We Bought Another House – Enter the Dutch Colonial

The heart wants what the heart wants. When we saw this home my heart lurched.

The problem was that we weren’t looking, and I was still pretty in love with our current house. But there were a few things in our current house that we wouldn’t be able to fix. Our house didn’t have a garage, it hardly had a yard, and it only had one bathroom. On top of that, we are looking at starting a family in the next few years. We love entertaining, and in our current home, the living areas and sleeping areas are butted up next to each other. I really like the idea of sequestering little ones upstairs, locking the doors and saying “see you later” (I’m joking, everyone).

Then this house showed up on my screen. I had been house hunting with my parents and thus the internet algorithm happened. After seeing a link on Nextdoor, I took a click and immediately texted Billy with an “omg – I found our next house”. We scheduled a viewing that night and we fell in love with the old character and the potential. We hmm’d and haww’d. It felt like middle school when you have a crush on a boy and you just want to write about him in your diary all day and draw hearts around your names. But we weren’t looking for a house. We felt impulsive. But it also felt right.

Here’s a look at the house in the state we purchased it in.

The Parlor /Living Room

Why yes, it does have a parlor, it is cute and where we will do most of our living. It’s important to me to fill this space with beautiful and comfortable pieces. I want people to curl up here, have long conversations and read books cover-to-cover. It is on the small end, but look at all that show-stopping molding and the real, working fireplace.

Those curtains were the first thing that came down!

The Dining Room

It’s got a built-in, which makes me all lovey eyed. The plan as of now is to make the build in the bar area and deck it out with barware and decanters. The door that goes into the kitchen is an old-fashioned butler’s door with heavy duty spring action that we were way too into.

The Kitchen + Laundry

This kitchen has a lot more counter space than our kitchen. But I can’t wait to gut and renovate… someday. We’re dreaming of opening it up to the sunroom on the other side. But that means big dollar signs, so this is one of those spaces that will go through a phase I and phase II renovation. Good news is that it is way better than the kitchen our first house came with.

The laundry room is right off the kitchen. We’re playing with a few ideas of things to do with it. Will we keep as is and add some pantry shelving? Will we steal from it to make the half bath into a full bath? Will we kick the appliances to the basement? Only time can tell.

The Half Bath

I’m pretty sure we’re going dark and moody in here. We can’t wait to have a bathroom on the main floor for guests so that we don’t have to scrub our bathroom everytime we have a get-together. Plus, with Billy and I on a similar schedule, it will give the morning some more flexibility.

The Sunroom

This sunroom was an addition, that based on the curved, bullnose drywall, makes me think it was added in the 90’s. It’s a space I’ve never thought about decorating before, and I’m all kinds of pin-crazy about it.

The Master

We are really excited for a bigger bedroom. With us and the dog on the floor the sleeping quarters can get pretty tight.

The Nursery

We are only calling this the nursery because there is a door connecting this room to the Master, which will be perfect for future-not-yet-conceived baby. For now, I’ll be putting a wardrobe and vanity in here and little sitting area. Billy and I do Barre workouts in the morning, and this gets such beautiful morning light, I can’t wait to have a large space to spread out in every morning.

The Guest Bedroom

A room just for guests. That we’re going to try really hard no to fill up with stuff. We’ll see how that goes.

The Bathroom

This bathroom. There’s not much to say other than it’s there. I’d love to rearrange it for a larger vanity with two sinks and rip out that tile. Add it to the top of the list!