It’s been a long week. I’ve started the process of looking-for-a-house, spent two full days looking at house after house, took James to the ER, did two paintings, did my taxes, took care of an apologetic one-legged invalid, did Digger, shipped prints…

Found a house that looks interesting. It’s got a big half-basement thing, mostly finished (i.e. “I was tryin’ to make a swingin’ bachelor lounge, and got sick of the idea while trying to tile the bar.”) a large and completely untouched yard, magnolia trees, deck, brand-new roof, and some of the most…err…peculiar…decorating choices I’ve ever seen. For example, every single door and moulding in the entire building is painted with pearlescent shimmery paint. It’s…um…something else. Lots of cosmetic repair needed inside, but that’s all stuff James and I are equipped to handle. (No, I will not paint murals there. I despise murals. Not YOUR murals, I’m sure they’re lovely, but if I have to live in a house with a mural of mine on the wall, I’ll go slowly mad wanting to touch it up every five minutes. Same reason I don’t get tattoos of my own art. Also, if I see one more badly done jungle mural on a home renovation show, I’ll run amok with my palette knife.)

My only real concern is the possible dampness of the basement–three walls are entirely or partially exposed and face into the back yard, said yard slopes down away from the basement so it’s not draining into it, but the back wall, while not actively damp, per se, is slightly more humid than the rest. No mold, some minor efflorescence on the concrete. If it’s something controllable with a coat of sealant and a dehumidifier, fine and good, I can handle that, I just don’t want to wake up one morning and discover that my basement is now only suitable for raising koi.

But I suppose that’s stuff for the home inspector to drop on us…