Dawning

I completely agree about the old-house phobia making me roll my eyes, but when they actually buy the old house, it doesn't bother me as much because then I figure it's just for the show. I loved that house and was glad they bought it, and they didn't bother me overly much. And as someone who bought a 100+ year old house in which the main drain line completely disintegrated about 6 months later ($$$), there can be legitimate concerns. (Still love my house though.)

I love this episode so much -- such a perfect wrap-up to the show. So I have one word for you: Netflix! The whole series is there (I totally understand if you don't have Netflix, but just know it's there for now, at least -- just in case!). Inspired by your post, I just rewatched the finale, along with some other well-loved bits and pieces.

I couldn't get irritated with her about that because those were (IMO) some ugly built-ins. I usually love Craftsman built-ins, but not those. I just hope the place still looks like a Craftsman when they're done with it. It looked to me like maybe it was new sod? It reminded me of Flip or Flip lawns after they've put sod in. Green but fake looking. I don't remember if they were in college or not. I thought the point was just that they weren't living with them. The "listing the kids/family" thing seems to be pretty standard, so I assume the producers ask them. They didn't bother me overall. Maybe because it was just so refreshing to have someone who didn't "need" a huge closet and en suite bathroom, but actually ripped out the closet to make a bedroom. And the husband talked about wanting a two-car garage, but seemed perfectly content when he was shown houses with fairly small one-car garages.

I didn't think this couple was bad. They seemed to know what they were talking about with regard to the older features of the homes, and definitely seemed to appreciate them (the woodwork, floors, fireplaces, beams, etc.), and most of their concerns were about how/whether things would work for them. And some of those things (low ceilings and doorways and really awkward layouts) really did seem unworkable for them. I didn't get the impression that they were going to be gutting things in general, but who knows. I'd like to see them show up on a HH Renovations or Where Are They Now to see what they do with the place. While I wouldn't want a super modern-looking kitchen or bathrooms in a house like that, I have a hard time getting too concerned about maintaining authenticity in rooms that, in their original state, functioned quite differently. Was the house they bought the one that had the huge original kitchen fireplace downstairs, and was that where they were moving the kitchen back to? Those houses were really, really cool to look at though -- you don't get anything much older than that in the US.

Me, too! I'm too short for this to work particularly well in my downstairs, where the window sills are about 24 inches from the floor, but upstairs they're about 10 inches from the floor, and I love it. (1909 Colonial-type) My cat is a big fan as well. I really like seeing the houses on this vintage version of the show -- so much better than yet another "Craftsman-style" new build or whatever. But last night's couple were pretty annoying (her in particular). Even if you want to update some things to make them work better for you, it's ridiculous to act shocked and appalled at finding old layouts and materials in vintage homes.

I had a hard time keeping track of all the details (had to keep rewinding things), so I might be slightly off, but I believe she was important to the plot in that she was the reason why Hakon hated his wife Louise and therefore was fine with killing her and framing her as a spy so he could escape. It seemed like the daughter was born with or sustained the injuries that left her in her condition very young (since no one knew of her existence) and Louise (her mother, I guess?) put her in a facility and refused to have anything to do with her, or to let Hakon acknowledge her (thus his monthly "billiards games", as he called his visits to her). When Wallander confronted Hakon at the end, Hakon said something along the lines of "she deserved it for what she did to me and my/our? daughter", IIRC. What I was really left wondering at the end was whether W was going to tell his son-in-law about the sister he didn't know he had. It seems like something he should do? But I haven't watched this show consistently enough to know all of the family dynamics. Hopefully Hakon left provisions in his will for her continued care. I enjoyed these three episodes and will have to go back and watch the earlier seasons. (Though "enjoyed" might not be quite the right word for it, since they were pretty devastating with the depiction of W's Alzheimer's.)

I am inherently sympathetic to someone who doesn't much like to socialize and doesn't want a roommate (though I also paid for my solo grad school apartment), but Sarah was a bit much. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt with regard to not showing much emotion in appreciating what she was getting etc., but she didn't make it easy. The "I don't want stairs" thing was just ridiculous. I was glad that that was more of an annoying red herring than an actual line drawn in the sand.

Typically not a lot (speaking as a pastor's daughter). But it depends a lot on the church (though that one seemed small, so I would not expect him to be making a lot from it). But their budget would also depend on previous savings/income, side jobs, perhaps help from the parents? That 2nd house, the Craftsman, was adorable, but it was ridiculously small for their family. I'm glad they got the big house. (Though having grown up 5 brothers and sisters in a 4 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath house, small is doable.) And yes -- live with the carpet, let it absorb a few years of spills/stains, and eventually replace it when it gets too bad and you have the financial means.

I liked the house overall. I'm not the biggest fan of the subway tile in general, but I think I'd rather have the gray grout with it, rather than white grout that quickly turns grayish. No Clint project? That's unusual. But my big take-away from the episode was that I loved that last house they saw, the Victorian. I understand why they "picked" the other one, but I would have snapped that one up so fast. Someone needs to buy that house and not do to it what Joanna did to that "bed and breakfast".

Yes, it was mentioned at the beginning of the show that they had been on House Hunters before, and I think it was Myrtle Beach.

Yes, from what he said, his job was recording audiobooks and other voiceover material -- i.e. this wasn't just about him having fun or being picky, but about providing the appropriate space for his work, which is most likely their major source of income. Noises from a city street or upstairs neighbors were a genuine concern.Those other two city houses were way too small for them anyway. Their daughters would have had to share a tiny bedroom in both cases, if I remember correctly, in addition to his having no recording space.

I loved the last house the best, the one they bought, so I wasn't paying super-careful attention to that second one, but I will say that, while I'm sure that bathroom "worked", you do get a lot of legitimate issues with bathrooms (or kitchens) that are that old. That bathroom reminded me of my parents', which they just had redone, which also had a blue toilet and blue tub (and those colors pretty much guarantee that they're several decades old) which had lots of problems with leaking (my dad confirmed that they had to redo the entire subfloor when they redid the room), and they were also really, really hard to make clean/look good. The grout was a crumbly mess (mildewed immediately after cleaning) and the porcelain/enamel coating was completely stripped, so they always looked dirty even right after cleaning (and would attract dirt, mildew, and other gross stuff immediately after being cleaned). (My old apartment had a white kitchen sink and tub from the 1960s that had the same problems.) So while they certainly could have lived with that bathroom for a while, there are some real issues with old tubs/toilets they would have to deal with, in addition to the lack of aesthetic appeal. It's not quite the same as a "my appliances must be stainless steel!!" issue. I agree that the lack of a garage on that last house would have been a real issue for me (having just bought a house this last fall, I am SO enjoying my first-ever winter having a garage to park my car in), but the price on that last house was great, and they could potentially build a garage for the same price as redoing that bathroom and a few other things on the second house. But I was just thrilled that they didn't buy that over-budget new house -- I would have been fine with either of the other options, but my choice would definitely have been the last one (it reminded me some of my "new" (old) house, which I'm totally in love with, so I'm biased).

Yeah, that Panama episode was weird. I wasn't paying all that much attention and missed the fact that he was still practicing in Florida and commuting every week, which takes it from being weird to being completely insane and inexplicable. The New Delhi girlfriend drove me nuts, too. I think the worst thing about it is that her entire motivation was to be "fair" to her boyfriend by paying the full half of the rent. So it's somehow fairer to force your boyfriend to work in a tiny corner of the living room than to let him have the office he so clearly needed?? Did she ever consider asking him if he'd be okay with covering a little more of the rent if it meant he could have an office, if she really couldn't afford it? It drives me crazy when people talk about how they want to do things to be "fair" or whatever to other people, but it's really all about making them feel good about themselves.

Having grown up in a family with 6 kids and in a house with one and a half baths (both small), every time she whined about how they would ever make it work with just one (large) bath (plus two halfs), it irritated me. Is it a pain sometimes? Sure. Welcome to life. But it's not that big of a deal. That, and her oft-repeated concerns that her children were immediately going to launch themselves or something else over the pretty high balcony railing in that loft as soon as she turned her back made it a less pleasant episode for me to watch. Seriously??

Count me in on this, too. And it was pretty literally a crapshoot, since it was apparently decided via a round of rock, paper, scissors. Was it Hilary that was on Drew's side? I find that surprising, since she specifically should know how big of a deal making an extra bedroom was. I was torn, though, on the window to the open part of the house. I think it probably would be pretty impossible for anyone else to see into, unless you were right up in front of it, but I think it would freak me out a bit (but for a kid's bedroom, maybe that'd be less of an issue). But the view was pretty cool. I would have liked that wallpaper on Drew's accent wall for about a week, and then it would start driving me crazy -- which is true of a lot of things these guys do, but this would be a lot harder to change out than too many pillows or weirdly mismatched furniture.