When I first stepped into our house on Hillside Lane - it was love. Just days before, I had gotten an email that this house was on the market. I'm not sure what made me look at the listing. While we had been looking at houses in the area for a year+, my husband and I had recently decided to stay in the city one more year before we would buy. That was Monday. Tuesday I got the email. Saturday we saw the house. By Monday they had accepted our offer. A friend once told me, "You can't dip your toe in real estate," and she was right, because when you find the house, you're all in.
After looking in northwest Evanston, we knew that, at our price point, what you got for your money wasn't a ton - and it almost always needed a lot of work (read: more $$$). When we walked into Hillside Lane, we couldn't believe it. The inside was brand new - the paint colors, the dark wood floors, the open layout, the exposed beams downstairs, but it still retained the charm of a Bleitz house built back in the 50s - honestly, it took me by surprise (check out the pictures below of how we first saw it when it was on the market). Immediately, I could SEE us living there. I was five months pregnant and I could already imagine our expected little one running around, us cooking dinner and entertaining friends and family for all types of occassions and dinner parties.
It was the beginning of a love story with our home and making it our own.
