Moving

Hello, friends!

We've moved! About six months into our move to Pittsburgh, Peter and I started discussing longer term housing options. At every appointment, my doctors in Cleveland and Pittsburgh reiterated their belief that my wait for "Edwina-sized" lungs would likely be significant. Our apartment was perfectly adequate, spacious enough, comfortable enough, accessible enough. But it was nothing like we'd imagined our home would feel, regardless of our city of residence. Maybe we could feel differently in a neighborhood we loved and embraced. 

Given the prospect of an extended Pittsburgh stay, relatively inexpensive local real estate, and the positive ratio of mortgage to rental prices, buying seemed an obvious choice. The Pittsburgh real estate market was an eye opener. We quickly recognized that the highlight of Pittsburgh's landscape, all of its incredible hills, had created an architectural roadblock to success. Very few people live in condos. Almost everyone lives in a house, and as in Boston, the housing stock is old. Due to the hilly landscape and Pittsburgh tradition, houses are constructed with three stories and a basement. (Technically, the third story is a finished attic.) In addition to the many stairs required to get from the typical basement laundry to attic office space, external access is a problem as well. Even in pricier neighborhoods, there are often a minimum of five or six steps to enter a home on the flat side of the street, fifteen or twenty steps on the hillier side. In steeper, less prosperous neighborhoods, fifty steps are possible to reach a house from the street. Additionally, many homes are without a first floor bathroom; a first floor bedroom is even rarer. Old houses often have narrow staircases, too narrow to install a chair lift for second floor access. Newly renovated homes with wider staircases blurred together in my mind, one cookie cutter, HGTV clone with an open concept and crown molding running into the next. The only rancher we viewed had "updated" bathrooms in 1970's baby pink and blue. The housing market moved quickly, even in the dead of winter. Houses we asked to tour with our realtor often had several offers before we could tour them, just days after listing. Exceedingly frustrated, we started looking into building an accessible home, but had even less success. We went back to Zillow stalking, unsure of what to do. Eventually, we decided to revisit a house we'd already toured. Accepting that the brick rowhouse ticked all the requisite boxes, we filled out the thirty page document required to make an offer, hoping it was for the last time. And we got the house! 

Kitchen

We moved in a few weeks ago with generous assistance from friends and family, midwives and church members. My brother and sister-in-law passed through on their way back to Atlanta and helped me pack up the apartment kitchen. Peter's parents worked all weekend, packing, cleaning, installing electrical outlets, and otherwise making themselves useful. Friends came in shifts all day Saturday, emptying our apartment, then filling our house, almost every box in its proper room. Two hired movers did the heavy lifting, toting mattresses up the stairs and reconstructing our glass-topped table. Sitting on the couch at the end of the day, our house looked more like we'd had a boisterous party than that we'd moved in at noon. With a stairlift to assist my travels between the first and second floors, I can independently reach all the rooms except the third floor office. With an outdoor space to design, I can finally get the hammock I've been clamoring for since Peter and I got married almost eight years ago!

Dining room

For Peter, a bonus of our move is proximity to three of his favorite coffee shops. For both of us, living a block away from La Gourmandine Bakery is both a constant temptation and frequent reward. Butler Street, the main street through the Lawrenceville neighborhood, is just two blocks away and lined with restaurants, boutiques, tattoo shops, and an independent movie theater. Almost every local we inform that we've moved to Lawrenceville tells us the neighborhood is "the up and coming spot." Regardless of the neighborhood's relative popularity (or our shame in encouraging gentrification), its greatest perk is proximity to friends. Our backyard is steps away from that of a midwife friend and her husband. We joke that we won't even have to get dressed to borrow that proverbial cup of sugar. Our decorating is far from finished, but we can share a few photos of our progress so far. As always, we miss you all and would be delighted to see you any time you're passing through Pittsburgh.

Back yard