Some girls like to spend their free time shopping for new clothes, getting manicures or watching a chick flick.  Me?  Nope.  I can’t tell you the last time I painted my fingernails or toenails.  (My lil’ boys have picked up on this…you should see them stare at other moms’ pretty colored toenails dazzling in metallic sandals.  Meanwhile, my feet are completely covered in socks and tennis shoes.  My 5-year-old just asked me last week to paint my toenails!)  Instead, I like to pretend I’m looking for a house.  I’ll pass a house for sale on my way to work or on the drive to Layne’s preschool and then search for its MLS number when I get a chance.  It’s all pretend and in the name of fun.   

My recent real estate daydreamings have me pining for this fixer upper.  (I can’t say it’s old because it’s actually younger than me…although it’s reminiscent of a mid-century ranch.)

*WARNING:  Faded goldie-orange carpet ahead.*  

(courtesy of Sibcy Cline realtors)  

It’s a bilevel ranch with a sweet sunroom situated on 5 acres.  The property sits back off of a country road under a canopy of mature trees.  Sure, it needs some TLC but I’m okay with that.  I even went as far to stop and peek in the windows one day.  OMG.  Those windows!  They really let in a lot of natural light.  You enter through a large door at ground level.  

Once inside, there are stairs leading up to the main living space.  When I snuck around and looked inside the other day, the carpet had been removed from the stairs.  The stairs, risers and railing are now painted black and white…what I’d like to do to my own stairs someday.  And I’m not always a fan of tiled floors, but these original tiles are Spanish-esque (Spanish-ish?) and I like ’em.  They definitely look better in person.  A half bath, laundry room, 2-car garage and large den with wood floors and fireplace round out the lower level.  The lower level has 2 sets of French doors that open up into the backyard.  

Head upstairs to the main living space and try to look past the orange carpet, dated kitchen (at least they were consistent with the orange countertops) and brassy fixtures.  See the windows?!  The vaulted ceilings?!  The wood beams?!  The skylights?!  The brick fireplace?!  The step down sunroom?!  This space has so much potential.  Handy Hubby and I already decided we would knock out the wall between the kitchen and dining area…yeah, the one with the weird interior window hole.  And those sliders to the tiled sunroom would have to come down as well. 

The 3 bedrooms are all nice sizes with MORE ginormous windows.  Again, block out the faded carpet. 

Let’s not forget the exterior constructed of brick and wood.  The wood and trim could be painted to freshen up the outside relatively easily.  Wouldn’t a gray body and white trim look fantastic with the brick?  The flower beds are overgrown and weed-ridden but could look great with a little work (okay, maybe a lot of work) and new shrubs.

And did I mention there’s a porch that wraps around half the house?  And a nice deck off the sunroom? 

With all that land (5 acres!), Handy Hubby would surely need some place to store his riding lawn mower.  This barn would work quite well.

Handy Hubby and I have decided that we’re gonna grow old together, by some rinky-dink fixer upper on a nice plot of land and spend our days bringing it to life.  Awwww.  If the timing were a little better (say, 15-20 years from now), we’d buy this baby in a heartbeat.  Until then, we’ll just drive by and sigh heavily and maybe even peek in the windows now and then…until someone else snatches it up.  Woe is me.

Maybe I should start painting my toenails…