The House

Let me give you some history. . . we have lived in our current house since 1998. It is a small house, and an especially small house for Newton. However, we have an amazing neighborhood, and the kids attend a school with wonderful teachers.

But the house is small.

It is also outdated.

Don't get me wrong, we have done work on the house . . . we have a new chimney, a new boiler, a new roof, 8 new windows, painted. . . . insulation. We have painted the dining room, the living room, and the kids rooms. I have a new fridge and stove, and a relatively new dishwasher (2004).

We have the original bathrooms that came with the house.

We also have the same kitchen. I hate the kitchen. I spend ALOT of time in the kitchen. But I hate it. From one spot in the kitchen, I do my prep. . . . and when I want to turn on the stove, I turn to the right. If I want to go to the fridge, I step back one step. If I want to wash a dish, I step to the left. I hover in one spot in the kitchen.

AND, if anyone wants to be in the kitchen to keep me company, they are in the way. Doesn't matter where they stand. They are in the way.

And whoever designed this kitchen, put the bathroom in the kitchen, and the door to the bathroom in the back corner of the bathroom. Which means if ANYONE needs to use the bathroom, I have to move out of the way, so they can pass by. On top of that, my poor husband's spot at the kitchen table is next to the bathroom door. I don't need to say any more than that.

So just move.

I don't want to give up the neighborhood. We have block parties. . . . the kids play outside with others. At a certain age, the kids go outside by themselves. No one drives THROUGH the neighborhood. It is not connected to anything else.

I don't want to leave the Angier school. . . . . and we can't afford anything else in this district.

So just add on . . . .

Hmmmm, now if we had a HUGE plot, that would be easy. But because our house is "cottage-craftman" style, we can't add a block to the back . . . it would be ugly. We can't add to the right, because we are seven feet from the property line.

Which brings us to a Design Build Company.

One company is very willing to work with us. . . . and help us. The other said, you need to dump $250K into the addition, you still won't be happy, but you can think about it. . . . .

What can we do?

So, now I am pondering. Adam is pondering. We want to live here. . . . Our daughter needs a larger room (which is a closet right now), and I need a new kitchen (the cabinet doors are already helping me, by falling off all the time).

Does anyone have any ideas?