House Hunters Recap

Posted by Amber in House Hunting on June 13, 2013  ||  20 Comments

In true House Hunters’ fashion we are going to do a recap our three houses. I won’t give you specific prices for the homes, but I will let you know the price difference between them for comparison sake. Sound fair?

House #1: The Victorian Fixer Upper in Downtown Weatherford

The oldest home on the list and also the cheapest by $172,000 from the most expensive house. (I just realized that and choked. Wow.) The home is walking distance to downtown attractions. The layout is strange and doesn’t offer a ton of potential to rework the floor plan. Although it is very style specific, the home is in decent but extremely outdated condition.

[Nick Edit: my best guess is that someone bought this house to be a bed & breakfast. It looks like they started the renovations, but stopped about 30% of the way in. It looks very “bed & breakfast-y” doesn’t it?]

House #2: The Massive Colonial in Downtown Weatherford

This house is a whopping 4,006 square feet, immaculately kept, and updated. However the updates are not our style. The kitchen(s) set up is awkwardly small with almost no feasible (reasonably priced) way to expand it due to the exterior wall separating it from the rest of the house. It has incredible natural light and lots of space.

It is the most expensive house on the list by basically an entire mortgage. How am I just now noticing that?

 

House #3: A Historic Home in our Dream Neighborhood in Fort Worth

This home is in the exact location that we want. It is $36,000 less than house #2, but $27 more per square foot when you compare their price per square foot. (This is directly based on location.) It has serious foundation issues and almost zero natural light. The kitchen layout is awful, but it does have a basement. It’s also on an amazingly historical street.

So what do you think now that you’re looking at the options altogether? Which would you choose? What do you think we did? I promise to tell you tomorrow if you give me your opinions today.

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House Hunting #3

Posted by Amber in House Hunting on June 12, 2013  ||  11 Comments

The final house on our House Hunters tour.

 

A historic home on the same street in Fort Worth as the one that got away. Specs:

  • 4 Bedrooms
  • 2.5 Bathrooms
  • 2,964 Square Feet
  • 0.23 acres
  • Built in 1919

A quick backstory on this house: When we originally decided to move, we wanted to be on this specific street in Fort Worth. We have seen 3 houses on this street in the past year. When the house we wanted sold, I pulled the expired/cancelled listing on that street. This home came up, and we did some serious researching. It was being rented, so I thought maybe it would pop up again. I was shocked when it pulled up on my email updates from my realtor. What are the odds that it pops up while we are actually searching for a home?

The porch wraps around in an L shape. It isn’t as breezy as house #2, but it’s large and covered. Definitely a feature to older homes that I really love even though it’s so hot in Texas I never go outside.

There are 2 living areas that are separated by the formal dining area on the main floor. The rooms don’t get much natural light which is unfortunate. They are also pretty small. The treatment on the wall is awful, but with a solid color it wouldn’t be so terrible. Retiling the fireplace would be a quick update that would make this room more appealing too.

Another crazy kitchen set up awaited us just around the corner. There was a butler’s pantry/cabinet storage with the sink/dishwasher in one area in a very narrow space as you can see. Then the fridge, stove, and nook area right in front of the sink. They were separated by a half wall. Again we were faced with a major reworking of a kitchen space that had very little promise of 1) being reasonably priced and 2) giving us a decent final space.

I do understand the kitchen more in this home though. If you look at this street historically, it was built for very notable people beginning in 1911. These people had help, so they weren’t in the kitchen hence the terrible set up. The houses also have separate exterior doors for the help to enter. Crazy to think about how different life was when these houses were constructed. I digress…

The area by the stairs had the half bath and mud room type space. This home has a basement which is RARE in Texas especially the Dallas/Ft Worth area. All 3 homes that we’ve seen on this street have had basements. They aren’t basements that can be finished out and utilized in any way other than keeping you safe from a tornado and storing your stuff.

All the bedrooms were up. The floors were in pretty good condition. The closets were decent for an older home, but the storage wasn’t nearly as abundant as house #2 (which was 1,042 square feet bigger anyway).

What we loved:

  •  The location was choice. This area of Ft Worth is booming right now. It’s even on the exact street we want!
  • We could walk to great restaurants and bars. Plus there are a ton of young families moving here.
  • The price was under budget as were house 1 & 2 because we aren’t updating a house that’s at or over our budget.
  • The basement because we don’t get them around here, and it would be pretty awesome to have one.

What we didn’t like:

  • This house has major foundation issues. You literally felt like you were falling forward if you were on one side.
  • The kitchen was a strange and probably couldn’t be changed to something we would love.
  • It was very dark throughout the house. We really want something with lots of natural light mainly for blog purposes (haha I crack myself up but seriously).

What do you think about house #3? Am I doing Suzanne Whang’s narrating job well?

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Bloglovin’

Posted by Amber in Uncategorized on June 11, 2013  ||  2 Comments

I guess since Google Reader is literally on it’s death bed. I should claim my blog on bloglovin. In case you haven’t already, make sure to follow my blog with Bloglovin!

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House Hunting #2

Posted by Amber in House Hunting on June 11, 2013  ||  22 Comments

Time for House #2 in our little hunting adventures.

A restored Colonial in Downtown Weatherford Specs:

  • 4 Bedrooms + library
  • 3 Baths
  • 4,006 Square Feet
  • 0.41 acres
  • Built in 1907

Walking up I loved the porch (upstairs and down), the columns, and the overall Louisiana feel to this house. I couldn’t help but think this a house that would be in True Blood. Nick actually bet that I would want it just based on that as if I’m that shallow (maybe a little).

 

Immediately you can tell this house has been restored and staged. The entry is grand, but we aren’t huge fans of wood trim. You can appreciate how well kept the house is whether it’s your style or not.

Oh the windows! There were 2 sunrooms- one downstairs (pictured) and one up. There was a ton of natural light in this house. This was actually an addition. You can tell my the difference in the wood floors and the formerly exterior wall now functioning as an interior one. I’m not sure when the addition happened, but I felt that they did a good job of making it seamless with a few exceptions.

The kitchen was a very odd set up. Half of it was part of the addition, so the exterior wall divided it into 2 parts and separated it from the sunroom. Of course it needed updating, but the layout couldn’t be changed. Note there are 2 sinks in each section of the kitchen. As it’s pictured above you could walk from the white kitchen through the doorway into the oak kitchen.

You can see the exterior/interior wall here. The nook set up was strange too. There wasn’t a designated space for it. It was between the sunroom and one part of the kitchen.

You may remember this light fixture from our instagram. It’s in the formal dining and is amazing.

The bedrooms were upstairs. All of them had amazing windows. Plus you had the porch upstairs too. Why do we not build houses with more windows now?

The master bath had beautiful black and white tile but not so beautiful vanities. Nick and I like less detailing and more straight lines in our furniture and vanities. It’s not that it isn’t beautiful. It’s just not our taste. Behind the mirror on the right is…

The master closet which was a pretty good size for an old house. You can see the art easel in the background. There’s a small room back there. It would be great for a hobby room or a dressing area.

The exterior features were by far some of the best we’ve ever seen. It had a courtyard with these incredible bricks. There was a good size lot with a 3 car garage and electric gate. There was an enclosed patio space that was set up for dogs too.

What we loved:

  • The age of the house. Seriously this place is pretty epic now I can’t imagine who built it in 1907.
  • The exterior features were incredible and the style/look of the outside is beautiful.
  • There was a ton of storage.
  • There was a lot of space. Lots of rooms.
  • NATURAL LIGHT!!! I mean huge windows everywhere.
  • The price was still under budget.

What we didn’t like:

  • The kitchen set up was weird. It wasn’t something that could be changed either.
  • The layout was a little odd. Definitely not as bad as house #1 or most older homes though. Part of this may be because it’s 4,000 square feet. It’s just huge, so the floorplan wasn’t as noticeably strange.
  • Although it was immaculate, the finish out wasn’t our style.

What do you think? Is this the one? Is it worth fixing up or leaving it for someone who appreciates the house as it is?

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House Hunting #1

Posted by Amber in House Hunting on June 10, 2013  ||  23 Comments

This week is House Hunters on Wills Casa. We are going to show you 3 houses that we looked at with our fingers crossed hoping to find the ONE.

First up a historic fixer upper in Downtown Weatherford. Specs:

  • 5 bedrooms (although that’s debatable)
  • 2 baths
  •  3,165 Sq Ft
  • Almost a half acre
  • Built in 1874

The house had a peacock etched on the front door glass which was awesome along with a substantial front porch. The entry looks nicer than reality (minus the carpet) in this picture. The wallpaper is actually a stenciled pattern over the previous wallpaper. I cannot imagine the patience required to tackle something like that.

The kitchen was very small and outdated. The layout wasn’t conducive to ever becoming a well laid out space.

There were hardwoods under the green carpet downstairs, so there was hope underneath that mess. This room had several doors leading into it and was debatably the master. Although honestly the downstairs was a maze of random rooms, I guess they didn’t have good architects in 1874.

There were 3 bedrooms and a full bath with a claw foot tub upstairs. The hardwoods were in decent condition. The wallpaper was definitely picked for a Victorian house.

What we loved:

  • How old the house was. It’s rare to find old homes in our area and this one was exceptionally old. I imagine it was epic back in 1874.
  • The price was significantly under our budget.
  • We could walk to the downtown Weatherford square/flea market where we do most of our antique shopping.

What we didn’t like:

  • It was off a pretty busy street.
  • No fence
  • An incredible amount of work
  • The layout
  • Dark with crazy lighting/electrical
  • Possible ghosts (I’m just throwing that in there because a house that old does scare me a little.)

In the end this house just wasn’t going to work for our family. It was too big of a project to live in with 2 small children especially since 1 of those children will be a newborn. Plus I’m not sure it would ever be something we could love due to the crazy layout.

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Father’s Day Giveaway Winner

Posted by Amber in Giveaway on June 9, 2013  ||  2 Comments

The winner of a signed The Prophets of Smoked Meat book is…

 

We love you too Emma. Message me your address so I can stalk send it to you!

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Where Are We Now?

Posted by Amber in Side Note on June 6, 2013  ||  16 Comments

Here’s the much anticipated post about where we are living now that we are no longer home owners. Be prepared to be underwhelmed…

Our studio apartment. Technically this is the back room (the 2nd living area) of my parent’s house. Yes people that’s what’s happening.

We brought our mattress but not our bed frame. That was dumb. I don’t know why I didn’t bring it. It’s in a POD somewhere in Texas, so I have zero access to it. It’s so bad I’m considering DIYing something just to get the bed/box spring off the floor.

Ramona sleeps right next to us on the futon that was out there. We didn’t want to inconvenience my parents any more than necessary, so we left the majority of what was in this room and just worked around it. The goal was to move as little of our stuff as possible into the house since there’s no room anyway.

That door behind her bed is Nick’s closet. He really only has about 3 feet in there. If you are wondering why there’s a closet off a living room, half of this room was my room in high school. I moved out, got married, and my parents knocked down my bedroom wall to create a 2nd living area. They thought I wasn’t coming back. Jokes on them.

We bought these wardrobes to house Ramona and my clothes. If you look directly behind them, you can see the door to the rest of the house. We set them here for privacy and to act as a wall since people are constantly in and out with the laundry room to the right and my sisters room to the left of the wardrobes.

We mounted our tv and told my parents they could keep it once we leave. We don’t watch tv though because well Ramona is in the room with us. Probably not the best parenting move to watch Mad Men with your kid in the room.

Our campaign dresser acts as a dresser (obviously), a media center, and our office. We moved a desk in from the garage to set up a vanity area for me. I’m not sure if you noticed or not, but there’s no bathroom in our loft. I didn’t want my makeup and hair stuff crowding a shared bathroom.

I climbed to the back of our storage unit to retrieve a bentwood for my vanity. The mirror is from Pottery Barn via our storage unit as well. (Yes we did get a POD too. We realized we have a ton of stuff.)

When I said there’s not much room, I wasn’t kidding. (Sorry to my older sister and her family who I cropped out of this picture.) It’s the 3 of us, both my parents, my younger brother (20 and single if you know someone…), and my younger sister. My grandma lived here for about a month while we did too, so we were 4 generations under one roof for a short time! (The younger boy is my nephew. He doesn’t live here.)

Ramona loves it here. The horses next door are a close second to having your mimi and papa spoil you every day. Plus she loves my brother and sister. I am really not sure how she is ever going to live with just us again. It’s way more exciting here.

Our 2 dogs are here with us along with my parents 2. Yes there’s 6 adults + 1 toddler + baby in belly + 4 dogs. Did I just blow your mind?

I do get to enjoy having a pool without having to be the one to pay to maintain it which is way better! Also we have a ton of help with Ramona who is considerably more hyper (we didn’t think it was possible). Although the living situation is not ideal, it is definitely a lot better than we thought it would be. It is also the only temporary solution that I felt like I could deal with especially since baby #2 is on the way.

We are incredibly grateful that my parents are letting us live here and shake up their lives during this house limbo thing. They are realtors, so they know how crazy the market is right now. Plus I’m their daughter, and they know I am ridiculously picky.

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway! And stay tuned for house news next week!!

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Father’s Day Gift Guide & Book Giveaway

Posted by Nick in Gift, Giveaway on June 4, 2013  ||  12 Comments

*Giveaway is closed. See if you won here.

Father’s Day is just around the corner (I think, I’m not actually sure what day it is -Amber Edit: It’s June 16th geez), so today I’ve put together a guide of random things I’m digging right now. I hope this will help you ladies buy for your fathers and husbands, but really I just want Amber to buy them for me (all of them sweeheart, every single one… but especially the shoes).

1. The Prophets of Smoked Meat ($19.99) – This is the first book by local food blogger Daniel Vaughn. It follows him on his journey to discover the best barbecue in the lone star state. It’s filled with tons of great info on the state of Texas too, even locals will learn a lot. Fair warning: DO NOT READ HUNGRY.

2. Luma Labs Cinch ($50.00) – Luma labs puts out one heck of a camera strap. It allows you carry your camera across your chest and transition into shooting mode with relative ease. If your dude is still using the stock camera strap, he needs this in his life.

3. Thomas Mason Archive Shirt ($168.00) – Thomas Mason has been making fabric for over 200 years, so it goes without saying that they know what they’re doing. For this line, J.Crew went deep back into the archives to find fabrics that are vintage yet timeless. I’ll take 3 please!

4. Allen Edmonds McTavish ($295.00) – I’m an Allen Edmonds fiend, and I have good reason to be. No other shoe brand provides the quality they do at this price point. Double oak leather, goodyear welting on the soles…. yea, this the good stuff. These look killer with a pair of jeans, though if you’re looking for something a little more dressy, you should check out these sick double monks.

5. Chef’s Jar of Jacobsen’s Salt ($45.00) –  This is the gift for the serious home chef. Top chefs around the country are calling it out by name on their menus (check out their restaurant list). It’s the first salt since Lewis and Clark to be harvested from the Oregon Coast. It might just take his dishes to the next level.

GIVEAWAY

So to help you get going on your Father’s Day shopping, we’re giving away a copy of The Prophets of Smoked Meat autographed by the author. Win it from us and he doesn’t have to know that you didn’t spend any money!

Prize: One Signed The Prophets of Smoked Meat book
Giveaway Closes: Friday, June 7th at 11pm CST
Prize Ships: Only to the continental US (sorry international readers)
Nitty Gritty: One winner will be selected by random.org and announced Saturday, June 8th.

To enter: Comment and tell us which Dad you’d give the book to or if you’d just keep it for yourself (we won’t judge you).

Bonus:

Share about the giveaway on facebook (via Wills Casa) and/or twitter.

Make sure to leave a comment for each. You have 3 chances to win! Good luck!

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May Goal Check

Posted by Amber in Side Note on June 3, 2013  ||  4 Comments

Not too bad for a May.

1. Read.

I finished I’d Know You Anywhere. I kept my attention, but I have mixed feeling about it. Although I liked the main character, I think it requires you suspend too much belief. I just kept thinking this is so unrealistic. I haven’t been able to read suspense/murder novels (or watch shows either) since Ramona was born. One can handle only so many unrealistic worries.


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This eCard pretty much sums me up.

2. Document my life.

I actually wrote a post on the life side!! Granted the goal was 1 post per week, but I did have 2 life-ish posts – Nick’s birthday and our anniversary that I wrote about here as well. Y’all will be so proud that I actually wrote out what I need to post for the blog and scheduled the main content, so hopefully getting organized that way will also help with posting about life. I do owe you an updated belly pic and house information. To be continued in June…(and we have 3 posts a week schedule for the entire month!!!)

3. Monthly Challenge: Circle

Check out Katja’s wreath. She’s always so crafty!

As promised I did run circles around myself, but I also made an announce (seems to be happening a lot these days).

Networking and blog reading led me full circle to a legit blog job with Pretty Prudent. I am busier than ever but learning (or attempting to learn) how to juggle Pretty Prudent with Wills Casa and life in general.

Up next month…

Katja and I are thinking about pattern this month. I haven’t decided on how I’m going to interpret this yet, but I’m thinking something with fabric. Either way we finally have a packed blogging month planned for you guys. Thanks for hanging on through the silence! Check back tomorrow for a giveaway!

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On shopping for your house, when you don’t have a house.

Posted by Nick in Antiquing on May 29, 2013  ||  19 Comments

Amber Edit before this post even happens: I was tasked with adding the pictures and fixing errors in this post. Little did I know I was going to read the most ridiculous account of antiquing events ever in the history of antiquing. All I can say is the items and prices are pretty much all that you can believe.

“Going out and buying home things, when you are homeless, is straight up gangsta genius.”
– Ben Franklin, 1493 (probably).

I mean, who wants to argue with ole’ Honest Ben.

A couple of weeks ago, Amber and I ventured out to one of our favorite destinations for vintage finds First Mondays in Weatherford. While not as great as the monster First Mondays out in Canton, the size of it is a little less overwhelming and the proximity is much better.


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(This is actually the picture you get when you google image “Trade Days Weatherford TX”)

Lately we’ve been looking everywhere for a vintage bed for Ramona’s new room (which does not exist yet), and Amber’s mom had spotted one there last month. Unfortunately, the conversation went something like this:

Mom: They have this bed here [attaches pic]
Amber: looks good. how much?
Mom: $160
Amber: Ask for his best price
Mom: $135
Amber: Ok, get it.
Mom: I don’t have any cash.
(Amber Edit: This really happened. Shocking I know. It happens a lot actually.)

She really didn’t and in turn we didn’t get it. This month however we came prepped with cash (because that’s what you use at a flea market) and hoped it was still available.

After we parked we started from the southmost point of the lot and started working our way North. (PRO TIP: if all the street parking is filled up, don’t park in the First Mondays lot. Drive down south on Santa Fe and park at the strip center on the right. Way easier to get in and out of. It is, as Ben F might also say, straight up gangsta-genius).

Walking up to the first set of tables, Amber and I were pretty much immediately transfixed on the same thing. The lights dimmed and Dreamweaver started to play in the background. A vintage swiss army blanket was sitting there being used as a table cloth under some knives, antlers and other assorted iron pieces from yesteryear. I tried to be cool as I said “Ah, nifty blanket, how much you want for it?” Amber blurted out almost immediately “I’ve been researching these this week!” Obviously, unable to keep her poker face. (Amber Edit: I said that after we already agreed upon a price. Also I was the one who asked because Nick thought the guy would pity the pregnant lady walking around first Monday.)

As he eyed us down, I noticed that he also had nice looking vintage backpack. It was swiss army issue as well. It had been repaired by a local leatherworker, and I was interested in it for the right price.

“I’m gonna need some money for the blanket,” he said causing Amber and I to look disappointingly at each other. “How about $20 for the blanket, $30 for the backpack, or $42 for both.”

“SOLD!” Amber screamed.

She was in full on freak out mode by then. Punching the seller in the jaw, she then grabbed both goods and ran away at full sprint, leaving me to both complete the transaction and attempt to explain her eccentricities.

“She’s on meth,” I offered and the man nodded as if this was a common issue with Weatherford First Monday patrons.

The blanket has a metal stamp with some numbers and the red issue number, so we are pretty sure it’s an authentic vintage swiss blanket. However, we have been known to be wrong before.

That behind us, we were back looking for the bed. Walking through most of the booths offered some highlights, but only one purchase. A folding ruler for $3.50. No immediate need or projects in mind, but we like to stockpile random vintage goods like that. This is hoarding Wills Casa style.

After hitting most of the booths, we could no longer hold Ramona over from bounce house hysteria and began to walk that direction (there’s always a bounce house at these things, it’s one of the few things you can be sure of. Death. Taxes. Bounce houses). As we walked, we saw it – the same bed from the text conversation with Amber’s mom last month (and the bounce house).

The bed was listed at $160, but Amber asked if he’d take $130. Sold. (It’s just like this PB Teen bed, so we saved about $430.) Don’t worry, we let Ramona play in the bounce house while most of that was happening. In short, everyone won that day. (Odd side note: the dealer was really interested in the margaritaville blender we had in the trunk at the time. It was weird.)

Drunk off our success (and in Amber’s case high on Meth), we decided to call it a day.

We’re not 100% sure what we’re going to do with the bed yet, other than we know it’s going to be Ramona’s. We might leave it as is or have it powder coated, depending on the color scheme we end up going with in her room. The size is a bit odd (41 1/4″ x 68 3/4″ where a normal twin is 39″ x 75″), so we’re researching how to get a mattress for it. Seriously leave a comment if you’ve got any suggestions. Overall though, you gotta consider this day a complete win.

One last thing, all pictures taken in Amber’s sister’s yard because…. you know…. we’re homeless.

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