I think we've found it!

About a month ago, our realtor showed us a property that she thought would be right for us. That property turned out to be wrong for a bunch of reasons, but it almost worked. So when the house next door went up for sale today, we jumped at the chance to see it.

It turns out that the place we saw today is just about perfect. It doesn't have a walk-out basement but there's light coming in on both sides of the basement so it's really bright. The layout of this place is just right for us: on the main floor is the master bedroom with walk-in closet and ensuite, an office that we'd probably use as a library, a powder room, and the kitchen and dining/living room. There are patio doors leading out to the modestly-sized backyard. Right now, half of the backyard is taken up by gravel with only a bit of grass (which is still enough for the doggy we'll get). We'd put a deck there eventually.

The kitchen has an island that creates a hallway between the foyer and living/dining room; we like the island because it's a huge work area for us. The kitchen also has a separate gas range and oven components. Oh yeah, and there are skylights in the kitchen and the powder room. And the ceiling on the main floor is vaulted, creating an airy feel.

Downstairs is divided up in the same way as the main level: a great room that would be an entertainment area for us on one side and two bedrooms and a full bath on the other. There's a small workroom down there, too. We'd use one of the bedrooms as my sewing room and the other as a guest room.

We don't love the current colour scheme in the kitchen and main bath (as well as the carpeting), which is dark seafoam. The sink in the powder room is quite unique in a way that we're not; it's acrylic made to look like bubbly clear glass, which we'll want to replace. Also, the workroom is quite musty-smelling and there's a bit of a pet smell throughout the house. The house has been unoccupied for a bit and we did have some rain a little while ago, so some mustiness is to be expected here. Another thing that's weird is that the fuse box is in the garage, which is also connected to the house. I don't know how we feel about that.

Overall, we love this house - we definitely love it more than the other house. This house is cozy but not small and would easily work for us. Plus it only costs a bit more than the other house. Yep, it's way below our price range - another plus! We're going to go back to see the house tomorrow, and Ian's parent's are going to come with us. This is a huge purchase and we want another set of eyes before we put in the offer. Oh - and if we do put in an offer, we can take possession of it right away.

We're a little nervous, and a lot excited, about the prospect of possibly putting an offer in for a house of our own. We'll see how these next few days play out. Hopefully no one else will love this house like we do.