The American Dream

Who doesn't want to own their own home?  A place where you don't have to get permission to paint the walls, no neighbors through the floor or ceiling, no landlord keeping you from creating a trebuchet in the driveway . . .

After living in apartments for fifteen years, my husband and I just purchased our very first house.  It took a long time to get to this point and it still doesn't feel completely real.  We closed on August 30, 2013 on 3.7 acres in southern New Hampshire.  The house is about 2,500 square feet, plenty of room for a married couple that works from home and has space devouring hobbies.

Home sweet home!

It's an eccentric house with an odd layout.  I'll post a floor plan later, but it has four levels and no basements.  It's all kind of confusing.  The housing inspector got turned around during his inspection, saying that he had never seen a house quite like this in his thirteen years of experience.

Built in 1977, it's the same age as my husband.  It also means that there are a lot of things that need to be updated.  The house is in great shape, but oh, the wallpaper in some of the rooms!  That's more my domain.  I'm in charge of colors and updates.  My husband is in charge of the big building projects.

The stairs between the second and third level.

This is Joe, my husband, measuring for some additional rails that we're going to add to the open stairs to make them safer for our two small dogs.  One has some neurological issues due to his age that affect his balance, so we're adding 'bumper rails' to make sure he can't fall the thirty feet from the fourth level to the entry way.

As for my first project?  The fourth level wallpaper is not only ugly, it's already falling down.  I'll be ripping that out and repainting.  The fourth level will be our home offices, so it has the highest priority to be completed so we can move our desks in and set up shop.

The hideous wallpaper.  Vinyl and textured.

It's going to be an interesting (and probably hilarious) adventure into home ownership for the two of us.  We're looking to make a lot of changes to the property.   The property will be our very own high tech mini-homestead and experimental facility.

This blog will follow our attempts in permaculture, getting our house off the grid, and updating the house's interior.  Expect lots of updates of our successes and failures, complete with pictures and unedited replays of the difficult lessons learned.
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