Nice Angles!

Well, folks. Here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for!

But, first. I must ramble (as per usual).

Remember how I told you just how amazing my friend, James is? Well, here's another example: he arranged for a professional photographer to come through our house (minutes) before we moved in so, I could show all of you lovelies how amazing our little has project turned out!

If you need a reminder of how things started, please refer back to: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes (Part One) and Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes (Part Two).

Side note: The professional pictures are gorgeous! They are so clear and beautiful and HUGE they make me dream of a bigger, fancier camera (hint, hint H; cough Christmas, cough birthday). That being said, they don't fit on this blog (you may have to scroll left to right to view the entire picture) as it is formatted and I thought it a little silly to reformat for just one post. But, enough of this babble. Let's get to the good stuff!

The glorious exterior.

 Head on.

Moving inside:

The living room and the front door. (I heart the exposed brick)

The wall color throughout the majority of the house is Benjamin Moore's Horizon (OC-53). It is a very light gray color. If I were doing it again I would have gone a hair darker but, as it stands it will be SO easy to live and decorate with.

View from the front door of the living room. 
Open concept. Doors to the mud room>garage and powder room are on the right.

Kitchen featuring: H's Super Fridge, the Carara marble countertops, butchers block island, and subway tile backsplash. Love x4.

View of the kitchen and living room. 

You can also see the door to the pantry (I'll take detailed a picture of that down the road- simply because it is awesome!). The small door to the left of the pantry is for under-stair storage.

The dining "room" with my built-in bench seating and french doors to the patio.

Mud room. (LOVE!) 
Utility closet on left. Garage entrance on right. Benches for storage and coat hooks all around. The brick tile floor ties in to the front entrance (shown above).

Going up:

The staircase.

Office (or second bedroom as needed). 

Office view from windows. 
Trying to decide what to display above the closet. Ideas?

Guest bedroom.

Guest bedroom view from windows. 
The high ceilings and the transoms above the windows make the upstairs rooms extra special.

Master bedroom. 
The wall color is Benjamin Moore's Wedgewood Gray (HC-143). Which, doesn't really look this bright in real life. It is a much deeper blue/green and I am in love with it. I received the suggestion from a friend/interior designer. Thank you Bea!

 Master closet. (part of it at least, there's more to the left that wouldn't fit in the picture #spoiled)

 Our master vanity.

I will have to take a picture of our master shower in its entirety. It is spectacular. It has white subway tile, a marble bench, and marble hex tile floor. We also have two shower heads, one of which is a rain-shower.

And finally, who could forget the RTD?!

That's all for now, I will post more of the up close and personal professional pictures soon. 

H and I could not be more proud of how it turned out.  We are so in love and hope that you all are as infatuated as we are. 

We are so grateful for the amazing opportunity we have been given to own a home like this. It has taken a lot of time and effort to get to this point of our housing tale and we couldn't have done it alone (obviously-H can barely change the batteries in a smoke detector).  Our friends and families have been wonderful supporters of our project. But, on the front lines have been James and Mr. C.

Their efforts (individually and collaboratively) made this happen for us. Both of these gentlemen are professional, respectful, knowledgeable, kind, and outrageously handsome little devils. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time working with you and appreciate all you have done to get us into our new home.

Thank you both for everything!

For now, CHEERS to humble and happy (Charm City) living!

The Story Of The Great Search And The Great Punkin

Once upon a time there was a mountain loving 'princess' who was whisked away to a land far far away. 

In this strange land, her H begged her to put some inner city roots down. She finally caved in to his demands and began what is now known as the longest house search in history. (Probably not but, just go with it people.)

After a casual mention that my H and I may be in the market to buy a house in Baltimore, a co-worker/manager/Baltimore native informed me that I "have to use her realtor". She said her name was 'Andrea' and she was terrific. Then she gave me someone named James' phone number. Looking at her a little perplexed she explained that Andrea was probably way too busy to sell a puny house to little old me and that I should call her business partner James, who she assured me was equally as wonderful. Adding a, "seriously, you will love him". (Oh how right she was!) 

H and I decided it was best for me to spearhead this Great Search because, I had a little more time than H (am far superior at multi tasking) and I am way more picky. H's motto is, "happy wife, happy life" and he had faith that I would find the perfect home for us. So, I left a message on James' voicemail. 

James and I met shortly there after and The Great Search began, May 22, 2011. (One year, two and a half months ago-but, who's counting?!)

At our first meeting James brought along a newly christened realtor named, Dawson (like the Creek). I presume he did this as a safety precaution, thinking there is protection in numbers. You know, just in case I decided to put a knife to his throat, abduct him, and turn his bones into wind-chimes. 

But, alas it wasn't Tuesday and I only do those sorts of things on Tuesdays. 

photo credit

James and my rapport quickly grew and during a few sweltering summer months our Great Search began to pick up speed. Pretty soon we were contacting each other almost daily via email, text, phone, or in person. James is a down to earth guy with a great sense of humor and a deep knowledge of all things 'Bawlmer'. We got along just swimmingly and James quickly understood just what I was looking for. 

He began calling me "Princess" because, of my exquisite taste and overwhelming charm. Or perhaps it is just a tongue-in-cheek reference to my champagne taste with a beer budget. I like to think it is the former. I call him "Punkin", for no reason other than its an affectionate term and that I adore him.

During the Great Search we saw a lot of houses. A LOT OF HOUSES! I think we looked at 278 but, James thinks the number was closer to 80. (Maybe it just felt like more.) Have I mentioned that James is incredibly patient and a whole lot of fun? I can't think of very many other people I would want to spend all that time and energy with.

A fateful day in late September came along when James recommended we take a look at a couple of "new construction/tax credit" houses. One, was just about to hit the Market and the other was in the (very) new construction phase, both were being renovated by the same contractor. (Guess who?)

We first looked at the house under construction because it was our understanding that that house would be priced in our budget. I didn't love the location. But, it did have some great "bones" and it was an end of row home so, it had lots of windows and light. But, it is hard to see the house's true potential when its in that state. So, we went over to the other house that had recently been completed to see what this contractor's finished products looked like. 

Even after repeating my mantra "do not fall in love with this house, it is out of your price range, do not fall in love with this house..." I did.

I was in love! Like, love at first sight, head over heals, actually excited about moving into Baltimore City. In Love! 

That weekend we met with our (then) mortgage guy to go over some of the other houses I had seen lately that we were toying with putting offers on. At this point H was really pushing the move to Baltimore, poor guy was so tired of the commute. So, I felt obligated to suck it up and move already. During the last few minutes of our meeting I summoned the courage and asked the mortgage guy to provide one more estimate for my dream-y home, just to see how unachievable it was so I could finally let it go. To our SHOCK, it worked in to our budget! It was at the high end of our budget but, definitely a possibility. 

After some begging H said we could "low ball" an offer on the house. Wahoo!!! James wrote up a contract for us and after a lot of back and forth between the seller (Mr. C) we got within $2,000. After conflict of egos (H) ensued, the offer was dead in the water and in the end, we did not get the house. It was under contract with another buyer two days later. At the time, James told me, "I know that no one likes to hear this but, everything happens for a reason". (It's true, I do hate hearing that phrase but, how wise James was.)

Things got tough for me after that. I had seen what I knew was possible. Tasted the sweetness of a home I would be proud to call my own and be happy to live in. I needed a break. I was emotionally spent. It had been a lot of hours of searching to find that house that we were so close (in my mind) to owning. 

I told James that I needed to take 'a break'. He says it felt more like 'a break up'. Anyone remember this Friends episode? We have actually had a conversation (or five) just like this. 

photo credit 

It wasn't him! It was me! I was spent. Looking for houses can be an emotional process. Especially for me who was trying to feel comfortable and excited about moving into a city that I wasn't quite sure about.

It took me about a month to recover. But, after a little encouragement from James I took the reins back from H who had stepped in as our point of contact. We started seeing houses again (of all kinds) although, I kept coming back to the other Mr. C home which, was H's favorite. I still didn't love this location but, was so ready to be done with this Great Search. Plus, it was a Mr. C house so, I knew that I could learn to love it. So, H and I met James one night, signed another contract and submitted it the next morning. 

That very same moment H surprised me with a trip to Florida for my birthday (sweet H!). So, when we landed in Florida a few hours later we couldn't wait to turn on our phones and hear some good news! 

"You've got some kind of luck kid! Call me."-James 

That very same morning another couple had put an offer in on the same house. Ugh. A few hours of negotiating and a whole lot of back and forth it was apparent that this couple wanted the house much more than we did. We backed off and jumped out of an airplane. Literally. 

When we returned from our lil vacation we expanded our options and explored: rentals, new construction, well worn houses, all kinds of "shells". But, I was stuck on Mr. C's product even though he didn't have anymore houses under construction.

Then, a fateful day in February and Mr. C came to our rescue. He put us in touch with an investor/property owner who was just dying to get these two little "shells" off of his hands. Mr. C offered to renovated the property with us and after a bit of paperwork, a few meetings, an offer, and a closing, the Great Search concluded. James was finally through with us! At least in a business sense. (Like I'm letting you get outa this relationship that easily Punkin!)

So in the end, rather than ending up with a fabulous commission that only required a little bit of searching and a whole lot less heart-ache and emotion, James ended up with a teeny tiny commission, and two friends who would do anything for him and his little family. (G,G,O) 

James stuck with us during the good times and the bad. Has has introduced us to a slew of amazing people and events in Charm City. He cared about not only how he could find us a house, he cared about finding the house we could call 'home'. James is a highly motivated, respectful, professional man who is dedicated to his clients and their needs. He is the best of the best. The cream of the crop. The Great Punkin!

James is my Punkin, my "soul mate" (-per Andrea), my friend. I am almost as excited to move to Baltimore so H and I can be in our new, amazing house as I am to be closer to my BBFF (Baltimore best friend forever). 

Thank you Punkin, for everything! 

P.S. Andrea is absolutely wonderful as well. She is a lot like James, only in female form. (Which, may mean she's even better - cause girls>boys (wink, wink))

If you are ever in the market to buy, sell, or rent in the Baltimore, Maryland area you would be a fool not to contact James and Andrea (and I pity the Fool!).

If, you want more information on the amazing Baldwin and Griffin team please click on the picture above. 

Down To The Wire

I'm not referring to The Wire, although H and I did just recently finished watching the series. For those of you who do not know, The Wire is a critically acclaimed tv series that aired on HBO from 2002-2008. The show was (in my mind) a true-to-life depiction of Baltimore, Maryland (aka Body-More MurdaLand); at least for those in the police department, in the drug "game", and in local politics. 

Photo credit

My realtor begged us not to watch it. Claiming it was not "research" (as I fondly referred to it) and that our life up in Charm City would not be like that. I'm not convinced but, we will soon find out (in about ten days). <cue mouth and stomach dropping>


Bottom line is, if you haven't watched The Wire, you should. It is an excellent show and we we were sad to see it end. (Can you believe 'Omar' went out like that!)


Let's get back to business shall we?


So, things have been running pretty well over at the new house. The anticipated date of completion is still only ten days away. The only thing that could substantially slow us down is that we need to obtain the "John Hancock" of one (maybe both) of our next door neighbors. The property owners on either side of us need to grant us their permission to carry the power in through the back of the house, crossing the plane of their property.


The power was originally brought in through the front. You can see that here.

This is known as an electric power line easement. Which, is a pretty common occurrence in baltimore city because the power (in most cases) runs above ground and the row homes are so close together that it is difficult to transfer power without encroaching one's property line. 


This is a picture of the proposed way of bringing power into the house.

The real issue at hand is not if they will grant us permission but, how exactly to get ahold of our neighbors. The people living on either side of us are renters, and don't speak English. So, using property tax records and a friend/coworker of mine (who should consider becoming a private investigator rather than a physician) we got ahold of them. 


Just waiting now to see if we can dot all of the i's cross all the t's by the end of the week. 

Keep your fingers crossed folks!

Congratulations Are In Order

Have I mentioned yet that it took us (me) almost ONE YEAR to find a house that we (I) liked well enough to buy? 


Shall I point out that despite having had quite a few ups and downs during that long search in the end we (I) decided the best idea was to do the most difficult and time consuming thing: buy a shell, knock it down, and build a new house in its place? 


Did I ever tell you our realtor (fondly) refers to me as "Princess"? 


If you need a refresher on that please look back here. Soon, I plan on giving you a more detailed narrative of our house search story featuring our realtor (my favorite person in Charm City-hands down!).


Alas, I will get to the point. What took H and I one year (AND COUNTING) to do has taken my biggest-little brother FIVE WEEKS. 


Christopher bought a house!


In Wyoming!


All by himself!


In FIVE WEEKS! 

As in: got approved for a loan, found a realtor, looked at properties, put an offer in, offer was accepted- all in ONE WEEK; was under contract, passed home inspections, closed on the house, and moved in... In FIVE WEEKS!


Congratulations brother! We are so happy for you, proud of you, and excited to visit you soon! 
(T-minus 10 days!)


Christopher's home sweet home.



Maui can't wait to play in this yard and breathe that fresh mountain air! (Good-bye east coast allergies!)