Ranch Living

We bought a ranch style home.

Those are words that I never thought would come out of my mouth.  If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with real estate, decorating, and re purposing. I even own a two inch 3-ring binder full of cut outs, ideas, paint samples, etc, that I have been collecting from magazines since I was a senior in high school.  If my t.v. is on and Auburn isn't playing, it's a pretty safe bet that the dial will be set to HGTV.  With all that said, I have to admit that I have never been enamored with ranch style, one-story homes.  I imagined that I would live in a two-story bungalow style home because I have always been drawn to that aesthetic. When Steven and I moved to North Carolina a few years ago, we found what I thought was the perfect home for us-- a traditional low-country cottage style home.  We did a lot of work to it to update the 1980s interior to modern times, but left the exterior alone (other than some plants and shrubberies we added along the way).  However, when little Sawyer came, we both decided that hauling a baby up and down the stairs to the nursery to change his diaper, get a toy, or find a pacifier was A LOT of work. 

Cut to our home search in Thomasville...Although I still love the look of a two-story home, Steven and I were both drawn to a 1970s rancher.  It has a weird layout because it was added on to a few years ago, bad tile choices, old-as-the-hills appliances, asian-inspired wallpaper in one room, as well as zero bathroom or kitchen updates.  Some may ask, "Why in the world would that be the house that you chose?"  Well, here are the things we like: great neighborhood (very safe and kid-friendly), large family room that is open to the kitchen, beautiful built-ins, 4 bedrooms with 3 1/2 baths, no stairs to climb, and lots of storage. On top of all of our other likes, I think we really just like a little challenge. 

Our immediate plan is to replace the tile in the kitchen and change out the appliances.  I would love to completely gut the kitchen, but my husband says that he wants to update the cabinets himself.  He got a router for Christmas and is aching for another wood-working project.  The countertops are old but clean, so they will work for a while.  All of the other updates will have to be done as we go.  I love a fresh start, so I am excited about our new adventure in house #2!

Steven and Sawyer playing out front