Home buying is hard…emotionally.  After a whirlwind weekend where we looked at 11 houses and discovered a possible meth lab in the woods behind a cabin that I was absolutely enamored with, we settled on a beautiful little house in Port Orchard, Washington. We put in an offer, ended up bidding against someone else, and our offer was ultimately accepted.  This past Wednesday was the inspection and I got to spend 3.5 hours inside this lovely rambler less than a half-mile from the salt water shores of Puget Sound. We put in our inspection requests to the owner yesterday, and now we wait for her response – and I bite and chew my nails and wait and fear that something is going to go wrong with the mortgage, or the appraisal, or anything that is going to derail our chances of getting this home.

This house speaks to me.  It sits on a quarter-acre corner lot across from a park. It was built in 1923 and has been beautifully restored to a vintage state. While I’m not posting pictures until this whole process is over because I can’t bear it if something goes wrong, I’m posting two pictures because, well, I can’t help myself.

LOOK AT THIS STOVE!!! It has double ovens! (I’m having heart palpitations just thinking about it.  And the thing is pristine inside and out, like the current owner never uses it!)

And this kitchen chandelier! (There’s a similar one in the master suite.)

In addition to the most beautiful oven in the history of ovens, I’m also getting Port Orchard, which is a little maritime town that I’ve totally fallen in love with. It sits across Sinclair Inlet from Bremerton, where large aircraft carriers are moored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The seagulls call, the ferries float by, and it’s beautiful. This view is from directly south of the house (which is up on a hill). Look at that gorgeous Sound!

And although I’m not actually a fan of Debbie Macomber’s books because her characters lack depth and realness, I’ve gotten into the show Cedar Cove on Hallmark because Macomber based that town on Port Orchard.  (She also happens to live in the town, too. And the house we’re buying?  It’s 3.5 miles from the house of Delilah. Of the sappy radio show.)

Anyway, we’re slated to close, God willing that everything goes well, on October 27th.  We need to paint the living/dining area because my husband can’t stand the peachy wall colors, but the rest of the house can stay as is because it’s so ridiculously cute.

Between now and then, I guess I’ll keep praying and hoping. I never realized how much I wanted a place that we could truly call ours until this process started, and until I stepped inside that house in Port Orchard.