Walnut Cheeks: October? Already!?

Let's just skip the apologies and excuses this time and get right down to what's been keeping me so busy lately. It's this:

A little pre-purchase fascia face-lift.

This sweet little house will be our new home at the end of the month (cross your fingers that our closing goes smoothly, of course). We spent quite a bit of the summer getting ready for house hunting and buying and I'm really delighted with the house that we finally settled on. Really, there was no settling at all, we knew immediately that it was the house we wanted, after that, I think we spent a few days settling into the reality of making this big, grown-up, expensive decision!

Here's the very first thing I loved about this house:

"Who kisses the joy as it flies, Lives in eternity's sunrise." -William Blake

Sure, the flowers are looking a bit parched, but this poetic window box charmed me. We'd seen a lot of houses at this point and a lot of hideous things - like the front yard hill that someone decided would be more manageable with a layer of concrete over it - and this small touch spoke volumes about what sort of people owned this house. Thoughtful people. People with taste. With old houses, you tend to think a lot about what kind of care a home received in all of those years prior to your walking through the front door, and there's a lot to be said for details that hint at some love. I know, it's only a window box and I've already shown you a picture of the scaffolding that's up so the rotting fascia and old roof can be replaced, so there are things that didn't get done for this house over the years.

Built-ins galore!

See? There are some updates that didn't happen for good reasons. I can't tell you how many places we saw that had lost all of this original detail work in some way - it was ripped out, painted, broken.... I've always wanted a house with this sort of character and history, and this house has it. It was built in 1925, and has all the great things you want in a Craftsman home of this vintage - really solid construction, efficient and clever use of space and lighting, and details that make me swoon:

It practically begs to be bought by a knitter.

So, now you know. This is the first time I've shared anything about the house publicly - it's so exciting! For a while, I felt like it was too soon, you know, just in case everything fell through, but we're getting closer and closer to our closing date and things are going so well, that it feels okay now. The reality of all of this is starting to sink in and lately one of us will turn to the other and say, "Oh! We're moving! We have to pack!"

A cottage in the city.

So, we're off to hunt for boxes on this rainy weekend. We've had some good and chilly fall weather lately, which lends itself well to dreaming about that fireplace in our new living room. Mmm, can't wait!