We’re Finally Moving

Written February 5, 2003

Yep, you read it right. Those of you who know us (Charlie, Wendi and Joe Petitt) probably thought we would never get our own place. But we are finally doing it after 19-plus years of renting the same apartment.

Let me give you the rundown on the old place, the new place, what we’re looking forward to, our concerns and other considerations.

About Our Apartment

We live two flights of stairs above a business, in a 729-square-foot apartment. The rooms are all end-to-end. The front door opens into the living room; you have to walk through two bedrooms to get to the kitchen. The bath is cut out of Joe’s bedroom, and the door to it is in the master bedroom.

There are only two small closets in the place; we use metal shelving units and plastic tote boxes to accommodate storage.

The main gate outside is closed except during business hours. There is a narrow walk gate with a padlock on it, which we use at night and on weekends and holidays. The glass door downstairs is also locked when the business is closed. This means that we must open three locks, including that on our apartment door, to get in when the business is closed.

Location: less than a hundred yards from a main highway, near the center of town.

Condition: It’s not your Hilton Hotel, but it’s in remarkably good shape considering the years we’ve lived here.

About Our New Home

It’s a story-and-a-half bungalow with 1,072 square feet of living space. Joe’s bedroom comprises the extra half story, upstairs. It has its own closet. The ceiling is only a little over six feet high and tapers with the roof.

The basement is only about 8 by 12 feet, providing enough room for the furnace, a small workbench and a little bit of storage. It has only flooded once in six years, during a torrential downpour, and then only for a few hours (there is a drain).

The rest of the rooms are on the main floor. There is a covered porch around a third of the house, which only requires one step to reach it. There is a full bath, a small kitchen (no place to eat), a dining room (with a small closet) attached to the living room, a bedroom (with a large closet), and a mud room which opens out to a 16 by 20 foot deck in the fenced-in back yard. A fairly new 8 by 12 foot shed sits in the far corner of the back yard. A gravel driveway leads up to the side of the house from the front.

As a bonus, the current owner is leaving most of his furniture and appliances behind, so we will have extra items to choose from. He is even leaving us the lawn mower in the shed!

Location: 3/4 mile (1.2 kilometers) from our apartment, near the same highway, still near the center of town.

Condition: It’s an old house (about 100 years old) but in pretty good shape. The current owner has made several repairs and improvements.

Things We’re Looking Forward To

Joe:

Having his own room—more privacy
New room is larger and has its own closet

Wendi:

No double flight of stairs to climb
Rooms not as far apart—no more yelling across the building

Charlie:

Windows in every room—we only have one small window in the kitchen and three east windows in the living room
No more lugging laundry up and down stairs and driving across town to the laundromat
No more lugging groceries up a double flight of stairs and through three rooms to get to the kitchen
No more frozen padlock and gate in the winter time
No more on-street parking, fighting for space, moving car during snow emergencies
A place to call our own, and our own yard. We can replant Joe’s tree, and maybe plant a garden
More space—we can finally set up the weight bench!
More closet space (about double)
A full bathroom with a bathtub (we only have a shower now)

Concerns About the New Place

Joe:

Low ceiling in his bedroom—some items may not fit, including the bunk bed and one dresser. We may have to swap some furniture.

Wendi:

Less security—we have three locks at the apartment

Charlie:

House payment will inevitably be higher than our incredibly cheap rent
We will have to do our own repairs
Carpenter ants, spiders, earwigs and mice are known to enter through the basement. We set mouse traps at the apartment 24/7, so mice are nothing new nor a concern to us. But the other pests are worrisome, especially the ants, which can turn wood into a honeycomb-like mess with some sawdust-like residue, due to the fact that they can burrow through the wood in search of food.

Other Considerations:

The small kitchen is no problem, since we rarely eat in the kitchen as it is, but in the living room at a folding table. The dining room attached to the living room will suit our lifestyle perfectly!
Joe has never lived anywhere except this apartment, and he is already 14. He can hardly wait to embark on this new adventure! But Wendi and I have already expressed feelings of regret. After all, we’ve lived here for over 19 years; this apartment has become like an old friend to us. But we know that this move is for the best; we probably should have done it years ago.