Tim Mazurek and Bryan Morrison
1920s apartment building, approximately 1,300 square feet
Oak Park, Illinois

Our first trip to Oak Park was on an early summer morning to try some of the farmer’s market doughnuts that had developed quite a reputation in the Chicago area. Home ownership was something my partner, Bryan, and I discussed, but it remained a pretty abstract concept. As we walked around Oak Park, with those delicious doughnuts in hand, we saw tree-lined streets, parks, a robust farmer’s market, independent bookstores, a fantastic cheese shop, and a beautiful collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings—all just a 20-minute train ride from downtown Chicago. This was someplace we could imagine ourselves living.

Shortly after, a friend, who was herself buying her first place, convinced us to talk to someone about the logistics of home ownership. We were amazed to learn that it was a realistic option. We started looking at apartments with a real estate agent, but weren’t sure we needed to take on the debt and anxiety that would come with buying a place. After a couple weeks of looking, we had seen some nice places, bigger and better than anything we could afford downtown, but we remained unconvinced. Then, a one-bedroom unit in a building we had admired on our first trip to Oak Park went on the market, and we instantly knew we wanted it. The beautiful, light-filled vintage charmer immediately felt like home, and suddenly every other option seemed so obviously wrong. We knew we weren’t supposed to get emotional about the decision, but we couldn’t help ourselves—we had fallen in love.

The next few months were a blur of paperwork, lawyers, and a fair amount of stress. (Note: Work with people you trust! Most of the time, we just barely understood the papers we were signing and really needed to rely on our agent and lawyer to help us get through everything.) But after surviving all that, we moved into our lovely new home. A year and a half later, we think of it as one of the best decisions we ever made, especially with those amazing doughnuts nearby.

To check out tips for setting up your own cook's kitchen, see page 2.