New House: THE BEFORE

My husband and I have been planning on building a house just up the street from where we live now. We made a long list of things that were really important to us. My list included, stainless steal appliances, a 6 burner range, double oven, nice hood, granite counter tops, lots of counter room, etc. You know, all the necessities! (ha!)

Andy's list had things on it like movie theatre room, audio/video wiring throughout the entire house, and a man cave. Also major necessities!

The other more realistic things on our list included, more bedrooms, a room of its own for the baby grand piano, a bigger kitchen open to a family room, linen closets, a bigger master bedroom/bathroom, the list went on and on.

Since I'm 8 months pregnant, most of these plans for building went on hold. And it was decided that in the Spring we would dig. That WAS the plan. Until Andy's aunt, our neighbor, my friend, showed up on Friday, July 9 and told us to go look at a house for sale on the other side of town right by the school. Her husband, Uncle Jerry, is the realtor and gave us a nice tour on Saturday, July 10th. We really liked it! It didn't have the dream kitchen or the dream movie theatre room but it had everything else on our list! We looked at it again on Sunday, July 11th. (My birthday!)

We decided with interest rates at historic lows and with a baby on the way, we should do it! (Besides, August was looking pretty lame anyway. I'd be done teaching, just resting up before the baby is born. Enjoying some naps and frequent trips to the bathroom. BORING! We needed more things to do! -not!-) We made an offer on Monday, July 12th and sold our house on the same day. Everything lined up into place and now here we are packing!

The plan is to close on Friday, July 23rd and start moving little things over. The painter comes on Monday, July 26th and we do the big move on July 30th! Our goal is to get settled into this house before this baby pops out to see it.

Here are some BEFORE pictures of the new house. I'll be posting the updates as they come!

It needs a little white picket fence... :-)

Here is the front entry way which leads up the stairs, to the formal living room, or through to the kitchen. White walls everywhere. Next is the formal living room. Can you see the decorator's feet? The formal living room leads to the dining room. The dining room leads to the kitchen!

Here's the kitchen! It's very spacious but I do look forward to bashing it in and putting in one or two fancy appliances and some granite! The kitchen also has an informal dining area. Then is quite open to the family room! The carpet in the family room is navy blue, and while it is so soft and plush, its got to go!

Here I am back at the front door. Just under the stairs is the powder room. The gold has got to go! Around the corner to the left is the family room, laundry room, and a 3 car garage.

Upstairs is the master bedroom and master bathroom. A LOT of white.

Across from mommie and daddie's room is Baby Adam's room! Soon to be blue (again)! Down the hall is the upstairs bathroom. The wall paper is coming down! And a shower curtain is going in! Then at the end of the hall is Andy's Man Cave. Andy's Man Cave even has a special back cave for Adam to keep all his toys. HA! The toys will invade every room, I'm sure!

The last room on the upper level is the spare bedroom which my mother has claimed as her own. (Remembering back to when I was 13 years old and desperately wanted black curtains in my room but mom thought that was a bit too dramatic... perhaps NOW is the time to put in some black curtains and perhaps THIS is the room to do it in! Just joshing MOM! kinda.....)

Back downstairs to the main level is the deck and the deck over looks a little waterfall. (Here fishy fishy fishy!)

The backyard is beautifully landscaped and I have A LOT to learn about plants and not killing them. But I am up to the challenge! The middle picture is back to the front of the house and the twirlly swirlly tree things that Andy will be maintaing! And along the north side of the house is a dozen or so fully grown spruce trees! They're just gorgeous!

Needless to say, we're feeling so blessed. We're lucky to have found this house and to have sold our house so quickly. We're lucky to have so many wonderful friends and loving family to help us get in the house quickly and out of the current house. We aren't taking a bit of this for granted and are overwhelmed with gratitude.

In other unrelated house news: Today was my party/shower with all my students. We had a blast and I'll post pictures soon!

Until next time,

Sheila