Finally, Pictures of the New House!

     We got the last of our things unpacked and organized today!  And now I have pictures to share.  :)  The kids will be here in about an hour and so I've got a little time to write.  :)

     Alright, so first the stats on the property.  This is a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath single-family house and it was built in 1983.  The house is approximately 2,100 sqft and the lot is just over 8,200 sqft.  It's a perfect size for our family and I love having a backyard for the kids to play in and for us to have a garden and fruit trees someday.

     Now for the pictures.  First I'll show the pictures of the few problems we had to get fixed, and then I'll show the rest of the house.

1)  Our inspection report noted that there was a lot of moisture in the wall in the downstairs bathroom near the shower.  The handyman fixed the leak and then he cut into the wall to see if there was any rotted wood.  He came upstairs and asked, "So, are you afraid of bugs?"  And I said, "Um... only spiders.  Why?" and he said, "You have an ant problem."  I rushed downstairs and this is what I saw:

You see that dark stuff?  It looks like dirt but it isn't-- that used to be wood.  That's what's left over after the ants chewed everything up.  You can't see very well, but there are ants swarming all over that pile.  They've been going at this wall for a while!

The handyman and I were able to keep the ants contained as he cleaned out their colony.  This is how much he had to remove.  We turned on a floor fan and had it blowing on the wall all weekend to dry it out so the ants wouldn't return, and then he patched up the wall and now it looks great.

2)   A few days later I used the dishwasher for the first time, and this happened:

The next morning I showed the handyman the pictures I took, and he chuckled and said that he's seen this before: when someone installed the garbage disposal there's a small circle of plastic that's supposed to get popped out so the water can drain properly, and ours hadn't been popped out.  He did it for me and the water that drained from it spelled putrid, but now it works properly and the smell is mostly gone.  Makes me wonder what the previous owner thought of it, though.  Did they use the dishwasher once and freak out when they saw this happen and then just never use it again?  ;) 

3)  I hated the color of the fireplace.  It didn't go with the rest of the house and from up close it looked like a bunch of white and black paint got splattered all over it.  It looked bad.  So I decided to paint it.

Prepping everything is what takes the longest amount of time.  The actual painting goes quickly.

And the finished product.  It turned out really well and I think it looks more modern and goes better with the overall interior of the house.  And I only got one small smudge of paint on the carpet.  ;)

Okay, now for the house in its presentable state.  :)

 When you walk in the front door, you come into the living room.  We put our old brown couch downstairs and we bought a new couch and loveseat for upstairs so guests won't have to sit on broken springs.  ;)

This is the front door, with a half-flight of stairs going up and a full flight of stairs going down.  I'm very pleased with my recent purchase of a storage bench for shoes and a coat rack with umbrella stand because it rains so often.

The upstairs from the loveseat.  Here you can see the dining room wall is a light yellow color and I didn't like that color, so I repainted it "Fair Ivory" which you'll see in a picture down below.

On to the downstairs.  This is the family room off to the left.  This is for our books and the kids' toys and half of our old couch.  The kids can continue to jump on it down here if they want.  ;)

Family room from the other angle.  Eventually I want to buy a restored upright piano and put it against that wall where the picture is.  The piano is a musical instrument that touches my soul, and I want to be able to play it well, and the kids can have music to listen to while they play or read.

Down the hallway off to the right there is a small door which leads to this storage area.  Tons of storage and plenty of room to stand upright; I love it!

At the far end of the hallway is our computer room (and the other half of the old couch).

Moving on to upstairs.  This is the dining room with the better wall paint color.  :)  I ordered a large beautiful painting that will go on that wall when it gets here.

The kitchen.  Lots of cupboard space and a good-sized pantry on the far right.  I don't like the counter top, so in a couple of years when we can build up our savings, I'd like to get a new counter top-- probably a light-colored quartz.

Down the hall we have our bedrooms.  This is the master bedroom (and Mc taking a nap.  We've had a long weekend with this kidney stone of mine and we're both pretty tired).

The room from the bed, and the master bathroom.  The bathroom is small and poorly designed; the builder didn't utilize the space well.  In a few more years we're going to remodel it so that it makes better use of the small space.

For privacy reasons I won't show the kids' rooms, but here are the wall decorations that show the general theme of their rooms.

Here is Baby Girl's wall.

And here is Little One's wall.

And finally the backyard.  This is the view of the south of the yard from the upstairs deck.  I don't care for the look of the brown wood chips on the ground and the kids will get splinters very easily, so I'm going to research landscapes and come up with something that's more attractive and kid-friendly.

Also from the deck: the east side.

And this is the view from the family room's sliding door.  Again, not crazy about the wood chips, but I'll think of something.

So that's the house.  :)  The kids just got here and they're running around with so much energy, and they're excited to see all of our old furniture & decorations and a few new ones.  They can tell this is "home", and I think we'll be very happy here.