Earlier this week, I wrote about the hell that was financing our f'ing house. Just putting it that way should imply that much of the joy of building a house was completely sucked from my being. But now that it's behind me, the angst is slowly subsiding, and I'm starting to look forward to living there.
From a strategic standpoint, it still made sense to build. The market is still pretty solid around here, and there's a surprising amount of growth. Interest rates of course certainly aren't going down. Also a bonus, the house already appraised at almost $4k more than we bought it for. I'm in no hurry to leave Central Florida, but at least if I did, I'm comfortable that we could unload the house and get the equity back. Also a bonus, the mortgage is way less than the rent was, and only slightly higher than what I had in Cleveland, for far more house and zero snow.
More to the point, I think it will be fun to make it home. I joke about "McMansions" and what not, and it does seem like a little more space than we really need, but there's something kind of neat about walking into the finished structure and see all of those white walls and new carpet. It's like a blank canvas. Between the rentals and that cursed house I couldn't sell, this one is ours to mold and change. I am slowly and cautiously allowing myself to become slightly attached to it.
Last weekend we moved some of the loose boxes of stuff that we never unpacked. I also spent a few hours (too many) installing hardware on the kitchen cabinets. We had a new couch delivered. Diana painted one bedroom wall, and almost two walls of my office. The fridge comes this weekend.
I'm trying not to go nuts, because I would like to restore some of our savings, but there are a few more minor things we would like to do soon. We need a lighting fixture for over our kitchen sink. We had it wired, but we're choosing what to put there. I have something in my mind that I haven't seen anywhere yet. We're also considering a backsplash around the kitchen, and honestly, we'll probably just pay someone to do it. Thinking stainless now, which I swear is not us just copying my brother-in-law Joe. It really just looks pretty sweet. A couple of fans for our room and Simon's are also in order (again, wired for it). I would like to think of some kind of cool patio lighting, too, but still exploring options.
I want to decorate my office, too. I want to put up some photos, spanning life beyond the last seven years. I love my life since meeting Diana, but I feel disconnected from the ups and downs of my previous years. College might be a little more challenging unless I get some film scanned!
I'm coming around to being excited about the house. It's going to be fun having our own, never-before-lived-in space.
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