The Forever Home?

Scott spotted it first. He loves to haunt Zillow and he came across a house that looked almost too good to be true. An English Tudor Revival in the town of Stamford, a town I knew absolutely nothing about. It was just so striking and handsome, it had me from the first picture in the listing. And that red door...I MEAN...

There was an open house that weekend, so I said "Let's go". Of course there were lots of people there when we pulled into the driveway. The house sits so nicely on the property, you look up at it placed elegantly on a small hill. It was built in 1939 and it's oozing with period charm...a high-ceilinged living room with rustic beams, a big stone fireplace, nicely proportioned rooms that are TOO big. Aside from the exterior lovliness, the layout of the floorplan is what's so interesting. The entryway and living room are flanked on one side by the bedrooms and home office, and on the other side is the dining room, sun porch, kitchen, and family room/den. Best of all is a whole separate upstairs bedroom and bath billed in the listing as the 'au pair suite'. I think back in the day it was probably called 'the maid's quarters'. That clinched it. That room would be an absulutely fanastic sewing room. Lot of space for me to do my thing, a creative sanctuary that no one would ever see except me, I loved it. Now the bad news: the kitchen and priamary bath were (and still are) terrible. My guess was that they were an early 90's renovation that the owners probably did with the best of intentions, but they haven't aged well at all, totally anachronistic to the style of the period the house was built. I also want to open up a couple of walls to create some case openings from the kitchen to the dining room and family den. I'm sure NONE of this will be cheap but it will look great once it'sre-done. Are these spaces fine for now? Absulutely. But could they be made SO much better? NO DOUBT. It was destined to be an adventure that would last at least 9 or 10 months, NOT a small undertaking. Here are the initial pics from the listing, the 'BEFORE' photos, if you will...

I decided to take the plunge yet again and make an offer. But this time it was going to be well over the asking price, I was determined to play this game better this time around.

The House Wars

Just over a year ago I decided that I wanted to move. I love my house in Sag Harbor but I was yearning for a little bit more space (things are, ahem, snug here to say the least), plus I wanted a small pool in the backyard, something that was either not possible due to village setback ordinances, or way too costly because the house's septic tank is smack dab in the middle of the yard, it would need to be moved (if possible) to the front yard. Sounds like nothing but dollar signs to me! Separately, I had wearied of the Hamptons...wearied of the high cost of living and it's remoteness. It would be nice to live closer to NYC to see shows, make apppointements with my doctors, see more of my firends, etc. Also, it would be much easier for Scott, my partner, to commute in seeing me. The 3 plus hour train ride out East is a killer. But where to look? Forget Middle Long Island...no style quotient AT ALL. The Gold Coast closer to the city was too expensive. How about New Jersey? Well, the property taxes are exhorbitant and I didn't know much about the towns out there. There was upstate New York, i.e. Columbia County, Duchess County, Ulster...but I never loved it up there despite many friends who now call it home. It's very rural and, alas, not in a good way, too 'Trumpy' in my opinion...you don't have to look too hard to see trailer homes with burn barrells in the front yard. Just not my jam. That left Connecticut. Scott was a HUGE proponant of the this idea. He owned a home there several years back until a new job located in Jersey City pushed him into buying an apartment in the city. He also had many old friends there and missed all those connections. And truth be told, I had always had a secret desire to live in Connecticut. Watching all those old episodes of 'I Love Lucy' when they moved to the country had a pull for me (yes, I know that was all a Hollywood set but STILL!). I had a VERY clear idea of what my dream Connecticut home consisted of: besides more space inside and out, I wanted one of those classic homes built in the 1920's, 30's, or 40's that had so much built-in character...well-proportioned rooms, interesting layouts, lovely millwork, and super well built. We focused on the 'shoreline' towns of Fairfield County...Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, Fairfield, Westport, and the ultimate winner, Stamford (but I'm getting ahead of myself).

We quickly found out that the home search in this market was OFF THE CHARTS CRAZY. We would arrive at open houses and the line was out the front door. Or we'd arrive only to be told that there was already an accepted off THAT MORNING. Worst of all, I would make an offer on something on a weekend and told it would have to be 'best and final' by MONDAY.

I bid on a handful of places, all very nice, and lost out on all of them. One was this adorable Tudor Revival gem, I love it, but I was the NINTH highest bid. LOSER!

This was a process that stretched out over several months with many looong trips to Connecticut from way out here in Sag Harbor. I hate care travel and driving so this was torture for me. One day Scott spied an interesting place in Stamford, he said "look at this one, it's really cute". We drove out that weekend, there was a packed open house. I made my best offer, it was almost 40 thousand over asking price. I found out a few days later I lost out again. At that point I was done. I texted my agent and said "I'm pulling the plug on this search in this group of towns. I don't think this process and my budget will work here". It was over. And then a week and a half later I got a text from the broker, it wasn't over yet...

A Cottage in Sag Harbor

Before I begin the unfolding story of the new house in Connecticut, I thought it best to record my thoughts on the current, darling cottage I own in Sag Harbor, Long Island. I've had it for 26 years(!) and it has brought me great joy. I look around it and realize I've done so many changes, renovations, and updates to make it the cozy comfortable place it is now. I tried at every turn to add that quaint charm you would hope to find in little Cape home in a coastal town with lots of history. At just 1200 square feet it packs a lot into a little package. It will be bittersweet leaving this place, but I do need to sell it in order to pay for my new home in Connecticut. It's time for a change and new adventures. Here are the photos from the real estate listing. At this point it's only been on the market for two weeks. No offers yet but I'm remaining patient and hoping for the best. Stay tuned...

This last photo is a drone overhead shot of my neighborhood showing how close my house is to Sag Harbor Bay and the little Havens Beach.