Buying our dream house was NOT on my summer 2023 bingo card. If you had told me in May that we would be buying a 1930 craftsman in a couple of weeks, I would’ve thought you were crazy. It was just going to be a regular summer; full of long hot days and complaining that time was going too fast and too slow at the same time. While those things did, in fact, take place; I had no idea that we would add buying a new house to the list as well. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell the story from the beginning.
Where This All Began
It all started in highschool when a goofy freshman girl stole the track pants of a cute, slightly awkward, sophomore boy…
um no, too far back. That’s a story for another day. But remember when these collages were a thing. Showing my age here. Haha
Let’s try this again.
The Football Game That Changed The Course Of Our Lives
Oooo see that dramatic subtitle? Yeah I did that.
Anyways…
It was a cool fall night; not too hot, not too cold.
Yeah,that’s the definition of “cool” De’Adrian? Now that we got our vocabulary for this post covered. It was a cool night perfect for a football game.
You know what I lied, it was a bit warm. But that may be because I was very pregnant and wearing a sweatshirt.
GAH enough about the weather, get on with it!
Anyways, I don’t remember much about the game (besides the weather, okay I’m really done now) but I do remember the important stuff.
The sound of feet walking on gravel. The smell coming from the concession stand. They had the good nacho cheese.
That’s really important. Pregnancy nose was real.
I remember the ease of conversation and the familiar smiling faces. I remember watching my daughter play with kids she never met like she’s known them her whole life. I watched my boys run around and play tag and no one scolded them for simply being kids. They just smiled kindly and said something along the lines of “woah little McDaniel”.
I remember how I felt.
Hungry for some good nachos mostly.
But I remember the feeling of nostalgia washing over me as I looked around the place where my husband and I spent so many nights many years ago. Cheerleaders in the same spot I stood. Band in the same spot I sat. They gathered in the middle of the field after the game the same way I remember looking for my sweaty boyfriend for a hug even though I swore it was gross.
It was all the same, nothing had changed. And for some people that may be boring or a negative thing but not to me. It was like a time capsule. Same small community, just with more prominent smile lines and a new generation.
My husband and I had a permanent smile on our faces the whole time and by the time we got back to our car we knew what the other was thinking.
We decided that THIS is where we want to raise our children.
The Search For Our Dream House
Now, the community was the part that REALLY mattered but me being me, I wanted an old house and this little town was once an oil boom town so it is chock full of beautiful old houses. Most of them were fixer uppers but that is right up my alley.
Finding a house was proving to be a challenge. Houses never stay for sale long here and we couldn’t snatch up one quick enough. We reached out to the owner of a vacant house, but that didn’t pan out either. We were losing hope so we prayed and stopped looking.
We stopped looking but we didn’t stop dreaming. Every now and then we would load up the kids and visit our little time capsule town. We would ride around and look at all the old houses and imagine what they looked like inside.
Then we saw it
That’s when we drove past a 1930 craftsman on a corner lot. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen this house and it definitely wasn’t the first time we drove by. It was my favorite, but I knew the family that lived there and to my knowledge I was pretty sure they still did.
I nudged my husband saying “If that house ever comes for sale, I would buy it”. He agreed and we kept driving, not thinking much else of it.
NO LIE. A couple of days later it was for sale. Look. At. GOD! We couldn’t believe it!
A realtor we know posted it so we called her up. That was Saturday.
Praise break. “I get JOY when I think about… what He’s done for me.”
Sing it again for the COGIC kids in the back.
“You don’t know like I know… what He’s done for me”
Ok back to the story
Sunday morning before church we were able to go look inside. Sunday afternoon we made an offer. We got a bit discouraged when we saw someone had already made an offer while we were in service.
Mind you this is less than 24 hours after the house was posted for sale. I told you houses go fast around here. Flippers moved fast and made a cash offer.
We got a bit discouraged because we couldn’t pay cash. We had to go through a bank. So we prayed again. Our offer was accepted a couple of days later. We were so excited but tried to celebrate until the deal was done.
Since we were buying the house “as is” we had to jump through a few more hoops for the bank but ultimately things moved pretty smoothly and we were able to close in a few weeks.
We are now the proud owners of a 1930s craftsman!
My Dream House Checklist
I’ve had this dream house checklist going since we got married in 2015. Some of these things were added even before that but given a name when we got married and I let joe add things to the list.
His wants have changed a bit. He used to want a lot of land but after having a large yard he now wants a manageable yard so he can spend more time with the kids. He used to want to live in the country. But has changed his mind on that as well and that’s okay. He likes being able to walk to places.
Okay so here’s the checklist:
- A 1930/40s craftsman house or new house using an old floorplan
- Corner lot
- Fireplace
- Picket fence
- Attached carport
- Porch swing
- Hardwood floors
- Sidewalks
- White kitchen
- Library
- Manageable yard
The funny thing about this dream house checklist is there have been times that Joe and I have tried to MAKE this happen instead of trusting in God’s timing. We once bought a corner lot in town and planned on building a house based on one the vintage floorplans from my board on Pinterest, but it didn’t work out. We ended up selling the lot and buying a different house.
Here’s a peek into that Pinterest board all about craftsman floorplans I’m talking about. If you want to see the whole thing you can follow me. Shameless plug. https://pin.it/6tXOQcx
My husband calls this house my ‘87 ford with a straight six and 4-wheel drive, single cab, long bed. I always told my husband that I didn’t think he was ever going to find a truck that had all those things
but he did.
He loves it. Its his dream truck and he said even if he won the lottery he would buy that truck and have it completely redone.
And he would tell me that he didn’t think we were going to find a house with everything on my checklist
but we did. And here she is.
Some might think we’re a bit crazy for buying old things instead of just getting new stuff but that’s okay I’m loving these rose colored glasses 😉
So there you have it: the story of how we bought our dream house. It’s been such a whirlwind so far. I hope you follow along as we make this home. Tour coming soon. Thanks for reading!

I’m happy for you. MAKE IT YOUR OWN!
We will! Thanks for reading!