We Bought A Country House!

 In the middle of the pandemic when school was virtual and we were all here...all day... every day...four people in 550 sqft with one bathroom... I thought I was going to lose my mind. I had to dust off that teaching certificate I never earned and try to teach my youngest about things that I couldn't even remember learning.  I remember one particular day when she wasn't getting a concept. Her teacher told me to have her watch a YouTube video.  The video, in my mind, could not have been more clear. I was thinking, ok, she's got this. It's going to be a breeze now.  Nope. Poor thing, she was just not getting it and I had to go in my room 2ft away and cry out of frustration. It was a low moment.  There is just no room here for any sort of privacy for moments like this. And don't even get me started about the bathroom.  I started dreaming of just getting away from it all..like in another city.  I had a friend, growing up, who always spent Christmas at their vacation home in Lake Tahoe. It sounded so charming. The idea of being in the mountains, out in nature, with the possibility of snow sounded like something out of a Hallmark movie. Also, I'd really like to get my city kids to get outside more and off of electronics.  So I started googling different areas in my state and came across a small college town, population 7,000 with beautiful pastures and mountains.  The goal was to have some land and be far enough from the town that it felt remote, but close enough to town to still get a cup of coffee. We had looked at a property in another town that was so remote I felt assured that if something happened to us we would definitely perish. No thanks. It took a while to find something because, lo and behold, we weren't the only ones looking for an escape.  We found a property with 17 acres and a small house with a detached studio.  The house itself is about 900 sqft...2 bedrooms/1 bathroom and meh.  But we knew we could make it cute. The studio was an art studio. Just one big 600 sqft room with a bathroom. When we looked at the house it was STUFFED with furniture, knick knacks and art. Oh and high gloss paint on both the walls and ceilings! Why? Must have been a special running on that paint. Bizarre.  Here are some befores.

Bathroom:

Bedroom 1:

Bedroom 2:

Kitchen:

Living Room:

Are you seeing a pattern here? Stuffed? Dark AF? It was a cloudy day though and that paint color isn't doing it any favors. It isn't a super bright house though since it's in the middle of the woods on a north facing mountain. Not ideal but we really bought it for the views and property. I'm not even going to bother sharing pictures of the studio because we don't plan on renovating it any time soon. We're just going to  focus on the main part and try to get it into this decade.  I'll be posting updates soon.