Before

As I look at the pictures I took of our house-to-be, I can't help but think that I'm much too young to be buying a house.  Of course, when I was younger, I hadn't the faintest idea of mortgages or financing, so I couldn't comprehend how anyone managed to save up enough money to buy large purchases like a house or car.  Silly little Sarah...

This house, however, is much cheaper than I had anticipated...although there's a few good reasons why.  Firstly, house prices in Georgia, much like the rest of the United States, aren't exactly sky high right now.  Along with that, the house isn't in the greatest condition.  The current owners bought it as a storage space for the husband's cable company.  When I say storage, I mean storage.  All the closets were filled with cable and other paraphernalia pertaining to his business, and they even kept a flat bed, ditch witch, and a creeper-esque looking van in the backyard.  Why they didn't just buy a storage unit is beyond me.

Anyway, back in 1946, whoever built this house in southern Georgia obviously didn't account for global warming.  It has no air conditioner.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.  No duct work, no remains of the outdoor unit, nothing!  Since discovering the house, I've been fascinated by the thought of living back in the day with no means of cooling.  Having lived at a boy scout camp for six weeks in the dead of summer in southeast Kansas, I have a fairly good idea of what kind heat we're talking about here.  They did, however, put in an old fashioned furnace type thingy...I'm not really sure how to describe it.  Still, I can't wrap my head around why anyone would equip their home with a furnace and not an air conditioner in GEORGIA...in fact, I don't think Jared or I turned on our own furnace in our apartment all winter.  Of course, fifty degrees is like an ice age to the natives down here.

Alrighty now, I'm sure some before pictures are in order...

380 Camelia Drive

The original living room.  Look at the gorgeous hardwood floors!

Facing the opposite way from the previous picture.  Here's the kitchen/dining room. 

The "dining room"...it's more of an eat in kitchen.

The only existing original bedroom, currently used for storage.

The full bath.  Not a whole lot is getting done to this room.  It's in decent order.

The second living area.  Used to be the second bedroom, but they
 expanded it and through the door on the left of the frame is the "master" suite.
This could be called the den or family room.  Everything beyond the windows
and the exterior door on the right was added later on.  You can
kind of see the change in floor color.

The cute half bath that is getting an upgrade to full.
It's just off the family room, directly adjacent to a closet
(of which there is no picture, sorry, closets are
boring), and in the hallway that leads to...

...the master!  The owners offered the bedroom set (with an armoire, not seen here)
with the house, but we didn't care for it too much...and I've got
my own plans for this room!

So there it is, in all it's cottage-y glory.  The exterior needs some work too, but I haven't taken any pictures of it...yet.  However, Jared and I are planning on getting a head start in the yard during a weekend...it desperately needs it!  In the meantime, I'm dreaming up furniture layouts, paint colors, and all sorts of creative ideas for this place.  Also, I do apologize for the shoddy quality of the photos.  I'll get my slr out there and get better ones soon!

Sarah