Once Upon A Time

Hello sweet friends! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting! You are the best!

So a quick history on our house and how we came to own our dream castle. The first time I ever saw this house I was in my early twenties driving to visit my boyfriend (who would later become my husband). The area of Northwest Ohio in which we live is full of beautiful old houses, and I loved driving along the country road and admiring the pretty architecture. I was driving along, thinking, “That’s a cute house. Oh, that next house is darling. Look at the trim work on that farmhouse…” when all of a sudden I drove around a curve and saw A REAL CASTLE! In Ohio of all places! I gasped and stared and momentarily forgot that I was still operating a moving vehicle. I was simply in awe of the grandeur of that beautiful stone house. I was so mesmerized by its unexpected beauty that I didn’t see the road curving in front of me and I almost drove off the road and into the stone pillars flanking the castle’s driveway. At the last second I snapped back to attention and narrowly avoided crashing my car. That, my friends, is what we call love at first sight. I wondered who had built that gorgeous house and what it must look like on the inside. I was secretly jealous of whoever was lucky enough to live in such a glorious castle. (In Ohio! Castles don’t exist in Ohio!) I never, ever thought that I’d see the inside of that house, let alone LIVE in it! Dreams like that don’t come true, not in real life and certainly not to people like me. But oh, how I loved that house!

My husband and I when we were dating and dreaming of our future castle! Biltmore photo by Rachel Schumate

Fast forward ten years. My boyfriend was now my husband, and we had two sweet little kiddos. We had been living in South Carolina, but had always agreed we wanted to move back to Ohio once we had kids so our children would grow up close to their extended families. While in South Carolina we bought a sweet little ranch style house that had been built in the 1960’s. It was a foreclosure, so we got it for a great price and fixed it up with the help of our family and friends. My husband and I were so proud of our little ranch house and discovered that we worked well together on renovation projects. Date nights to Lowes became our favorite pastime, and every evening and weekend we’d work on making our house a true reflection of us. This was before we had kids, mind you, when we only thought we knew what it meant to be busy and tired. Our house transformed into what visitors referred to as “Sandy’s Style”, which, in case you are wondering, is very whimsical and full of the color blue. When we moved to Ohio we sold our sweet little ranch for a profit and began the search for our dream house.

We looked at tons of old houses. The area in which we live is full of historic homes, and my husband insisted that I find a house I loved because he never wanted to go through the moving process again! My wish was that we find an old home full of character and charm with a kitchen that did not need to be remodeled. In fact I told him I’d prefer a house that had been renovated by the previous owners, who of course would also have “Sandy’s Style” and would be more than happy to sell their gorgeously renovated historical home to us for a great price. We found several houses that we were interested in buying, but for one reason or another they didn’t work out. So we broadened our search to include houses that needed work. My husband was getting tired of house hunting, but I had a very strong feeling that there was a special house out there for us, and I didn’t want to settle. If we were never moving again I had to make sure to find a house I LOVED. I could not spend the rest of my life driving past all the beautiful historic homes in our town knowing I would never get to live in one. This was a dream I was determined to make a reality. My husband, being ever so helpful, was texting me links to every single old house he could find, and there were some truly scary houses he was considering.

So when he sent me a text that he had found an old house he thought I’d like that was going up for auction soon, I rolled my eyes. Seriously? An auction? Didn’t he know me at all? I’m not an impulsive risk taker. I like to carefully consider all my options, have my home properly inspected, and think long and hard before I make any decisions. Then he sent me a picture. And I gasped, immediately called him and shouted “Buy it!!! BUY IT NOW!!!”

We did lots of research before going to the auction. This was a lot of money we were considering putting on the house and we were buying it “as is”. Plus now we had kids, which made the thought of a renovation trickier. Ultimately we decided to bid on it, and if it was meant to be, we’d get the house. Besides, we reasoned, we probably wouldn’t be the highest bidder anyway. We’re a one income family since I stay home with the kids. Surely someone with more money would be interested in investing in such a gorgeous house.

I stayed home the day of the auction. I have a terrible poker face and I knew I’d totally look nervous and give us away. My husband is incredibly calm under fire, so I knew he could handle himself. Still, we were sure we’d be outbid. But we were hopeful. And so very excited! I’ll never forget his phone call telling me we’d won the house. We were shocked and thrilled and so very, very happy! This was truly a pivotal point in our lives, the moment when a pie in the sky dream that I’d had my entire life was finally coming true! I’m telling you, friends, I still can’t believe how lucky we are, how amazing it is that we live in that castle I fell in love with over a decade ago! This journey is incredible, and I’m so glad that we get to share it with you!

I do a happy dance every time I walk through the gorgeous front door! Except I’m usually wearing yoga pants and carrying a diaper bag and the baby. Life is beautiful and when dreams come true you must dance!

Have a beautiful day!
Sandy

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