I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I used to be very against the idea. I mean, property taxes? Anything breaks, you fix it? Yard work? All the headaches I've heard others talk about. But when I think about it, apartments have even more headaches and worries. At any time, someone could catch their place on fire and endanger me and my family. Only one way out of the building. The constant noise of rude neighbors. All that shit. But the main reason I am disenfranchesed with apartment living: No matter how much you want to make it look like a home, it never "feels" like one. Cause it truly isn't yours. Well, it is, for a little while. But if I chose to knock out the wall of one bedroom to make my living room bigger, or to paint the walls... I cannot do that. I am stuck with what I got, and I cannot paint over it to fix it. No holes in the wall! Watch out for that carpet! Same old shitty oven and fridge. Blah blah blah.
I've lived in all sorts of apartments since I was eighteen. and I have been moving the same piecemeal, shitty furniture from one place to the next. Duct tape has been my friend on the journey. Seriously, the wife and I use a dresser I've had since I was nine. NIIIIIINNNEEEEE! And one of the drawers does not work. I've tried to fix it a dozen times but the bottom keeps falling out of it.
One of my favorite guilty pleasure shows is MTV CRIBS. I love it. Although I have no idea who half the people in the show are, I just love to see the decoration and designs of the house. I have no eye for it. Good interior decorators can look at a blank room and know how to transform it into art. Much like I can with a blank page. I wish I had the same eye for it when I look at a room with four walls. What colors go good with this or that, or what couch would go good with that rug, etc etc. But I know what I like when I see it. I've always loved purples with pinks and blacks. Or reds and blacks. Or greens and blacks. I find myself always scouring people's blogs looking for ideas on how to make a home look awesome! Here's some of my favorites...
To be honest, real home ownership is about a couple years away for me. I want to do it right. First we gotta get our demons off our back. Get outta debt, get the weight off. Then I want to save up enough for a great down payment to keep our interest low. Lastly, I want enough saved back so that we can buy ALL NEW furniture and things that will last us forever. We're still in a transition period where we grew up from college age to start a family and now we're moving into what I call "real adulthood." I'm still young. 34 years old. I know some friends who have owned homes since they were 23. But me? I think I've done the right thing. We've moved a lot and had our feel of different places and lived our lives. Now I feel I am in a spot to where I could settle down and find a place to call "HOME" for indeed, the rest of my life. A place I could die at. My Xanadu. My private sanctuary I'd never want to leave. All I want to do when I am home is leave. But I get out and the bad drivers force me back home. Where I sit and look at pics of other homes and dream.
There's certain things I want from my future home. A finished basement, a fenced in backyard with a deck, many bedrooms and large kitchen. I even love those little islands in kitchens where you can have a breakfast bar. A formal dining room. I've never had one. Just shitty tables and chairs that break easy. I want to have a finished basement with a bar, pool table, pinball machines or stand up arcade games, LARGE screen tv for movie nights. Relaxing recliners and chairs. A jacuzzi!!! Not to mention the office of my dreams!!! Oh god, thats the part that gets me. A place I can create in. I think at this point, I'd even enjoy yardwork. Planting flowers, getting schrubs trimmed, mowing and trimming. Making the exterior of my house something I'd like. Something to be proud of and have people drive by and say "now that is a nice looking home with someone in it who takes care of it." I want a long driveway with a basketball hoop outside! A place for the kids to play and have adventures. A place to bar-B-que. All of it!
I want my dream to become a reality. But I have many steps to take to get there. Ultimate maturity. To enjoy my later years and twilight years. In my Xanadu paradise.
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