Buying a House

So, buying a house is supposed to be a huge deal.  It's a ton of money up front, and something you'll be paying for the better part of your life.  But, do you buy a house for where you are in your life?  Where you think you'll be in your life 5 years from now?  10 years?  What else do you need to think about?  Buying a house seems like there's far more in it than just "buying the house".

I'll back up a little bit.  For years now I've been asked when I was going to buy a house on my own.  I have a good chunk of money saved up (thanks to refereeing), and I've started looking around because I feel like it's about time.  I just don't know what I want.  I walk into other people's houses ... acquaintances and friends alike ... and look around what they've bought.  At some points it would almost seem like I'm casing the joint for a big score later down the road.  In all reality though, I look at almost everyone's houses trying to gauge what I like or don't like.  How I would decorate the place with what I have and what I would need to buy.  How long I could live in a house that size by myself; with a girlfriend/wife; with a child.  I'm assuming you have to a least think of those scenarios.  What colors the house would be painted.

Well, I have some of the planning done at least.  I'm really into the whole black and white photography thing.  So much so that I plan on painting my living room/dining room/kitchen (if it's all one big area) a slate grey color with white trim and a white/light silver ceiling.  Everything decorating this room will be black and white pictures of places that I've been or people that I have in my life.  Every picture will have a story behind it, so my living room can be a topic of small talk in itself.  I've toyed with the thought of getting my yellow jersey from the 1999 Tour de France (Lance Armstrong's first TdF win) framed and put it at the end of the room ... it would certainly be done if I could get LA to autograph it somehow.  I'd also love to have a kitchen island or a bar height top, something that I can get bar stools for and use as a table ... but that's just a wish list now.

I also have some furniture to start myself off.  I own a full size bed frame, full size mattress/box spring, dresser, 2 seater black leather couch, maroon leather recliner (as long as I can get it back from my brother), corner unit entertainment center, TV, receiver, DVD player, Xbox, PS2, Slingbox, 50 disc CD Player, "coffee table", area rug, computer desk, a wardrobe, and a foosball table.  So basically I have enough furniture to set up my bedroom and my living room.  Hell, if I figured out how to put a Plexiglas top on the foosball table, then I have the dining room taken care of too.  Seems like more than enough for me to start off with.  I think one of my first big purchases might be a flat screen TV and a PS3 ... so I can use it as a Blu-ray player and connect it to the Internet.

Maybe I have thought about this more than I thought I had.