Tour of My New House

[Still plenty of time to join in the Tour of Homes Blog Round-Up - you have until Saturday, September 8. More details here.]

For those that have been following along for a few years, you know that I was jumping out of my skin to move to a new home. Our last place, located right by downtown Minneapolis, had some great features, but it was a terrible fit for a family with children. 47 stairs, no access to grass, everything very open for little hands to get into, and minimal storage. Plus only two bedrooms meant we felt really crunched for space. I had never anticipated we would be there as long as we were, but perhaps the wait made this move all the more sweeter.

And, I will begrudgingly acknowledge to Husband that waiting until now did work in our favor. We could never have afforded this place if it wasn't such a good time to buy. Through the magic of interest rates, our monthly mortgage payment is only a bit higher here than it was in our townhome. In case you were wondering, we are renting the townhome and intend to sell it later when we would get a better return on our investment. We purchased it in 2006 so that might be a little while.

So the new place. I talked about how we just fell in love with it at first sight and how that took me by surprise. I didn't think it would happen so quickly. We were giddy about this place and thrilled that it was going to be ours. I made a video of the pictures I took during the home inspection which I put to the song Home by Phillip Phillips. We watched the video, our whole little family, at least twice a day, every day, until we moved. The song became our anthem of the summer. So for authenticity, click play and listen to the song while you look at the pictures :)



Our excitement about the house hasn't changed one bit since moving in. In fact, we are even happier than we could have imagined because not only did we luck into a great house, we have a great neighborhood. Weirdly great. Like, waiting-for-the-catch great. The previous owners of the house live two doors down (it was a flip-type project for them) and they held a get-together so we could meet the neighbors. (I know!) Everyone is so friendly and open and happy. More than one person dropped off zucchini bread as a welcoming gift. We even got a card in the mail from a high-school-aged neighbor girl, also two doors down, who offered her baby sitting services. A neighbor offered to loan us his canoe. Another offered her bike chariot. We are on first name basis with several neighbors and Bella is already hugging hello and goodbye to the ones we regularly encounter. Has anyone seen Funny Farm with Chevy Chase? Where the whole town is in on helping get the house sold so they are acting extra charming and sweet? It's been reminding me of that. Ha!

And beyond the immediate neighborhood, I love the mix of suburban space with city convenience. I can still walk to parks, the grocery store, a coffee shop, the library and even the beach if I'm feeling like a 1.5 mile walk.

So, in conclusion. We love it, we love it, we love it.

As far as the other details, it's located in a Western suburb of Minneapolis. The house was originally built in the 1950s, but was completely redone in 2008. It has features of both a mid-century home and a new house because of that. It's located on a small lake that has lots of fish.

Outside

We got the hanging baskets from my in-laws as a housewarming present. Since it was the end of the summer season (in terms of hanging baskets), we got them half off at a nursery. They were actually not for sale, but Husband asked if they would be willing to sell from their display. Thank god he does stuff like that so I can continue my meek and awkward ways.

Now, come in, come in!

This is the view from the front door.

To the left are french doors that lead to the office and also a closet that has a secret passage to the mudroom - how awesome is that for kids? Straight ahead is the great room. To the right are the stairs leading to the upstairs and a bathroom is behind the stairs.

We have yet to purchase furniture because we want to buy things that will work and make sense. I find that I really like this place as a sitting area. But maybe that's just because there is nowhere to sit in the living room! Anyway, thinking either an oversized chair here or maybe two chairs, though I'm concerned that might overwhelm the space.

Let's go to the office.

Furniture is sort of random and includes a lot of stuff from college days. Initially I didn't want to make this an office because Husband is prone to making about 20 piles of papers on every available surface. But then I realized that moving the office elsewhere would make it harder on him to keep up with the filing because then the flow through the house would add extra steps. So I'm embracing what makes sense and have moved the file cabinets & things in here. But I do want to figure out a way to enclose Husband's desk so he can have his piles and I can avoid seeing them. (We have more paperwork than most given the side rental property business.) One dream for the room is to somehow create a window seat because the view of the lake is very pretty from there.

And now let's look at one of my favorite features of the house...ta da! The mudroom!

The neighbor who remodeled this house did an excellent job when it came to functionality and storage. This room is right off the garage and it's so helpful. The wood door leads to the "secret passageway" closet I mentioned earlier.

Alright back to the center of the house to see the kitchen!

A few delights for me in here are the glass hutch cupboards (makes my mismatched wine glasses look pretty and somehow coordinated), the gas stove, and the breakfast bar. I can put my laptop on the counter and watch Netflix while doing dishes, which is awesome.

Here is the view into the dining area.

We need stools. The ones we have are the very uncomfortable ones that came with my last house. Maybe I should just do that this weekend since it's been on the to-do list for, oh, seven years now. Ooh - and see the bonus cabinets under the breakfast bar?

Now to the back of the house to see the great room. Right now it's pretty much used as a place for open gym and expressive dancing and karaoke singing and we are enjoying that. It's long and will be a little tricky to furnish, but I am trying to convince Husband that a used baby grand piano would be a great investment to help fill it out. I miss having a piano.

Now let's go downstairs.

The playroom. The wonderful, wonderful playroom. It opens out to the backyard. Between the playroom & having a yard, I'm not so scared for winter this year. And I just remembered I won't have to do the buckle one kid, back the car out of the garage, and then buckle the second kid thing this winter. HOORAY HOORAY!

This is the storage room that is a catch-all. I don't like that it's full of boxes and bins - mostly things that a certain someone has been hanging onto - but it's FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC to put it all in one space that is accessible and organizable. For now this is Bella's play area for all her things that have little pieces that Oliver shouldn't be getting into.

There is a little tool shed/spare garage off the storage room which was such a selling point for Husband. This is where Bella keeps the snake skins she found :)

Downstairs there is also a small bathroom and a space for the litter boxes.

Now to the upstairs!

The master bedroom. I'm not wild about our bedroom furniture in here since it blocks the window and seems a bit dark and heavy for the space, but it's okay. We are going to get a couple big green plants to put in the corners and some artwork and possibly a change in duvet color and that should brighten it up.

Ahhhhhh...a master bathroom. Of course, my big plans to keep my makeup & things in my drawers have been foiled by the toddler :) Also, it's kind of funny that most baths in that tub have taken place with the kids.

There is a bathroom upstairs (forgot to take a photo) and then another feature about this place that is heavenly...the laundry room.

It is pretty much a cloth diapering mama's dream. 

Guest room/Craft Room/Future Baby Room (?!?!?!?!)

Bella's Bedroom

Oliver's Bedroom

The light is a bit funny in here because I put some blackout shades on the window and I wasn't about to mess with that just to make the room look prettier!

I have some plans for both kids rooms that include painting furniture and some simple DIY crafting, such as french bulletin boards. I'm excited to finally nest!

And now let's go outside. Here is the deck off the side of the dining room. The placement of it is a little weird since everyone who walks by can see us eating and it faces our neighbor's house in an awkward way. We have dreams of maybe someday building a deck all along the back of the house.

And the backyard. This is what makes this place so special to me.

Can you see the fire pit? Should be fun this fall. Another someday dream is to build a gazebo out in the wooded area.

And the lake...

So that's the new place!