Wanna come with me to see a house?

I know some of you out there are thinking how much fun it would be to go house hunting with me.
So I thought I'd give you a chance to experience what I experience as I go about hunting for a house for Bernie and I to live in.

This particular house that we are going to visit was listed at $319,000, a real steal, and more importantly, the listing noted that it had a MOUNTAIN view. I am all about mountain views...so let's head out and see if this just might be the house we've been looking for!

As we pull up, we get to see the "mountain view".

(Hmmmm...I'm thinking "hill view" but then again, maybe there is a mountain view from inside. )

Kinda of cute...I like the balcony, and the windows on the garage door. I like the nice neutral paint job.

Looks like we're going to have to hike up a bit to the front door though.

Pretty low maintenance landscaping, and it smells nice too. Sort of pine/juniper.

The walk way up to the front door is steep, and buckled.
But that can always be fixed, right?

The black double front door with white trim is pretty cool.

When the door is opened....we see a wall of folding shutter type doors.

Which way should we go now?

Should we turn left or right?

(Bernie turned left, I turned right.)

Oh wow! A right turn and two steps and you are at the kitchen door. The kitchen is in the center of the house.
And check it out: See through yellow plastic above the dark wood cabinets.
Very innovative.
The plain white counter tops are a good balance for the cheery multicolored wall paper.

An excellent harvest gold double oven and range, with a highly useful griddle between the burners. And TWENTY assorted mugs at the ready for whenever nineteen coffee drinking guests drop by unexpectedly to drink coffee with me.
(I wonder if there is a story behind each and everyone of those mugs...)

And check this out: A built in radio in the kitchen wall.
Sweet!
I do enjoy a little talk radio and country western music while I cook. This would be JUST the thing to make me want to get into cooking more.

Well the kitchen certainly is a hit. Naturally if I am going to be cooking a lot so I have an excuse to listen to the radio, I might as well have people over to dine with us.

After all, nineteen coffee drinkers would probably like to be invited to sit down for a meal occasionally.

Ahhh...a dining room that would suit every one's taste.

A crystal chandelier for the fancy-schmancy types that like to serve meals on fine china.

Plus black vinyl modern chairs for the hip folks who think that sort of chair is mod.

And the faux wood tone table for those who long for a nice wooden top table, but want to be able to serve drinks that might sweat, without worrying about any white moisture rings.

(I take a moment to imagine all the festive holiday dinners that could be served at this table.)

Speaking of holidays....Christmas is coming, and what is Christmas without a place to hang up your Christmas stockings for Santa to fill?

Gosh...the former owners must have been very, very bad. It looks like Santa just kept bringing them lumps of coal, and they used the coal to built a fire place!

(I do appreciate the decorative touches that have been neatly arranged on the hearth. It is that kind of thoughtfulness that just makes a house feel homey.

Ohhhh....deep shag rug, in pea soup green! Gosh I loved that when I was first married. We had that exact same style of carpet in our first apartment, except it was orange.
I remember that after you vacuumed it, you then also had to rake it.
I wonder if this house would come with a rug rake?
I'm not sure where you could go to buy one now...

Thinking of dinner guest....time to check out the guest powder room.
Say...that is such lovely wall covering! Expensive stuff.

The hanging glowing egg is such an elegant touch, and check out the pull out spray nozzle on the sink.

You know, that sure would be handy for guest who want to quickly wash their hair between dinner and dessert.

Interesting glass work by the bedrooms.

Now it took a moment but I did eventually remember to look at the window coverings.
Window coverings can get to be very expensive; if there are window coverings that come with the home it can save me a lot of money.

This curtain in the dining room certainly is cheery.
Especially perfect since you can see it from the equally cheery kitchen!

But I am even more fond of the red drapery with black tassel trim.
I'm getting a belly dancing vibe going here, and you know how much I love belly dancing!

I do like these double doors too. The sunny medallion detail is just plain cute as all get out.

Now I suppose you are wondering what this structure is all about.

Here's a different view- it is the stair case going down to the basement, and overhead is the stair case going UP stairs.
(If you scroll back to the dining table shot, you can see the stairway as a pea green diagonal in the back ground.)

At this point we are going to leave Bernie upstairs. He tried going down the stairs, but the upstairs stairs are too low...he would go thunk..thunk...thunk with his forehead on each of the steps above as he went down to the basement.

That thick green shag has been felted down in two straight lines.
That helps makes it easier to tell where your feet should go.

So downstairs there is another cheerful bathroom. This one isn't quite so elegant, but it does give you something brown to read while you, uh, wait for something....uh...brown I guess.

This home owner did not miss a single decorating beat.

They painted the door and floor time to perfectly match the toilet and sink.

This is why I am thankful that I have had an opportunity to visit 75 houses now in the quest to find my own perfect house.

If I hadn't seen it here, it would never have occurred to me to paint door and floor trim in a shade to match the toilet.

The basement has a neat fireplace. Very strong and masculine. Perfect for a cold winter's night in the basement.
This I seriously do like.
Sort of...

And what could be better than playing pool in the basement?
Nothing except knowing that the PERFECT lamp has been found to enhance the pool playing experience.

I'm drifting back to belly dancing vibe here.
Pool table and belly dancing.
Yup.
Totally works.

So lovely....

So exotic.
Wherever can such a beautiful lamp be found for other pool table/belly dancing rooms?

They must have really had to shop hard to find a window covering that would pull all this together perfectly.

Well, we should head on back upstairs to see what Bernie and my Real Estate agent Luanne is doing.

She has told me that she is a terrible cook.

But this stove...well, maybe with this stove it would be different.

Sadly, we never did find a mountain view from the house.

I looked both high and low.

One time when I was looking high, I saw this great little ceiling lamp in the hall way.

I was so busy staring at it, I almost didn't notice the asbestos cottage cheese acoustical ceiling.

(at least the house would be quiet. Dead quiet...)

So, whaddah think?

Should we buy it?

You've got to admit:

It was a house with something for everyone.

I just don't think it had something for me.

(Like good taste, or more importantly, a mountain view!)