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Saturday, February 19, 2011

A momentous week

No, I didn't give birth... *sigh*

But we bought a house!!

Correction: my husband bought a house, I am forbidden from owning property because I'm a dirty foreigner on a temporary residency visa.

There is some logic to this -  every time there's a war, Germany invades Denmark (usually right after Poland), today Germans *love* to holiday in Denmark (why, y'all have the ALPS fer fecks sake??!!) and there is a worry that the Germans would buy up Denmark given the chance - after all OBVIOUSLY the Danes have SOMETHING the Germans want because THEY KEEP COMING BACK!

There must be ways around this rule, I know a Polish couple that just bought a house on my island, so maybe the law is limited to dirty foreigners on temporary residency visas AND Germans.

So yeah, there will need to be some lawyering to get it all worked out so that if the DB dies (God Forbid) the house will pass to the Spawn and I'll be executor or something.

BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THIS POST!  THE POINT OF THIS POST IS THAT WE'VE BOUGHT A MOTHERFREAKING HOUSE Y'ALL!!

Before you jump in and say "welcome to the wild world of home ownership" let me remind you that we (DB) own an apartment in Aarhus, which we rent out rooms in, making us not only homeowners, but landlords.  Believe me when I tell you I keep a close eye on interest rates and inflation.

Unless you are my accountant, you're probably getting bored with this discussion.  "So, this new house - what up?" you ask.

It's on the western side of the island, in a little village we came across a long while back that we fell in love with.  We've been trying to figure out how to move there since we settled on the island, but most of the houses for sale were WAY out of our price range.  We shopped around looking at places that were in our price range and they ran from "OH DEAR GOD I think I need another tetanus booster" to "JESUS H CHRIST we should just burn this down and start over!"  We looked around outside our "happy zone" - going as far as to look at a "parcelhus" (think 1970's ranch-style in the US... aka hideous) in Marstal.  That was a sad sad day.  Things overheard at the parcelhus:
"Hey, if you stand here, in the corner of the lot, you can almost see the ocean... there, just on the other side of the breeze-block mother-in-law cottage..."
"Well, we certainly wouldn't have to worry about lawn maintenance, I could trim this with your electric razor."
"I suppose we should be glad it comes with A tree."

But this is a small island.  Tell one person you're looking for a house and people begin to call YOU with homes for sale.  That's how my husband heard about this house.  We went out and saw it several times.  It was perfect, nothing has to be done before moving in.  We didn't say to each other "well, we can live with it for now" (although I did say that about the kitchen... but I say that about most kitchens) and after a bit of discussion we could get it for within our price range.

It has the most gorgeous view over the landscape.  There's a bit of ocean, but mostly it's fields and wooded areas.  We're surrounded by farmland, being just outside the village itself, so yes, we'll get that wonderful manure smell several times a year, but we'll also get an ever changing seasonal view.

It's a two bedroom house, with two floors, but only one bathroom and alas, I'm losing my bathtub.  We're going to get creative on the upper floor - it's a huge room and I cannot abide wasted space (why do Danes make a huge open space and then fill it with multiple sitting areas... how many hygge zones do you need?), so we're going to build a master bedroom up there using bookshelves for walls (this is what happens when you watch too many home improvement shows) and turn one of the bedrooms on the ground floor into a guest bedroom.  The back yard has several fruit trees and lavender and wisteria (hands down my favorite plants) and a lawn that is large enough but hopefully not too large.  There will be space to grow as well, if we decide to keep adding on to the family.

I'm awfully excited about this house!  I can't wait to be able to hang pictures on the walls again (without thinking... hmmmm, will this mean I have to paint the whole room when we move out or just this wall...) and decide randomly to paint a room cerulean blue JUST BECAUSE I CAN.  I'm also relieved because this means when the Spawn gets a hold of my markers and decorates the wall, I can say, "ah, well, I'm sure Dad will be VERY PROUD" instead of "OMG THE DEPOSIT!!"  Spawn will be able to run about in the backyard, whooping and hollering and not disturb the neighbors.  Nor will Spawn disturb anyone other than Mom and Dad with the indoor roller skating or "Puttin' on the Ritz" routine (which the baby is practicing RIGHT NOW in my uterus).


You probably won't get any more photos until we move in, sometime in mid-May.  I'm not going to post pictures of the previous owners things, that's her stuff and I think she should have some privacy.

11 comments:

  1. It's adorable! I look forward to seeing the inside (with your stuff!)

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  2. It sounds perfect! Congratulations! Emma

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  3. Anonymous3:47 PM

    Congrats! I'm impressed. At first, when DB got the job on that island, I thought how cool it was that you just moved and it was all peachy! I'm intrigued that you are comfortable enough there to become homeowners. Not sure I could make out there, lol. Can't wait to see what you do with the place.

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  4. Wonderful! It all sounds like a dream-place. Mazal tov! I'm so happy for you.

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  5. Anonymous4:56 PM

    YAY! Looks great.

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  6. It looks lovely! Congratulations!

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  7. I like it - very cozy looking!

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  8. Oh my god, you are going to be living in a little house out of a fairy tale! Looks lovely. Congrats!

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  9. I love it!!!! I'm doing homework with the cousins at the moment, and showed the picture to them and it was met with resounding "Aaaaawws"

    Very, very happy for you, the DB and Spawn!!

    Also, I'm pretty sure now that I will remember you've bought a house. No promises, though...

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  10. What an adorable house! It sounds perfect, and so does the location!

    Congratulations!

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  11. a new house and a new baby.

    2011 is going to be YOUR YEAR!

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