Buying beauty vs creating beauty

Our realtor had a little accident while setting up appointments for yesterday morning:  she mistook the bright red caution highlighting on our spreadsheet as houses we were eager to get into rather than those we'd like to stay away from for the time being.  They were marked that way because they were all in a price range that is just too much for us to consider right now.  By the time we all realized that the house addresses corresponded with the most expensive properties on our list, it was too late, and plus, we wanted to see the houses eventually anyway.  So, we set the GPS and started the morning.

(I'm making it sound like everything was hunky dory with me.  In reality, it was actually a pretty intense morning (and evening before) because I was ticked off something fierce.  Once I calmed down, it became apparent to Pat and I that we couldn't ever have a wedding - Bridezilla will not even begin to explain what I would probably be, based on the words that come out of my mouth when I'm stressed.  And no, it wasn't just this tiny mistake - there's been tons of problems with this realtor, in my eyes at least.  Another post for another day.)

Two houses we saw were brand new and one was basically brand new with some huge quirks.  Realtor lady is going to figure out the deal with said quirks (two years old, fully custom, gorgeous, but...things like bolts going through the fridge?!)  The two that were brand new were nice, but were anything but "designer" - very cookie cutter.  After falling in love with the strange property, I got to thinking, there's no reason we can't put designer touches on a less expensive home in good shape.

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It's really easy to get lost in blog world with ladies like Sarah (Thrifty Decor Chick) and Karen (The Art of Doing Stuff) making it look easy to have beautiful homes.  They both leave you feeling inspired to be crafty, for sure, but the other feeling that I always have when I read their blogs is that I want to BUY a beautiful home!  I'm wondering if it would be as fun...

Look at the difference in two houses we saw yesterday:

The picture doesn't do this justice, but I didn't think to bring my camera in since it was honestly out of our price comfort zone.  It's a stock photo from Trulia.  But, what we have here is a gorgeous fireplace with custom molding that flows through the two formal rooms in the house.  The entire house is like this - completely gorgeous.

This is the other house, brand new, cookie cutter.  Could we not make this just as beautiful as the first house for more than $20,000 LESS in purchase price??

I've rethunk the idea of needing to buy something that has the exact look we want - I'm feeling confident that we can design anything if the slate is blank (and big) enough.