Bush house

We saw a second house on the same day as the Darwin house, but it wasn't really worth spending time taking pictures of because we knew immediately it wasn't an option. 

We went out again to see 3 more houses and started with this house:  Bush house. 

It's actually a farm and has a LOT of buildings on the property.  I didn't take pictures of all of them, but here's the rundown of the house:

4 bedrooms and 2 baths, 2632 square feet (plus an unfinished basement that's only good for storage), 10.86 acres and a 2.5 car garage (if you can call it a garage), large livestock barn, chicken coop, ten pen dog kennel

The house was built in 1941, so there are a lot of things about it that I really liked.  It was pretty dang cute, if you ask me.  It's just hard to tell with that big stupid tree covering up most of the front.

 I think I'd chop it down the day we moved in.  But see the brick and stone exterior, the stone chimney and the little scalloped details on the white siding?  Cute!

 This is part of the side of the house.

And this is the "garage".  Kind of in sorry shape, as were most of the buildings on the property.

It had this massive barn (that was full of bats) and had horse stables below it.

 This was a horse pen where the current owners kept 2 horses.

We weren't sure where the property ended, but beyond the white fence below was a big hay field which we were told was also part of the property and grew enough food to feed the horses all year.

This is Kantha, one of our realtors, making friends with one of the horses.

Kitchen (love that exposed brick)

 family room (this is an addition so the outside on this part of the house is painted wood siding instead of brick)

dining room (there's also a sitting room that you walk into from the front door that flows into the dining room that I neglected to photograph.  That room and the dining room had crown moulding and an archway between them).

downstairs bathroom (aren't the arched doorways adorable?)

 one of 2 downstairs bedrooms

 sun room/porch

 original details like this old glass doorknob are what made me really, really want to consider this house.

One of 2 upstairs bedrooms.

upstairs bathroom

 2nd upstairs bedroom (this room was pretty big and had 2 of these twin beds in it.)

small study area at the top of the stairs

laundry area in the expansive basement (unfortunately the basement didn't seem like it would be possible to finish it to give the house more livable space, but it did provide a TON of storage space)

I had a lot of fun thinking of what I would do to update certain areas of the house.  So, going back to the photo of the living room, picture this:
~imagine away the dated furnishings, accessories and clutter
~tear out the cat-smelling carpet and replace it with dark wood laminate floors to match the dark wood window trim and ceiling beams (which I totally ♥)
~paint the wood wainscoting, shelves, and wood cabinets that flank the fireplace white
~paint the walls some stony color that would compliment the brick fireplace
~remove the little wooden shutters on the windows (but save them for use elsewhere) and hang neutral floor-to-ceiling curtains
~hang a much cooler light fixture  than the one that you can barely see in the photo

Wouldn't that be so much better?!  Oh, and don't worry.  I had some thoughts on what to do about that poor kitchen, too.  :)

This house was situated on a country road, but Aaron would still only be about 25 minutes from work in Jackson and it is only about 2 minutes outside the village of Chelsea.

However, this house isn't the one for us, for a few reasons.

It's old, which gives it the charm and character that I love, but it hasn't been updated and we're a little nervous about the potential issues a home this old may have, either currently or in the future (such as needing to be re-plumbed or entirely re-wired or getting the roof replaced).  We're just not sure we want to have to deal with that kind of stuff.

Because this is a country house, it uses well water and a septic system- neither of which Aaron and I are familiar with ( I know, I know, my parents and grandparents use them and are just fine!).

The biggest reason, though, was the acreage it sat on.  While it is huge and would give us LOTS of space to ourselves, it has WAY more buildings on it than we would need.  This property is better suited to someone who actually HAS animals and would use the buildings that are there.  I bet a veterinarian would love it!  But for us it would be a real waste.

The hunt continues!