Hi I`m JOEY and I'm a guest on Detour's blog

Hi I am Joey. I am 7.  I  love Ohio because  I  💗  ⚽ and I 💗 🍕 and I 💗 🐦!

I met  new   friends. 

I love  🍭 (candy)
I   got    a    house!    yaaa!!
I    love   🐼s
And   I  love  🎃 (Halloween)
And   I   love   💀  (deadness) ha!
I   love   to  be  creepy😈  

Have   a    good   day    and   pray     🙈🙉🙏
And   be     cool 💀   

The   end!  
Bye✋✋

Operation: Dream Home #2

House hunting. Anyone that has undertaken this task will surely agree that it's more fun to watch others do it on TV. Even Jordan said so! I will say, though, it's been fun watching our big kids house hunt. They each have different things they look for. They are both concerned about where their room will be. However, they each have a few things they look for:

• Jordan - 
• Library space.
• Property for shooting on.
• Room for a hanging egg chair in her room.
• Joey -
• Basement for fun stuff.
• A fireplace for Santa.
• Remaining on budget. (LOL!) 

You all remember our Orting house:

When we started building this beauty, I started a Facebook album titled "Dream Home #1". I remember the moment I typed that, and thinking to myself, "Hmm... Why '#1'? Are we planning on moving before we've even built it?" God works in mysterious ways. He already knew that wasn't our forever home. 

Fast forward nearly 4 years, and we are house hunting in Ohio. We found a house with TONS of potential! I mean, OOZING potential. I could picture the shining beauty this house would become. 

Sure, it needed a kitchen remodel, every wall needed paint, every door needed to be replaced, the carpet smelled like dog and almost every curtain rod was installed crooked. But the property was amazing, and I saw how beautiful the house could be with a lot of love and even more elbow grease! Alas, it was not meant to be. We lined up every inspection, but only 1 ended up mattering; the septic inspection. As it turns out, the septic leech bed is too close to the well; meaning that the filtered septic run-off could get into the well water. Not only is that seriously gross, but it also doesn't meet code. So, we had to terminate our contract on this diamond in the rough. 

We hit the pavement to tour more houses, while battling the house-bummer-blues. It wasn't pretty. Bless our amazing agent Carrie for remaining upbeat and reminding us that we WOULD find an amazing home! (Seriously Ohio people, if you need an agent, call my girl at Buckeye State Realty!)

Pushing on, we expanded our search area. When we pre-gamed our house search from Washington, inventory here in Ohio was much more abundant. Unfortunately for us, the market here is on fire right now and needing a 4 bedroom has narrowed our options even more. 

The new search area led us to a much newer, nicer house. Very "Washington". Lots of space inside, not so much space in the backyard. It sat on nearly an acre, however the house was right in the middle, so not such a great yard in any one place. But, oh, she is pretty! 

Side-load garage.Wrap-around porch. Sun room. Loft for the kids. Giant basement. It is a gorgeous house! Unfortunately, the sellers want top dollar for it and they apparently aren't willing to negotiate. We submitted an offer - backed by comps in the area - and they refused to even respond. We slept on it and submitted a new offer in the morning, to which they called "insulting." They are under contract on a new house, so it appears that they are going to have two homes, because we decided not to increase our offer and the house is still sitting there, weeks later.  

After the big, pretty house didn't work out, I asked Justin to reconsider another house we saw the same day, on the same road. It was a little smaller on the inside and outside, needed paint in a couple rooms, but it was very well cared for and had everything we needed. He agreed and I took Justin's parents for a look while Justin started his new job. 

It was definitely love. The house was everything I imagined our TLC house could be! After a couple of counter offers back and forth, we were under contract in a couple of days! And, as of today, the house passed inspection with flying colors! Here's the official tour!

--------

Semi-wrap around porch! We originally asked for the homeowners to leave the porch swing, however, it was an anniversary gift and they will be keeping it.

Can we just admire the size of this kitchen for a moment?

...

And the fact that there isn't a sink or cook-top in the island?

...

Just a little paint to tone down all the yellow-orange-brightness and we're good to go!

We have already picked out a new dinning room table, chairs and buffet to hold Jordan's china from her great-grandma Donna. :) We can't wait to start hosting tea parties again! Not to mention, fully extend the dining room table to 112 inches to see how many Detwilers (and Dotsons) we can seat at one time! 

The living room portion of the great room. I have a feeling it's going to be set up just like our Orting house, which will hopefully make it feel like home right away! We are really happy to have an indoor fireplace, so Santa doesn't have to use his magic key to get in. The bookshelves are installed, but we're going to move them out of this room.

Now that IS a great room! I can't believe we're going to have THREE kids growing up making cookies, sharing family dinners and hanging stockings in THIS room.

Since our new dining room furniture will fit in the great room, we're going to use the formal dining room off of the kitchen as a playroom for Skyler. Hopefully, it won't look like Toys R Us exploded in our living room this time around! (R.I.P. Toys R Us)

The formal living room. This room is something I was really hoping for. This is going to be our library. Most everyone knows that I'm a book lover, and that I'm hoping to raise a few book lovers. So, we are planning on moving the living room bookshelves into this room. All we need is to unpack our books and get a comfy place to sit! 

Okay, have I mentioned that my agent is amazing? She suggested this foyer overlook area for a Christmas tree! You guys. I'm totally putting tree #4 here! 

(Don't freak out! 1 of the trees is a table-top tree. Jeez, like a would have 4 FULL sized trees. LOL!)

Master bedroom, complete with walk-in closet! Big enough for a king size bed, nightstands and dresser. I never understood why house hunters want a huge master bedroom. (Can you sneak a peek of that huge soaker tub in the bathroom? It's going to be covered in dust soon! LOL!)

Extra bedroom #1 - Joey's room

This one is the largest extra bedroom, and Joey gets it this time! He's hoping to paint grey and have a huge Nerf target on the wall! I mean, of course he is! Why wouldn't he want a giant target to shoot at?

Extra bedroom #2 - Jordan's room

Jordan decided she wanted a loft bed, and it will fit best with this room configuration, plus she won't lose any floor space, so it's fair that she doesn't get the largest room. She agrees. I think she is planning on painting it a light lavender.

Extra bedroom #3 - Skyler's room

Yay for no painting! I do have a paint project planned for this room, but it's going to be a surprise!

The basement!

It's dry. It's HUGE... like there is even more space than in these pictures. We can't wait to make the ultimate game room down there! 

So, we had really hoped to find a house on a couple of acres... with trees (for the PNW girl in me). However, this backyard is huge. There's some fenced in area, which will be nice for the pups, and then a huge area past that. The kids are excited to have room for a swingset, trampoline and pool next summer. There's no way we could have hoped for a yard this size in Washington, so Justin and I are grateful to have a little more space.

--------

Well... there you have it! For all the stress and aggravation it's caused, that was our house hunting in a nutshell. We ended up in Marion, Ohio... I'm guessing for a reason. God always has a way of surprising me. Thank goodness His plans are always better than mine, because I could have ended up drinking filtered poo-water in West Liberty! LOL! 

I can't wait to get the first few projects done in the new house (painting the great room and moving the bookshelves) and share them with you all! Now, I'm on the hunt for a few more furniture pieces! I'm still looking for a coffee table, a desk, and library seating! Maybe I'll get that Papasan chair I've always wanted... I am concerned I may no longer be able to get out of it though! 

Be on the lookout for a Dream Home #2 Facebook album to pop up soon! Though, I may title it "Forever Home".