the six things i'm looking for in our portland house hunt

like everyone else, we're headed into week number four of self isolation. while this global pandemic has been quite scary and unnerving, life is still moving forward and i'm thankful to have other things to think about rather than the number of cases that seem to continue to rise in utah.

we've began scouting out places to live in portland, and it's very exciting! the housing vibe is definitely different than salt lake city or chicago. there are the 'old portland' homes with funky wall colors and weird kitchens, new construction + modern + energy efficient homes, or the homes that are just straight up... weird? 

we will rent for the first few years we're in portland. we did this when we moved to salt lake before buying our condo, and it was immensely helpful as we learned how to navigate the city and where things were and neighborhoods we liked. and this go around, we'll need to take school districts into consideration when we eventually buy a home.

the biggest home we've ever lived in is the one we're in currently. it's a two bedroom / two bath condo with a pretty decent size balcony. it's just under 950 square feet. it's definitely not big, but it has worked for us and i love that we only have room to keep essentials.

here are the six things we're looking for as we being our search for our next home (in portland!): 
1. we're hoping to up our home to three (!!!) bedrooms as caleb will need a home office. ideally this would be on a different level than the living area.  having three bedrooms is going to feel enormous!
2. at least two bathrooms. i have loved not having to share a bathroom with our child, and i'm hoping to keep it this way.
3. an attached garage. this is going to be challenging as most homes in portland are older and don't have attached garages. however, we currently have a parking garage and not having to deal with the rain/snow when coming and going with a kiddo has been wonderful.
4. i don't mind if there are stairs, as long as i don't have to lug a stroller up and down.
5. ideally no carpet (but if there is carpet, hoping to have it only in the bedrooms and that it is new/updated), good natural lighting, and updated appliances.
6. located in one of the walkable neighborhoods that we love.

this list might seem long, but they are things i'm not able to change. i'm not afraid of ugly wall colors that can be updated or light fixtures that i can replace. however i can't add natural light or the location of a home.

and just for fun, here are my wishlist items! 
1. more kitchen counter space and a gas oven. i love my kitchen, but it is tiny. there is almost no counter space. and we spend so. much. time. in the kitchen these days cooking!
2. a master bath with TWO sinks. caleb always jokes that we know we'll have made it when we finally don't have to share a sink anymore. crossing my fingers we can make that a reality with our next place.
3. i'm dreaming of a new construction place. this is definitely not a requirement, however after updating nearly everything in our home, going back to an older home seems less than ideal.
4. a fire place because i love them and it just makes a home feel incredibly cozy. :)

below are images i've been pining over the last few weeks as we being our searching. you'll notice a lot of white walls and big open windows and natural light. i'm not sure if i'll be able to paint walls and have bold wall colors like we do now, so instead i'm going to focus on a chance to change things up and have a lot more white walls and brightness in our home!

(all images taken from pinterst)

(side note: we were throwing around the idea of a just getting a two bedroom home and having caleb work out of our bedroom. however, now that we've been forced into this routine due to COVID-19 and him working remotely, we both strongly agree that a third bedroom is necessary. ;)