We really thought this was the one (#9)

HOUSE #9 - "Colham Ferry"

Bob has two favorite roads in Oconee County. Colham Ferry (a long rural road with beautiful houses and pastures), and Paula Place (a dead end dirt road off of Colham Ferry with even more rural pastures, nice houses, and a lot of privacy). So when the house on the CORNER of Colham Ferry and Paula Place came on the market, I thought this was for sure the one.

It had 40 acres. Lots of pasture and fencing. The house was a one story with a basement. It had some weird things going on inside, but overall looked nice. The thing about the lot, though, was that it was 40 acres, but divided in half by a ravine/creek. So you really had 20 acres  + house, and then somehow getting over the creek (via the road that run along the side of the property), you could access your back 20 acres. I wasn't opposed to that - as long as we cut down trees behind the house and on the other side of the creek, it could make for some pretty views. BUT. The size of the backyard behind the house made me nervous (beyond which is the drop off to the creek). I was planning to put a long row of hedges along the back so that no kids would/could go past the point of no return. You probably wouldn't die from a fall down there. It was dirt and sloped. But still. No falling off cliffs in my backyard. It should be a qualification when looking for a home.

LOOOOOVE the porches 

Pretty view. But faces west and few trees for shade! Also, Colham Ferry Road is right at the end of the fenceline. I'd prefer a more private setting.

This is pretty much the den/family room. Small, and right when you walk into the door. Was going to change this into Bob's office (add walls).

 The living area was one long rectangle. comprising the den (above), this middle section (left- a music/sitting area?) and a dining section. It's a skinny/weird layout. This was giving me trouble. I figured it would be best to combine these two sections into one big eating area.

The door to the left is a bedroom.

Breakfast/eating area in kitchen. I don't know if I have any photos of the kitchen (I swear I do, somewhere!) Picture white cabinets, green laminate counters, and a wood stove smack in the middle of the room. It was awkward.

Sunroom/living area right off the kitchen. This was going to  be expanded and turned into a family room. That is the laundry area in the closet to the left. At least it's convenient to the kitchen, I guess! 

Master bathroom. Nice, but an unnecessarily large open floor space right there. 

Master bedrooom. And yes, that is a huge bathtub in the bedroom. 

FUN FACT: this house was on House Hunters (one of the rejects). I'm sure they made fun of the tub.

The other bedroom on the first floor. Really nice. Was going to be the guest room.

Bedroom in the basement (left), unfinished space for a future playroom (right) 

 PORCHES!! Screened-in front/side porch    

 View from screened porch. Siiiigh. I love seeing sky (thanks to growing up in Texas)

 Back of the house. You can't tell, but the treeline/drop off starts pretty soon past the left side of the photo.

 Looking down/into the ravine creek area. This would be cleeeeeaned out, along with all of the snake homes!!

Bob loved this property. Really loved it. Encouraged me to design floor plans to make the house more usable to us. It was about half the size we needed, and it only had 3 bedrooms (two on the main floor, one in the basement). We would have renovated the kitchen, added a den, 2 bedrooms and a laundry room/mudroom connection to the separate garage.

I didn't love this property, which was weird. I usually love everything. You can (almost) always make a house work for you - depends how much you want to change and what you want to spend. I remember talking to Bob one night about the house, saying "I just don't love it. I'm not feeling it." The small backyard, the creek, the separation from the land in the back, the not-very-busy-but-still-a-main-road (Colham Ferry) right there in the front. No trees in the front (but too many in the back/creek!) But I kept moving forward with it, thinking it would be ours. We thought we'd wait until it had been on the market a few more months before moving on it. We toured the house, and scheduled an appointment to tour the creek area. I wanted to make sure we knew what we were buying (snake city, anyone??) We got a call the day of the creek tour; it was raining and the realtor didn't think it would be a good time to walk the creek area. We didn't reschedule yet.

A few days later, my mom came into town. As she is my decorating source/expert, I wanted to show her the house on zillow, but I couldn't find it. I typed it in a different way, and it came up as sold. ??HUH??!! What?? I felt a bit like I was hit in the gut. I had just known it would be ours. Bob is a fatalist/realist by nature, so when he found out, he didn't appear surprised. But I know he was disappointed. Even now (2-3 years later), he keeps bringing up the fact that that is the only house he's liked.