Our house hunting had been pretty depressing. Real estate has been sky high, so we were having a hard time finding a house that met all of our major criteria. We were looking for a 3/2, 1500+ sq foot house with two living areas and a double driveway. We didn't want my commute to be more than 30 minutes, so that limited us to just a few neighborhoods that would be within our budget. We would have loved for it to be zoned to a good elementary, but we also would have loved to stay in our existing neighborhood which means we'd be applying for magnet school programs when the time comes.
In the meantime, we had been making some improvements (including fresh interior and exterior paint) to our existing house. We figured it'd help with resale value, and if we didn't find anything worth buying, we'd just enjoy it for the time being.
In June, a house a street over from us went on the market. We got a viewing the first day and quickly made an offer. While it didn't meet all of our criteria (it only has one bathroom and it has a single driveway), it had the added bonus of being on a double lot with a ravine running through it. The back den has an oversized sliding glass door that looks out over the ravine. That's really what sold us on this house. So far, the single driveway hasn't been too much of a pain, and eventually we'll reconfigure our one bathroom into two by combining it with two adjacent closets (one of two hall closets and one of two master bedroom closets).
Our existing house was market ready within a week or two, and it sold the first weekend being on the market. Once both houses were under contract, we found out we were pregnant. Timing was truly a blessing.
We're finally mostly settled into the new house. Jason pretty much handled all of the packing, moving, and unpacking himself because of how exhausted and useless I was my first trimester. This house didn't really require much upon move-in; we resurfaced the bathtub and bought a new couch for the den, but otherwise we've made all of our existing furniture and décor work.
So, here's a tour of the interior... I'll get some exterior shots eventually. Right now our lawn is covered in leaves. Also, I haven't taken any pictures of the utility room or garage. I guess I'll do those when I get the exterior shots.
Living Room
Here's looking towards the front door.
And here's looking from the front door into the living room and further to the den.
Here's the living room view to your left which opens to the dining room. The door beside the built-in bookshelves leads to the bathroom and bedrooms. It's been nice having more separation between the main living areas and the bedrooms. Less volume control issues once Matilda heads to bed.
We love the huge windows which overlook the ravine. Matilda has her camping chair and binoculars set up for bird/squirrel/cat watching.
Dining Room
Nothing too fancy here other than Jason's record collection and turntable setup.
The door to the right leads to the kitchen.
Den
Back over to the den... this is where we probably spend a majority of our time. Matilda loves the carpet. Who knew that carpet could make a kid so happy?
So a few things going on here. Yes, that is some sort of wood burning grill in our living room. Yes, that's a lot of wood paneling. Yes, we have a massive beer stein collection handed down to us by Jason's grandma. And finally, yes we have a random door which makes no sense to us since you can walk 15 feet into the kitchen to use that door to get to the back patio. That's why we blocked it off with the couch.
But, here's what's great about this room... the massive sliding glass door overlooking the ravine.
Breakfast Area
Heading out of the den towards the kitchen, we have Matilda's play area and the breakfast area.
Hi Matilda.
Here's the view from the kitchen, through the breakfast area, and towards the den.
Kitchen
Here's a close-up of the kitchen. Kinda reminds me of our redone kitchen in our prior house. The gas stove is a bit fancy. It's a gas oven as well which is pretty rare.
Here's the view of the sink area and the nice window above the sink. There's a covered walkway to the utility room connected to the garage.
Hallway
So stepping out of the kitchen, through the dining room, leads you to the hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms.
Bathroom
The first door to the right is the bathroom. Not much to see here other than a bunch of white tile. The bathroom is original to the house, so it's starting to show its 70+ year age.
Master Bedroom
It's not the biggest master bedroom in the world, but it does fit a king size bed with no issues. For now, Jason and I have separate closets, but that will change once we add the second bathroom.
Nursery
I just finished decorating baby sister's room. I'm still waiting on one more picture to come in from Etsy (ignore the bottom frame above the changing table for now) and I need to organize the closet, but otherwise it's done. We went with a navy/teal/pink camping/woodlands theme.
It was pretty difficult trying to figure out a layout that accommodated the twin bed, crib, and glider, but I think I got it to work. We'll likely change the nursery into a Montessori style room once she's between 6-12 months old, so this is just temporary anyways.
Just as with Matilda's nursery, I crafted a few of the decorations. I made the banner above the crib, her name, and pillow cases out of matching fabric. They were fun little projects.
Matilda's Room
Matilda's room is pretty much the same as the other house except we recently moved her into a twin bed so we could use the crib for the baby. I re-covered a headboard that we had previously made for our old queen bed.
So, that's it. I'll eventually get some exterior pics as well. We're enjoying the new house. :)
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