Keeping the Cape

As many of you know, Jason and I put an offer in on a big house out in the country and it was accepted.  The house was beautiful -- it was a renovated 1840s colonial and I was excited to have found it.

The entire process of listing my house and putting it on the market was far more emotional than I thought it would be.  I never realized just how attached I was to this little cape.  But we forged ahead, excited about our new venture.

To make a very long story short . . . as beautiful as a house might appear at times, what matters most is the home's structure.  Unfortunately, the home we were about to purchase had major structural problems.  Sometimes, when you want something really really badly, you try deny reality.  I was denying reality for quite some time in the process, but it became very evident that the structure had more damage than we were willing to take on and we decided to back out.

We thought about looking for another house, but after such an emotionally draining experience, we began noticing all the things we love about this little Cape and we've decided we love what we have.

Grace, at Sense and Simplicity is hosting a little blog party to list the five things you love about your home, and in looking around . . . I realized there is a lot I love about my house.

My house isn't overwhelmingly unique or awe-inspiring like this barn that was converted to a house (one of Jason's favorite type of houses by the way)

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

And my house isn't some 1800s Tudor revival mansion with a manicured lawn

traditional exterior design by chicago architect Eifler & Associates Architects

traditional landscape design by chicago architect Eifler & Associates Architects

My house doesn't have any incredibly fancy amenities, like an infinity pool.
 
(Who in the world owns these places and what do they do for a livng?!)

tropical pool design by hong kong architect Original Vision Limited

contemporary pool design by George W Girvin & Associates

contemporary landscape design by vancouver landscape architect THOMAS KYLE: Landscape Architecture

 My house is just a cozy little Cape Cod in a small town in Upstate New York.

I know, we have GOT to do something with those steps!

So, in looking around, there are a lot of things I love, but I will narrow it down.  You'll find that I'm not that difficult to please.

Probably one of the single best features about my house is the enormous family room with cathedral ceilings.

 

With skylights, sliding glass doors, plenty of windows and a big bay window where we sit and watch unusually large herds of deer roam through our backyard, what's not to love about this space?

 

But the best part about this room is that at Christmas time, we get the biggest tree we can find!
 

Another feature of my house that I love is my deck.  It's not big or elaborate, but I enjoy sitting out there and having a cup of coffee in the morning or reading in the afternoon on the weekends (sorry for the rain in this photo . . .)

Another feature of my house that I love is the gas fireplace in our sitting room.  I have to confess that we cannot use it to actually have a fire because, although it's new, it sets the smoke detector off every single time we start it!  We need to address that this year, but I still love having it. 

I love the slate tiles Jason put in and I enjoy having a mantel to decorate (which currently needs an update).

Okay, the next thing I love is really silly and Jason will likely make me remove the photo if he reads this.  I love the marble tile he installed in the entry of my house.

Jason didn't really have any experience tiling and I picked out marble for the entry.  If you know anything about tiling, which we obviously didn't at the time, you'd know that marble is difficult to cut.  It is very soft and breaks really easily.  What should have been a small project turned out to be quite costly because of the many cutting mistakes.

To make matters worse, Jason wanted to just lay the tiles all straight and perpendicular.  I, of course, wanted a diamond shape in the center with little tiles bordering the center tile.  I haven't laid a single tile in my entire life and I am not the greatest at math with angles and cuts so I had no idea what trouble my idea would cause.  All I knew was that I saw something similar in a magazine and thought it'd be cool to have it in my house.

Jason argued with me that it was too difficult, so being the brat that I can sometimes be, I said, "Fine Jason. Just don't do it.  I'll just hire someone who can do it the way I want it done.  Forget about it."

But my good husband set out to tackle what he didn't know how to do and, in my opinion, it came out great.  I love this tile;  Jason hates it.  He sees his imperfections, but every time I look at it and see that diamond, I see my husband figuring out how to make my wish come true.

Like my bubble-gum pink toes dangling off that step?!  That pedicure was a celebration that recently, I survived lay-offs in my job .. . but I digress!

Back to what I love about my house.  Of course, I love my new tiled bathroom . . .

with a pebbled-floor shower. . . .

But what I love most about my house isn't any particular room.  I love that this house sat on the market forever and everyone laughed at it because it was so hideous and smelly.   But I had a vision, and Jason made it happen.

Every inch of my house has my husband's time and love poured into it.  He obtained his degree in Fine Arts and I often complain that he isn't doing anything with it but when I wake up each day, I realize his art is all around me. 

Our house has been his canvas.