Could this be THE ONE?

House hunting isn't for sissies.

Look at the natural light, and not the carpet.

The Dude and I have now looked at about 15-20 houses over the past 6 months or more. Some of them - we really liked. And some of them - not so much.

But we saw this one last week. And then we saw it again today. And we're in love.

It was built in 1967. At the time, it was *the* house in the town. It was *the* location for dinner parties and open houses. People actually paid money to walk through the house during the holidays to look at the decorations. The owners were very active in the community and were very well-loved and respected.

It will be worth getting a landline just to see if it works.

Time took its toll. He passed away in 2004. She passed away earlier this year. Judging from the appearance of the house, although it was well-maintained, it was never updated. Almost everything is original.

Counting rooms in the basement that can't be advertised as such, there are 6 bedrooms. Six. One for everyone.

There are 3 bathrooms. Three. As in, 3 toilets - so 3 people can use the bathroom at one time. That in and of itself is a major selling point.

I think the Bradys might live next door.

There are 2 fireplaces. There is a 2 car garage. There are 2 kitchens. There is a huge yard. There are a ton of closets and cubbies and places to store things.

It's hideous.

And we love it.

We love the gaudiness of it. We love the crazy wallpaper and the funky light fixtures and the unusual room dividers. We love the location and the yard and the amount of work that it's going to take.

The fixtures. Look at the fixtures.

We know that it won't be an easy job - but we also know what we want to see in this house, and we both feel that we can do it.

So....while nothing is official yet, we have let our realtor know that this is the house for us. She is going to get the ball rolling to see if we can get into it.

The price is right. The payments would be well within the affordable range.

All of the kids would finally be in the same school district.

All of the kids could finally have their own bedrooms.

I could finally own a home and stop paying rent.

For some reason, I love this gaudy wallpaper.

There are so many positives right now. But of course there are always negatives. There are inspections and other hurdles to jump before we can say that we're officially planning to buy it. At this point, it could all still very easily fall through and we could not get this house.

But, at the same time, things could very well fall into place.

Only time will tell.

Natural light. Built-in shelves. And that light.
What's not to love?

Love. Just...... love.

One of the fireplaces. And built-ins. And The Dude.

Second full kitchen - in the basement.

The basement definitely needs TLC.

Seriously. That's only part of the yard.

*** Just a reminder - if you know me (or even if you don't) and you know where this house is, please don't say it. We all know it's in Kansas, but just leave it at that, ok? Thanks!