New House

We are getting ready to buy a house, and we are very excited. The kids are really looking forward to having a yard to run around in and neighbor children to play with. We are scheduled to close next Friday (Oct. 29). As of right now, everything is a go, so we are hoping something doesn't come up last minute to delay things.

As is almost always the case, there is some give and take with this house. Overall, I am really excited about it. However, there are a couple of things that this house has that I swore I would never have. Namely, a 2-story family room (it is vaulted to the second floor) and a laundry room that you walk through to get to the garage. Walking through the laundry room to get to the garage is very common here in NC. It is meant to serve as a mudroom. I guess I can handle that. I have always wanted a mudroom, so now I will have one. :) The vaulted family room is pretty, but a waste to heat, and will mean extra noise upstairs. It also has some features that I really like. It has a first floor master bedroom. We had one in VA, and I really liked it. My kids wish that we were on the same floor, but I like having a bedroom on the main floor. There is a closeted toilet in the master bath. I am very excited about that. This house has four bedrooms and a loft. The loft will be a toy room for now. The boys will still share a room, and we will have a guest room. The kitchen has plenty of cupboard space, and a huge island. It is very open to the family room, which is great for entertaining. The house has a lot of storage, which is good because there is no basement. The neighborhood has sidewalks and a pool. Those were must haves for the kids. We can walk to the pool from our house. The lot is a good size too (for here), and it sits at the end of the neighborhood. The house is literally "where the sidewalk ends." It feels like we are in the country, while still being in a neighborhood. Plus there is a pond we can see from the front yard (on someone else's property), and newer houses on the "country" property, so hopefully they won't be building a Walmart there in the future.

We likely won't move in until the middle of Nov. because I am going to do some painting first. Right now the bedroom that will be Jenna's is blue, and the one that will be the boys' is pink. :) I will also do a thorough cleaning first, because I am like that.

Anyway, I thought I would post pictures, since I have promised several people that I would. Plus, the pictures from the listing are not online anymore. These pictures are with the current owner's furniture and such, so it will look different once we move in, but this will work for now. Warning - there are a lot of pictures.

This is a picture of the house from the listing.


Interior Pictures:

Entry way - looking from the front door towards the family room


Entry hallway - looking towards the front door


Looking from upstairs hallway into entry way


Closet off entryway - this is my children's favorite part of the whole house. Through the main closet is an extended closet. That equals a secret hideout for children. :)


The back part of the front closet (Jared is sitting back there)


Living room (this is just to the left as you come in from the front door)


Another view of the living room - the piano will be on this wall


Dining Room (this room is just off of the living room on one side, and just in front of the kitchen on the other)


Butler's Pantry


Kitchen - the open doorway leads to the dining room. The closed door is the pantry. This is looking from the eating area in the kitchen.


Kitchen pantry (it's deeper than it appears in the picture)


The kitchen island - it has both counter height and bar height seating. I think I figured we could comfortably put 5 barstools there.


Another view of the kitchen - looking from the family room


Edge of family room into kitchen


The eating area of the eat-in kitchen


The family room


Looking from the family room into the upstairs hallway


Looking from the family room into the upstairs loft


View of family room from upstairs hallway


Looking straight upstairs into loft


The steps go up almost a normal flight of stairs, and then four stairs from the top there is a landing. From the landing are four stairs that go one way into the loft, and four stairs that go the other way into the regular upstairs. This going into the loft


The stairs going up the other way. That gate is normally open.


View of split stairs


The Master Bedroom


Views from the Master Bedroom windows




Looking into the Master Bathroom from the bedroom


Master bedroom closet


Whirlpool tub and one vanity in master


Shower and other vanity in master


Half bath (on main floor)


The loft


Guest Bedroom (sorry about the dark picture)


Guest Bedroom - another view


Upstairs bathroom


Jenna's room


Jenna's closet and the entry into an walk-in attic


Walk-in attic off of Jenna's room


Boys' room






Laundry/Mud room - lots of shelves


From laundry room into garage


Exterior Pictures:

The house


Garage


Another view of the garage:


The deck


Deck


Retractable awning over deck (it does work)


View from deck into back yard


View from deck past side yard to one of the "country" houses


View from deck of backyard going into neighbor's yard


Looking from driveway into front yard


Treed part of side yard


The side yard


Side yard between our house and neighbor's house


The side walk literally ends in front of the house. That is the view into the "country."


The road also literally ends right in front of our house.