"Welcome Home, Call Family. Welcome Home."
I wondered if it would ever happen. I finally got my house put together and clean enough to put post a photo tour! So, without further delay, here's our beautiful new home!
We live in a wonderful neighborhood, on a sort of mini cul-de-sac. Which is perfect! We're only about 4 minutes away from Claire's school, and about 8 minutes away from the preschool. It really is an ideal location for us, and a neighborhood that we never thought we'd be able to get into.
I love having a front porch, and totally intend on decorating it...as soon as I get some cute stuff to decorate it.
Now, for one of the huge selling points of this house...the HUGE yard! Claire is our Vanna White. I suppose that makes Johnny our Pat Sajak, only much better looking. :)
Our lot is a little over a third of an acre, and it takes Danny precisely 48 minutes to mow the back yard. Take on another 20 or so for the front. To give you some perspective, Danny can't throw a football across the entire length of the yard. And he's tried. More than once.
Did I mention that our house also backs up to the fifth hole of Glen Eagles Golf Course? Yeah, we love that! What's even cooler is that we're not technically in the golf course community, so no covenants to worry about. All the perks, and none of the HOA fees! :) We can barely stand how awesome our view is, and I love that we'll never have to worry about neighbors behind us.
There's not too much landscaping around the yard, but there is this beautiful and fragrant primrose bush under our dining room windows. The girls and I love to pick some and put them in a vase on the kitchen counter.
And how cute is this? The kids love the backyard, and I imagine their love will only increase with the inevitable addition of a trampoline and swing set.
Now for the inside of the house. When you walk into the house through the front door, you kind of walk into the kitchen/dining room area. This room, along with the open concept into the living room, was another HUGE selling point for this house. The paint colors aren't ours, but as they aren't obnoxious by any means, we're in no hurry to paint. We're low on time, money, and patience for the time being. :)
In the next picture, you can see the front door in the background, with the small rectangle window. The door with the white molding is the laundry room.
We love how open and functional the kitchen is, and it has an insane amount of storage space. We intend to fill it all with wonderful kitchen gadgets!
The dining nook fits our table and chairs perfectly, and the view out to the back yard is awesome. We love having our family meals here, and look forward to all the memories we'll make in this part of our home.
I also loved the little desk area in the kitchen where I can work at the computer and still be within ear and eye of the kids, where ever they may be. Again, awesome storage for all the things we need to have accessible.
And I have a cute little nook for seasonal decorations! I made these pumpkins a week ago at Super Saturday. I am ridiculously proud of how cute they turned out! I'm so NOT crafty. I love having a house to put fun stuff in!
As I mentioned, the living room is an open concept with the kitchen area. I love that. I spend so much time cooking and cleaning during the day that it's nice not to be disconnected from the family. The previous owners mounted their TV on the blue wall, and as you can see were kind enough to patch it up, but stopped short of repairing the custom paint job. :) We have yet to move my piano which is still at my Mom's, but when we do, it will go on that wall. We also dream of glorious bookshelves on either side of the TV...someday... :)
We love the flowing dark hardwood floors through the main floor, as well as the vaulted ceilings. Although I have realized that means more dusting and sweeping.
Off of the great room area are the kids' bedrooms and a full bath.
Now on to the kids' rooms. Johnny and Luke's room is still a work in progress, as you can see by the green and pink stripe. :) Someday, hopefully soon, there will be a nice white chair rail where the pink and green stripe is, followed by totally awesome BYU accents. :)
The girls' room was conveniently painted a lovely shade of pink, with large white polka dots, so we haven't had to do much in that room. Though Claire has decided she is taking off the vinyl lettering, and what better place to start then right by her bed on the top bunk? :)
Their room has some interesting architecture, which the girls love. Someday, we want to turn that loft area above the door into a reading nook....
Between the kids' bedrooms is the full bath, which functions mostly as the kids' bathroom, but also serves our guests. When someone is crazy enough to visit this chaotic place! The bathroom is nice because the toilet and shower are separated by a door from the sink and mirror. I'm sure that will come in handy when the girls start taking their own showers in the morning. Oh, how I long for that day!
While we're looking at the bedrooms, we'll take a look at the master suite. Danny and I love our room, and it was another area that sealed the deal for us. Here's the view from the doorway. Those windows also look out on the backyard and the beautiful view of the mountains. Again, the paint job is not ours. :) I don't understand the weird green rhombus on the wall.
The master bathroom is awesome, too. We love it! Like the kitchen, the storage is great. And Danny and I don't mind that there is only one sink, since we prefer the increased counter space anyway.
As you can see in the reflection of the mirror, the walk-in closet is...you guessed it...awesome! Danny wanted to find a walk-in that was inside the bathroom. That way, he can get ready in the morning without having to turn on a light in our room while I'm still catching my last few minutes of precious sleep before the barbarians, er, I mean, children wake up for the day.
Now, there was one thing we were disappointed about when we walked through the house the first time. We wished there was a nice big tub in the master bathroom instead of just a shower. But, when we walked through the second time, we realized it was a super big shower with two shower heads! Yeah, we were sold.
And that's our room! And pretty much the entire first floor. Before we head downstairs to the basement, let's take a look at the laundry room. I love that it's on the same floor as the bedrooms and hence all the dirty laundry. :)
Downstairs is partly finished. But what is finished is perfect for us! The family room downstairs serves as a toy room for the kids, since we don't have any furniture right now to go down there. I love that between the back yard and the downstairs I always have a place to send the kids. Danny and I also think we'll spend a lot of time down here when we have furniture. Here's the view from the entry to the family room...
and here's the part of the room that you walk into from the stairs.
The previous owners apparently liked to drink, so a wet bar was necessary in the family room. :) You may think I'm jumping to conclusions, but I did manage to fill two grocery sacks with liquor that was left in the house when they moved. While we won't be using it for alcohol, obviously, I can see the day when a mini-fridge, blender, microwave, and assorted snacks adorn the wet bar.
And that concludes the photo tour of our wonderful new home! What isn't photographed is the unfinished portion of the basement, which includes a sizable storage room, storage under the stairs, and cold storage, as well as room for another full bath and two more bedrooms. All in all, it's about 3000 square feet of paradise. And we love every inch of it.
