That's the struggle. It's hard to make a mayonnaise house into something charming and unique. It will always be mayonnaise at its bones. I'd have to tear down and rebuild and I do not have the money for that. I'm with you on the gardening, though. That was just one example of using that space. I have a travel trailer that I'd like to park as well. And we'd like to have or build some nice outdoor seating and living areas.
I've purposefully ignored Greeley because of the smell. I've never experienced it but heard about it the whole time I was in Colorado the first time. I've always equated it to the paper mill south of where I grew up. If the wind shifted, you smelled it and it wasn't pleasant. I've always heard Greeley is much worse, though.
I'm still looking at Denver metro just for job purposes but I'm free to be as remote as I want and was looking for other options. I'm also pretty set on Colorado just because the general path of the state politically. It's not perfect but it's better than the bible belt.
Have you lived in places like Fort Morgan, Sterling, or others in that general vicinity? Is there a sliding scale based on how far East you are from Denver? My previous experience was Colorado Springs which was pretty nutty "f-you got mine" libertarian and bible thumping religious at the time. I don't necessarily need it to be a liberal mecca but I do want it to be a place where everyone isn't trying hard to out-jesus or out-trump everyone else.
I'm really just working through options here. And I turned 18 long ago. :) I'm not really against those metro houses but the style you can get for less in some of those smaller towns is definitely appealing. I'm still looking all over the Denver metro and Fort Collins, even in Colorado Springs. I think even those conservative leaning areas closer to civilization are better than what we have here in the bible belt, as you say. Now that the SC has agreed to reconsider Obergfell, I'm sure this state will ban gay marriage as soon as they can and probably even try to invalidate ones that are already done. I'm a normie white guy but I know that the more these hatemongers can ostracize and make illegal, the less this state is going to be livable.
Personally, I have political beliefs on the liberal and conservative sides of the spectrum, but none that could be considered far right. I think Colorado at a state level insulates some of what I'm expose to here, as well. However, just doing the reading on Holyoke and how they did everything in their power to keep the weed out tells me they are well beyond my tolerance level. Even here we have medical and it's fairly well accepted even by the right wingers. You see dispensaries everywhere and all the product has to be grown and processes within the state to be legal.
I'll keep my search up on the Front Range and see what pops up as appealing. I not really pressed for time but I'm not Uncle Scrooge with unlimited money so I get to/must be picky.