Bikram? Yes, Ma'am!

It's been about 11 months since the last time I went to Bikram, not because I didn't like it but because I didn't want to get up at 5 am to do it... so laziness. I've tried some Hot Yoga places, but I really missed Bikram - I'm a hot yoga snob that can only really be satisfied by the sweaty awesomeness of Bikram Hot Yoga.   

Source

What is Bikram?  It's a technique that was developed by Rajashree Choudhury in the late 70s centered around exactly 26 poses in 90 minutes in a room that is heated to 105°F degrees with 40% humidity. Pretty much, you go into the yoga studio wearing the least amount of clothing you can stand, start sweating immediately, work through 2 reps of each position, and leave covered in sweat and feeling better and more accomplished than you'd believe. 

Source

So anyway, I saw a Gilt deal for a new studio on the west side of town and couldn't resist a $40 for 20 deal. It had been so long, and I kept reminding myself of last year's resolution to "Recommit to my Bikram yoga practice by going at least 3 times a week." Clearly I let that 2012 resolution fall by the wayside last April, so with a good deal in my sight, I thought it was time to go back.  

Source

 I definitely had forgotten how hard the classes are. I sauntered in there all "Oh yeah, no problemo, it's just been a few months since my last class," then I kept finding myself sitting on my mat with my head spinning thinking "WHEN WILL THIS END?!?!?!"  By the time the class ended, I had to accept that I'm way out of shape, that I have no right to be caught in stretchy shorts, and that I will absolutely be coming back as soon as I can. 

Have you tried tried Bikram? What did you think of it?

Weighing Our Options

After a thorough pro and con list between the Humboldt Park Duplex and the more expensive Logan Square House, we finally came to an agreement on what we would do.What was nice is that both places were new gut rehabs, so we were working with developers that could help us make tweaks like install closet organizers or fix fences which wouldn't have been a possibility with owners trying to move out. I'd be lying if I said it was easy - both places had a lot of virtues and draw backs.

Humboldt Park Duplex:

No idea why the sides are black....

Pros:
Priced in our budget
It's Huge: 2200sq ft
Gorgeous new kitchen that was exactly our style
A modern feel with a look and feel that continued throughout
Really great light that spilled in on all four sides
A walk-in closet in the master bedroom
Close to trendy neighborhoods like Ukrainian Village and Wicker Park, with lots of new development moving in to bring up property values
Security System already installed
Brand new fencing in the back yard to keep Leia safe

Cons:
Transitioning neighborhood with some gang activity 10 blocks over
No real space for a dining room
One bedroom is in the basement
We'd have to take a bus to the train every morning
We would eventually have upstairs neighbors and have to create a condo board
Single parking spot in a shared carport
On a moderately busy street

Logan Square House:

Pros:
It's a HOUSE - no direct neighbors, no one to tell us we're too loud, no one to give us rules in a condo association - the kind of thing that we never thought we'd be able to afford in the city. Ever.
Tons of space (2400 sq ft) and a dining room
Enclosed two car garage
On a quiet, tree lined street
Train-only commute - no messing with transfers
Beautiful full kitchen with more cabinet space than we'd know what to do with
All 3 bedrooms on the same floor (for when we have those future kiddos)

Cons:
Well over our budget! (Like $30-$35K over!)
Transitioning neighborhood with some gang activity 5 blocks over
Finishes aren't as premium as the duplex - finishes don't have the same feel throughout the house
No security system
Backyard fencing was the neighbor's, not ours - one side was old, 7 foot wood and the other was 4 foot chainlink - ew
On the northside of Logan Square, so it will take longer for the neighborhood to benefit from the gentrification of neighborhoods like Bucktown and Wicker Park

After exhausting all the things we could possibly chart and running budget scenarios, we finally chose the place we wanted to live and couldn't wait to hear back from the developer! Can you guess which one we offered on?

We Found Love in a Hopeless Place

**Sorry for not posting this in the summer, we didn't want to jinx our house search. The Baconator even quit Facebook for most of the summer!**

After the swearing died down and our heartbeats regulated, we met up with our realtor again and started seeing places. On our first time out for the second time, we decided to check out more unusual listings but this time they were at the bottom of our budget like a couple of duplexes in Noble Square, a small loft and a house that had been gutted and redone - the idea is that maybe we could get a steal!

None of these "Bottom Budget Abodes" really struck a cord with us, they were all small or awkwardly shaped or dingy or in a weird neighborhood or some combination if those issues. While the Baconator was smitten with the house, I just couldn't do it. Sure, it was gorgeous, but the neighborhood was dodgy despite all the hipsters that had moved in. It was bigger than anything we had looked at, every single part of it was brand spanking new, the yard was totally swoon worthy, but it was right across the street from a Streets and Sanitation complex and when I looked up the crime reports, the symbols on the surrounding streets were XXX, syringes and guns. No thank you. So after that showing, we cooled off for a couple weeks, and at the beginning of June, we were back on the prowl.

We had a promising selection of places: a brand new gut rehab duplex in Humboldt Park, a walk up in Ukranian Village, a penthouse loft in West Bucktown, another gutted house in Logan Square, a loft in Ravenswood, and a pair of rehabs in Andersonville and Uptown. Notice anything unusual about this selection? Maybe the fact that we have given up on a single neighborhood and have opened up our search to the entire Northside of Chicago?

So "off we went like a band of turtles" as our realtor liked to say. First up was the duplex in Humboldt Park. To call it nice is an understatement; this baby was in a building that a developer flipped over the winter and the whole inside was shiny and new. We were actually able to see every unit in the 3-flat, but it was the main floor duplex down that caught our eye. It was priced at the top of our budget vs the other units in the building... But it had 3 bedrooms and a separate family room aka man cave. This is what dreams are made of.

View of the living room from the kitchen - I swear it's bigger than it looks from this angle!

Love this stainless steel and silestone kitchen - wish we had a photo of the 23rd century microwave, too!

Man Cave? Pretty sure the Baconator is already picking out the perfect shade of red...

Victory! A walk-in closet!!

The drawbacks? Well, it's in a western neighborhood that is still "in transition," so there are still gangs in parts of it and what not, but more jarring is that we'd have to take a bus to a train to get to work. That was definitely on our Don't List. So it was nice but we needed to move on.

The next place was right off Chicago Ave and next door to a large mechanic shop - Scratch that - Overlooked a large mechanic shop. So it was out in under a minute. I didn't even bother to take photos since it was not even a contender.

The penthouse loft in West Bucktown was nice... But not as nice as the first place we saw, so after petting the two cats that were lounging around, we took our leave.

Next was another gutted house in Logan Square. Guys, we could have a totally gutted, brand spanking new, still smells like paint, detached house with a backyard, a basement and a two car garage in the CITY. OMG WHAT?! The only problem was the finishes and color palette, they just felt a bit older than we are. Like a couple in their early forties were moving in, not a couple in their twenties.

The porch, the roof, it all feels so very Torklesons to me

Beautiful kitchen... but just a bit old feeling...

View from the back door looking into the dining room and living room

Yep, this master walks out onto its very own patio!

Fabulous master bath in the same palette

A huge basement Man Cave for the Baconator

So we milled around and gaped at the kitchen a bit... Then the realtor mentioned that their development company had another gutted house that was going in the market the next day. Whoa, buddy! You almost let us leave this place without that juicy tidbit?? We had about 30 minutes to spare between appointments, so we convinced him to show us the unlisted house.

It was only three blocks from the first place and still in Logan Square. The development company bought a foreclosed two flat and revamped it as a single family home with a huge backyard and two car garage, complete with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a basement and an attic. Finishes were much more modern, the color palette was more out style and, hellooooooo, a house!!!

The front of the house - you can see how it is a converted 2 flat.

View from the living room  - You can see the dining room around the corner

The totally gorgeous kitchen... Swoooooooooon

Do I smell another Man Cave option?

The light filled front bedroom

Somewhat awkwardly windowed Master Bedroom

Of course this second house was the top of our budget... actually, about $30-35K above our max budget. And the location was just inconvenient enough that we'd have to buy a car within the first 6 months, but oh man, I was so in love!

We had a lot to think about.  The two front runners of West Town were the duplex down in Humboldt Park and the modern house in Logan Square - both total guts that were sparkly and new inside; both had parking and a back yard; both had gorgeous kitchens; both were in slightly dodgy, somewhat not great, "in transition" neighborhoods. After a quick cup of coffee, we headed off to the northside to check out more places in the afternoon.

I was going to write a whole additional post on the northside places, but the reality is that we compare all 3 of them to the places we'd seen in the morning and none of them held a candle to the west side units.  We traveled all over the place, talked ourselves out of even visiting the unit in Andersonville and even saw one at the end of the street where we'd lived for three years.  The Baconator and I had a lot of thinking to do, but it wasn't "Where are we going next" but instead "How much do you want to offer?" Off to the part we dread the most: Making an offer.

Let's try this again

No surprise that I am just about the worst at blogging consistently. I mean, I always have the best intentions, but then I get busy with work or crafting or general laziness.

So here's the deal: I am going to try this again.
1 - Finish our house hunt story!
2 - Finish my Weddingbee recaps since we were married nearly a year and a half ago...
3 - Add a new segment (I mean, they are all new segments) of Pinterest successes and failures.  I have become obsessed with the crafts and DIYs on the site and I have actually tried many of the things myself. I am crazy proud of the things that I've made, so I can't wait to share with you!
4 - Take time 2-3 days a week to just dish and share. Ups, downs, fascinating, less fascinating.  I'm convinced that once I get in a rhythm I'll be a much better blogger and be consistently interesting.
5 - Use Leia as my muse. This pitbull is adorable and her face is just dying to be all over the internets.

So here's to the new year!  Who says that you can only start new practices in January?

Love and Honey,
Kelsey

October Photo Challenge!

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit MIA.  It was a crazy busy summer and I'm so excited to be back on the blogging horse! Our Wired Lives is running their annual photo challenge and I think it's the perfect way to get my booty in gear and back into the blog.

Here are the details. All I've gotta do is take one picture each day that fills the categories below, then put it up in the blog when I'm all done and tag all my photos with #octphotochallenge so that everyone else can follow along. I'm going to start today and post them daily to Twitter (@KayMeiGee), but I'll probably only do a weekly post that covers all the photos to date.

If you want to sign up, head over to the original post and get clickin'!  There are no hard feelings if you missed a day, just catch up and upload them later.  I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Lofty Let Downs

A week after our offer was accepted, we got news. Bad news. The apartment that I had already started virtually furnishing was going to be really hard to finance. Apparently, the condo association that covers the building of our condo and the building next door hd not one, not two, not three but FOUR lawsuits pending against it. I mean, really?!?

So this was a surprise, but not really... When I first googled the property, one of the top results was this lawsuit from two years ago, but I had assumed that it had been settled in the last two years. Just to double check, our realtor called the management company, the listing agent and everyone she could think of before even showing us the place and no one returned her call. So our realtor showed it to us and we went back a second time with her and the listing agent, and we asked her point blank about the lawsuits and the listing agent told us it was no big deal and that she didn't know anything about it. Really, lady? UGH.

Then we fell in love, made an offer, signed a contract and a week later, we got news that our broker (and the broker that our realtor usually works with) are struggling to find us a loan because of these freaking lawsuits! We crossed our fingers and waited... and finally got a definitive answer: unless we could double our down payment, we were out of luck.

Bye Bye, Loft of my Dreams

After all that effort and over month of house hunting wasted, we are going to have to start all over again. No one told me that this would be so emotionally draining!

Making an Offer They Couldn't Refuse

We narrowed it down to the short sale townhouse and the gorgeous loft in the Nabisco factory that evening and immediately scheduled a follow up at both places for the middle of the week.

I think that in an attempt to sway the tables toward the loft, I had imagined the townhouse much worse than it was. The floors needed to be refinished and the paint was still bad, but the kitchen was workable, at least for now. We did have to weigh that there was no association to be responsible if the roof collapsed after a storm or to shovel in the winter and that we had to pay for all utilities ourselves. But man, it still was an (inconvenient) steal!

Looking at the loft again, we met with the listing agent and she told us pretty mug exactly how much each and every upgrade cost like "this is a $50k kitchen!" and "the professional paint job was $5k alone!" Is it terrible that a part of me wanted to be like "that's nice, I assume that's why it's so expensive??" but I held my tongue and fell in love with the loft even more. Sure, the association fees were nuts, and the master bedroom didn't actually have a window, but I wanted to live there so badly I could taste it!

We spent the night looking at our pros and cons lists and trying to devil's advocate our way out of the loft, but in the end, we made an appointment the very next afternoon to make an offer on the loft! Since we needed them to cover closing costs, we went in about 11% under asking with 3% back to cover closing costs and after three rounds of negotiations, settled on 8% under asking with $6k back for closing costs.

OMGeeeeeeeeeeeee!! We were under contract on a condo!! After one of the most exciting voicemails of my life, we set out to find lawyers and an inspector to get this show on the road.

Dear adulthood, here we come, ready or not!

A Second Try

With eight properties under our belt, we waited a couple weeks and headed out for our second adventure into real estate. We had earmarked a few more non-traditional units and even a couple that were further from our ideal neighborhood just to mix it up a bit.

First up was a 2 bedroom and 1 bath duplex loft in Bucktown. We really wanted a two bath, but this place had not one, but two outdoor spaces including a yard! It wasn't as spacious as the loft we'd seen previously, but the unit was well below our budget by 15% and it included parking, so we needed to keep it on the list. The yard and open floor plan we're obvious pluses, but the small bedrooms, access to the yard via the second bedroom and the single bathroom kept it from being a shoe-in. We were definitely going to keep it in mind, though!

Living Room/Dining Room/Kitchen on the top floor of the Duplex

Master Bedroom on the bottom floor (No door, though)

The AMAZING Backyard

The One and Only Bathroom

Next on the list was another Three Flat style place that I was convinced we'd love. The location in Wicker Park couldn't be beat and the finishes were really great... But we couldn't love it. Maybe if it was prices lower or maybe if the place was bigger or different or any number of things. For some reason the granite counter tops and beautiful stainless steel appliances weren't making our hearts go pitter patter.

We ended up being stood up at the next unit, so we took a quick coffee break at Bleeding Heart Bakery, a local bakery known for it's alternative baked goods like vegan cupcakes and gluten-free pastries. Baconator was even able to get chocolate covered bacon! Let me tell you, a little fuel goes a long way.

After we were well caffeinated, we were off to what was sure to be the gem of this outing. From the photos it was modern and immaculate and all the things dreams are made of. But we got there and there was no key in the lockbox because some other realtor was overstaying their appointment. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Then we left.

Our next appointment was over in River West and it was nice. It was a corner unit, but the second bedroom didn't have windows, despite sharing a wall with the outside. The kitchen was gorgeous, but I could sit and eat my morning cereal while listening to the sounds of cars honking during rush hour on the Kennedy. That's how close it was to the highway. Don't get me wrong, the view was phenomenal and every finish had been upgraded, but you know what they say: you can change everything but the location. So with some words to the listing agent about the place being priced too high, we were off again.

Love this Kitchen and Living Room space

Gorgeous Master Bath

How can you not love this deck and view of the city?

Next up was a property that our realtor filed under "Outside the Box" in our MLS search: a short sale townhouse in Ukrainian Village. We walked in and were immediately taken aback by the amount of space our budget could buy. The place was four stories, had an attached garage 3 bedrooms, a den and 2.5 baths plus tons of outdoor space! So walking through the unit we kept talking about how great the opportunity was; sure the floors needed to be refinished, every room needed to be repainted, that bathrooms were tiny and we'd certainly need to gut the kitchen, but man, we could own a townhouse... (even if it is a bit far from everything)! So with a place that fit our 10 year plan under our belt we were off to the next batch of places.

The living room... just imagine it empty and dark and worn

The master bedroom is pretty big, but this GIANT bed makes it seem cramped

The roof deck!

Once we got to West Loop we headed right into a building that was once a Nabisco Biscuit factory that had been renovated to become lofts about 15 years ago. I legit think you could hear our intake of breath when we walked in. The place had 18 foot ceilings, a true chef's kitchen with a dreamboat refrigerator, a gorgeous master bath with brand new everything, TWO closets in the master bedroom including one walk in, exposed brick along the entire right side of the apartment, floor to ceiling windows, a private patio and a space for the Baconator to call his own with its own bathroom. I think I might have thrown out the word love as we walked around. The biggest drawback? The places was at the top of our budget and had assessments of $523 a MONTH! That's a lot of money to be paid to the condo board and not our hypothetical mortgage.

Love this kitchen. Straight up Love.

Beautiful Master Bathroom

This place had a living room that went on for dayyyyyyssssssss

Fab Patio!

Last, but not least, we headed back to the unit that we couldn't see earlier since another realtor was holding the key hostage. This two bedroom, two bath was pretty much phenomenal, well, except for the fact that it was on the fourth floor of a walk up. Seriously, I would have moved into that place in a heartbeat if we weren't planning on having a child or two while living there. I can't imagine carrying a child and stroller and groceries up those steps after a long day at work. My thighs burn just thinking about that. Oh, but that apartment was amazing...

Amazing Living Room

I dream about this kitchen

Jumbo Master Bedroom

 So we had lots to think about. The front runners were the duplex 2 bedroom and 1 bath, the townhouse and that loft with the dreamboat kitchen. This house hunt is getting pretty real!

Our First Time

To prep for our first trip out to see places, the Baconator created a very thorough survey and rating scale to assess a home's qualities like the size of the master bedroom, the amazingness of the kitchen, the "hot tub readiness" of the outdoor space and more. At 9:30 one Sunday morning we were picked up in Alley's Volvo and were off to start this new adventure.

The first couple places we saw were in a pretty standard Chicago style. I'm not sure if three flat is the right term, but they were set up such that there are 3-4 units a building with each unit taking up an entire floor. The set up results in a long apartment with the living room at the front flowing into an open concept dining area and kitchen. Directly behind the kitchen is the 1st bedroom, then the first bathroom, then the master suite and a rear deck. We saw four different versions of this style in three different neighborhoods and while we're were wooed by the granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and the gleaming wood floors of each place, none of the really spoke to us. They were too... bland.

This is what I'm calling a Three Flat - You can find them all over Chicago

Sample Layout of a Three Flat

A gorgeous kitchen in a Three Flat

Pretty typical Three Flat Living Room and Dining Room Set up

Next on our list were five untraditional units that we were checking since they semed spacious and interesting online. We saw three duplexes and two of them had to be vetoed right off the bat because the rooms were just odd. One had a little yard which was awesome, but the rooms were all triangular. No thanks. The other had a hot tub on the roof deck, but the master bedroom was at the top of the stairs with a mini wall and no door! Despite the Baconator's excitement at the hot tub, it went into the no pile for it's bonus room styles master and all the heating/cooling appliances would need to be replaced soon.

The final duplex was more promising; it was located in our ideal neighborhood, Wicker Park, was a hop skip and a jump from both the grocery store and the train and the rooms were big! Sure the kitchen had a weird set up and the two bedrooms shared a bathroom on the second floor, but the price and location were really tantalizing. Finally, we had a keeper!

Weird layout... but so CHEAP!

Next on the list was a loft a bit further north in Bucktown that had a great layout and a walk-in closet that I literally danced in and a master bedroom that dreams are made of. The kitchen still had 1999 counters and cabinets, but it was really big with tons of counter space and overlooked the side by side dining and living rooms.  I was a really big fan of it, but the Baconator was cranky about the amount of private outdoor space. Nonetheless, we has a second apartment on our consideration list!

So wide, so open!

A master bedroom so large we could do cartwheels!

Last on our list was a great apartment in a quite, but somewhat industrial part of town that had a deck the size of many studio apartments in New York City. Apparently, the designer of the building was also a realtor, so she took into consideration all the things that people look for when buying an apartment. The kitchen was spacious, the master bedroom had so much light and the entire place had every finish we were looking for without feeling cookie cutter. We had another one for for our list!

Marble kitchen with stainless steel appliances!

Legitimately light flooded master bedroom

With 3 units on our list, we sat back and checked out more MLS listings to see the following week. We were finally well on our way to finding our first place!