& The crazy, happy, brazen couple

BTW, does Scott have an afro in this pic? ...who IS his hair stylist?

The Dream House

Most folks would think we are crazy...we actually have questioned our sanity many times throughout this process, but we have never doubted that this house could be something amazing!  Here are some photos of where it stands as of today.



stairway with original stained glass window



Inside front room....to be our office/living room(?)


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the awesome barn!! 

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front of house...





Back of house, showing ell to be rebuilt, and side of barn.

inside of ell...needs a bit of work!  (a full tear down should do!)

Want a souvenier?

Scott's friend Lesley came to visit us...and we brought her to our (cross our fingers & our toes) soon to be home! She loved it, and was a bit scared at the same time I think...but was fascinated with the wallpaper...of which there are layers and layers and layers of in the old part of the house. (Since 1890 a few layers had been added-yikes!)

So Lesley being a self proclaimed "paper & vintage lover" took home a few very dusty and fragile pieces of loose wallpaper we all had fun stripping off! (this will of course JUST be the beginning of stripping wallpaper!) lol!

Are you SURE there is not a money tree somewhere here???

We find out Monday am, that Dick cannot put our offer in...we must be a "pre-approved" buyer for Fannie Mae (who now owns the foreclosed home) to even consider our offer.

Our realtor, Dick, puts us in touch with a lender who can help us....and he does, he gets us a pre-approval letter quickly and Dick is able to put the offer in by Tue am.
By Wed evening, our offer is accepted! We celebrate,  we plan, we figure out HOW are we going to finance this thing!?  Little did we know THIS would become the question we'd ask many, many times!

"Make an offer!"

http://www.ucountrybuilders.com/

Scott snuck in (via the basement door we would come to use frequently), the next day with our friend Pete and he gave us his thumbs up...so we scheduled a visit w/ the real estate agent & contractors.

June 13th we looked at the property with Dick Sirois, of Regency Realty in Portland, Maine.  We met my dad and Matt and did a thorough tour of the property, saw inside the barn for the first time, and decided to make an offer.
While viewing the property 2 other agents showed up hovering around, waiting to show the property...(no pressure there!)  & the real estate market is dead right?!

We decided to make an offer that day, we loved the house...and we certainly felt a bit of pressure having the other buyers swarming so we wasted no time!

"Wanna go for a ride?"

So we went for a spin to Kennebunk...and we pulled in to the property.  There was a young couple there, about to mow the lawn.  We soon found out the property was a foreclosure, explaining its amazing price...!  They were maintaining the lawn, (looking back now a bit of a laugh, as they were pulling a push mower out of the back of an open trunk in a sedan...?!) :) and told us to have a look around, they didn't have a key to let us in....

we walked through to the backyard, we were both excited, there was some kind of "buzz" that floated through both of us....like "this could be the one!"  Nothing I can explain, but we walked into the back yard and I literally squealed with delight, saying "I love this place"!  We quickly found the basement door was unlocked & ajar, we let ourselves in.

We found inside a house full of potential, and in need of major work.

No kitchen to speak of, a toilet by itself...near the back door (just in case you needed to GET OUT QUICK!?), but we also found, hardwood floors in every room, windows that had been replaced, plenty of rooms for us to live in, a backyard we loved, mature perennials, and trees and a barn (we would later see the inside of!) a lot to be excited about-- and a price that was quite reasonable...& a project to keep Emily happy!

We had called the realtor that night, but on short notice ended up showing it to ourselves....we would later schedule to view the house again that Sunday with my Dad and Matt (my brother) to get their contractors' perspective.

"You take a nap, get some rest...."

Well, it all began...what seems like so long ago...it was my first day going rock climbing, we went to Pawtuckaway Park in NH and came home exhausted....while poor Scott was trying to have a bit of a cat nap...I was as usual neurotically searching the Internet for a house or property to buy.  Those of you that know me, understand this is partially one of my fav hobbies, but also serving a purpose this time to find us a place to make a home together.

We had wintered in the "Big House" at Eldridge Rd., which I affectionately nicknamed, "#6" and were now living in the fun but often frustrating barn/ "sleeping porch" ...and I at times had a hard time being a "trooper" about the whole thing...so a bit anxious to find a pit of privacy....and quiet! :)

I awoke Scott who was mere minutes into his nap when I discovered a new house listing on High St., in Kennebunk.  A street we had admired during our search...the house fit all the criteria immediately:
In a neighborhood we loved, had a barn (!), old home w/ a lot of character, & a yard we could have our chickens, goats (if we chose), dogs (fenced in already!), & of course hawks & falcons.