WHAT I WANT IN My next house

It’s no secret that Paul & I have been house hunting for quite some time. It comes as no surprise to me that we aren’t having much luck–the market is HIGH, inventory is LOW, & people are COMPETITIVE. As I mentioned in my last post about the process, we have tried to buy 2 different houses and both times entered a bidding war. It’s so emotionally, mentally, and physically draining. It’s definitely easier said than done, but keeping yourself emotionally detached during this process is truly the only sane way to go about it.

We have gone to 100’s of open houses over the last year. Anytime I come across something interesting or funny I love to share on my IG stories just so you guys can have a glimpse into the process. Sometimes it’s fun walking into a house and just visualizing the possibilities. People always make fun of us, saying we’re “already knocking walls down” since our instinct is to make a house more open with a good flow and we instantly start discussing the options. Whatever, that’s us. Thankfully we are on the same page.

Below I’ve outlined a little list of things I do & don’t want in my next house. I decided to turn the list into a blog post since so many of you have asked me WHY we are looking to move out of our house. In short, we are just ready to move on. We bought this house with the notion of it being our “starter home,” it wasn’t ever intended to be a long-term home for us. As much as we LOVE our house now, we have outgrown is slightly and feel like our criteria has shifted.

WHAT I WANT IN MY NEXT HOUSE:

-A real master bathroom. I say “real” because right now our master bath is just too small. Honestly, if I wasn’t a blogger (receiving new beauty products daily) it wouldn’t be an issue, but I’m so overloaded with stuff that I need a bathroom with ample storage, 2 sinks (I’m DONE sharing one), and a bathtub would be nice.

-Walk-in closet. I get claustrophobic, so I would love nothing more than an open, well-lit closet that can house my clothing AND my shoes, AND AND AND my accessories.

-Garage. In our current house the garage was converted into our big comfy living room. The space is great and was a huge selling point when we bought it. We really wanted a cozy couch to watch TV and this room has tons of beautiful natural light. On the flip side, I’ve now accumulated WAY too many Halloween decorations and our shed in the backyard is stuffed. I seriously am not allowed to buy Christmas decorations for a lack of space.

-Pool. Well, as long as I’m living in The Valley I need a pool. Not just want. It’s fucking HOT in the summers and honestly, I’m not always in the mood to drive to Malibu, where the weather is sometimes funky.

-Privacy. I want secluded, quiet, hidden. Period.

-Character. While I like clean lines & contemporary architecture, for my next house I want more character. Built-ins, beams, a fireplace, etc. So many houses in LA are now turning into “flip” homes because developers wipe out all the original integrity in the design and it ends up looking cheap (IMO).

-A cosmetic fixer. So, this is where we kind of run into an issue. I want a fixer that doesn’t require structural work, but rather fun cosmetic ones. I want a house that is good to go, but could use new tile, paint, hardware, etc. If you know anything about the LA real estate market you’re probably wishing me luck since that basically doesn’t exist. It’s either full on hot mess (tear down), or WAY too flippy for my style. Grrrrrr……

THINGS I LOOK FOR IN GENERAL: at lot of these things are in our current house

-Open floorplan. I don’t like walls. At least, not unnecessary ones. I want the house to feel open, inviting, and not to separated.

-A fab kitchen. If a house has a galley kitchen I’m instantly out. I spend so much time in my kitchen and my family is always over cooking that I cannot have a small long kitchen.

-Lots of natural light. I can’t do dark. Not only does my business revolve around me taking pictures nonstop (natural light required), I think it makes you a happier person to be exposed to sunlight. I like big windows and French doors.

-Spacious backyard. Even though we don’t currently have a pool, we have a decently sized yard with a cute fire pit area we designed and installed ourselves. It’s really nice to have space for the dogs to run around and obviously we like to host parties, too.

Is anyone else currently house hunting? Am I crazy? What’s on your criteria? Share!