouragement and for the insulation advice. We’re subscribing to your blog and following your adventure =)
Thanks for sharing pics of the outside of your house – she is indeed stately and classic! And that town is so quaint! Such a change from Brooklyn, I imagine.
HUGE change from Brooklyn. We’ve got the best of both worlds right now — we get to come back to Brooklyn whenever we want and then escape it whenever we want. Love that!
The house looks amazing. Though, the commuting thing is crazy. But the house… and the cute town, and the scenery… yeah, i can definitely understand that.
It IS pretty crazy, but it’s not so bad. We drive 3 hours to NYC, stay there for 1 night and then drive back 3 hours the following night. …at least the road is scenic!
It’s pretty amazing, after living in the city for a while, how green and open and lush the rest of the country seems. Not that there aren’t trees and patches o grass in Brooklyn and NYC in general, but.
Now that the trees are sporting their full regalia around our house, my husband and I keep gazing out our windows and saying our new favorite word, “Verdant,” as if we have a tic.
So, yeah, I get your move.
Yeah, there are definitely trees and parks and all that jazz, but there’s just something so different about seeing all that greenery without any giant buildings in the way. Without trashbags on the curb next to the trees. And owning an outdoors space — one that we don’t have to share with 9 bajillion of our closest friends — is frikkin’ unbelievable!
I recently stumbled across your blog and have been glued ever since! I’m curious – what’s the big, red building in the picture above (the one with the trolley)? Looks like a cool old theater or something or maybe town hall?
It’s an amazing building built in 1906 that is now used for a lot of community stuff — proms, weddings, concerts and even theater events. We haven’t been inside yet, but love the way it looks on the outside — so well maintained!