staying put
by moving up
So,
We recently stepped into the situation that happens to a lot of people; where for one reason or another our house is becoming too small to accommodate the needs we're starting to develop. We're soon going to be short by one room, plus about 500 additional square feet of space we need that's beginning to pile up on all the flat surfaces in the house.
Some of this was having another child of a different gender, some of it seems to be the natural expansion of our lives; like rings on a tree. More privacy, storage and a greater diversity of spaces are all things that seem more important now. We'd like to have a place to be quiet, (reading, napping, listening to music) and a place to be loud, (crafting, dancing, making music) which for obvious reasons they can't really be close to each other. Something our current 1 story house won't allow.
Regarding our stuff: we've all gone through the Kon Mari process more than once for everything in the house and there's starting to be an excess of things that are useful and give us joy, which I'm sure will only increase once the baby gets object permanence and starts to care about what things he has around to chew on. It's not that we have too many things; the things that have a place in our life are starting to not have a place in the house.
Admittedly, people have raised much larger families and done bigger things in houses smaller than ours, (we just finished reading, "Little House in the Big Woods"). I'm sure we could make it work with what we have now. But it's becoming clear that our quality of life would increase dramatically with a little more space to live it in.
But,
We love our neighborhood. We love our house.
Looking for a new house all last summer just lead us back to what we already had. Like a favorite pair of jeans that would look so cool and be so comfortable if we could just zip them up!
After almost a decade of living here we've developed a fondness for the details and quality of material that an older house offers. The floor plan is so clean and functional I would probably choose the same layout if we'd been the ones to build it in the 30's. We've invested in the air conditioning and new energy efficient windows, such that the house costs very little to heat and cool, (in part because the plaster walls and brick facade hold temperature so well). We've kept our original kitchen cabinetry, matching the details in everything we've added to make it work better for us. It's become part of who we are.
The neighborhood around us is an even bigger reason to stay. There's a healthy flow of new people, along with a group that's been there for most of their lives. Being next to a cultural district there's a similar group of businesses, new and old that provide everything we need within walking distance. There's a bike trail to downtown that's two blocks away, with a large park two blocks in the other direction. If we want to hop in the car, our location in midtown can get us anywhere else in the city without getting on the interstate.
Recently, we've also seen a number of new buildings go up; three and four stories taller than everything around them. Businesses are looking for more space in the village as the number of people who want to live here is increasing. This seems to correspond with a trend in the houses too: small homes growing upward and to the side in an effort to provide more square footage.
For us, the attic is a perfect place to find that space.
In a way, it's something I've always wanted to do. Our house came to us in such good original condition that I knew I would feel guilty marring it's early 20th century details. The attic is like a clean sheet of paper; a chance to play with the elements of the existing house in an entirely new way.
So we've put a plan together, gotten a building permit and are moving forward step by step. It's going to take awhile, but I'm looking forward to the process and seeing where it's going to lead.