So, to continue the house tour! We head upstairs first. The stairway up is directly in front of the front door.
At the top of the stairs is a nice little area that just fits a chair and a table. With its' own skylight, it's a cozy little spot. Our humorous friend, the chimp, has found a home here.
The second floor is attic style with sloped ceilings and one bedroom on each side of the house. Willow, being the older child, got to choose the bigger, brighter room. :) Oh the privilege that goes with being first born! She chose a rich golden yellow for her wall color.
She has two skylights and a west facing window, which makes for a very brightly lit room. This is in contrast to her last room, which got very little direct light, and she couldn't be happier about her new room. One thing about attic style rooms, which many of you know, is that they are HOT in the summer. We're so glad that each room came with its' own window air conditioning unit. It would be pretty much unbearable without them.
Greydon's side of the second floor has the bathroom on it, so his room is a little smaller. It also doesn't have any skylights. He chose a sort of pistachio green for some of his walls, leaving the others a neutral cream.
Once upon a time, this child was my neat child...... oh where has that child gone?? He now fully desires to be ensconced in all his flotsam and jetsam and most days you can barely walk in.
One of these days I'm going to get up there, wave my magic wand, and it will all disappear with a big pouf! :) Perhaps once school starts...
The bathroom is a half bath. There's not much to it, as with most half baths, but we're glad it's there for the convenience. I dream of bumping out the roof to add a shower, but DON'T tell my husband, because it will give him severe hives and anxiety!
And now for a brief outdoor tour. The front of the house is pretty underwhelming. It is a very plain looking 50s ranch house. Once upon a time, it had gables (as we learned from the house plans we found in the closet), but it was victim to a 70s remodel and the gables got changed to shed roofs.
The brick columns and the chimney (for a wood stove in the basement, which later got removed) were added at this time. The blue on the steel siding is due for a fresh coat of paint - some day. This picture was from the first time we looked at it in April or May. Things are grown in a bunch by now - but I'm too lazy to go out and take another picture. ;-/
The landscaping is reaching the end of its' life span. The plum/crab apple is a pretty nice tree, but will probably only last a few more years. That mugo pine to the left of the porch is about the ugliest thing out there, and I'd love to get the whole thing out, but Andy thinks trimming it at the right time, in the right places will allow it to fill in and look a lot better. We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath! The first couple days in the house found me hacking at its' out of control branches --- we'll see how long it lasts. :)
The outside entry to the basement guest suite is on the left side of the house.
We've used this door a ton already, due to closing off the inside stairway during demolition and carpet installation. Also, when we got all our stuff from storage, we just loaded it all into the basement through this door, and then unpacked it from there.
The backyard is kind of an odd one.
There's no grass. Just some random "sunken" beds, a ton of wood chips, and piles of dirt in odd places. We plan to put a lot of work into the yard to improve the usability and beauty of the yard.
We again had an enormous, over grown mugo pine in the corner that hogged a ton of space.
It too didn't last very long. Only this one got cut down to a stump. Whew! It sure opens up the yard a bunch! Andy talks about some "raised" vegetable garden beds, some grass in the middle, and maybe even a koi pond! It is a very private backyard - you can't see much of the neighbors - especially for being in the middle of town. There are a number of nice flagstones spread uselessly throughout the wood chips that we would like to bring together and make a flat walkway from the garage to the deck. Aaah, the deck:
We LOVE this deck! It is so very usable! We had outdoor spaces in the house that we built, but they weren't so convenient and the weather wasn't as nice. It is perfectly pleasant to sit out there in the morning and drink coffee, to sit out during the day and read a book, or eat dinner, or play a game, or watch the birds, squirrels, and hummingbirds, or watch the stars... you get the idea! The previous owner left a bunch of her semi-planted flower pots, so it was nice to have an instant row of color. Some of them must have been planted by seed - they seem to evolve with new plants, flowers and colors as time goes on.
I would LOVE to eventually have an outdoor seating area, a la this:
but that is much down the road! I need to get living room furniture first!!
To round out the outside tour, we have a detached single garage at the end of a narrow driveway.
Certainly not ideal. And guess who's never going to be able to park in the garage again! With Andy being a carpenter, his work stuff gets full priority for that space. I would be delighted to have some sort of carport to park under - I hate scraping snow/ice off the car. :( What a whiner!
With the single lane driveway, there is a lot of switching around of vehicles. Most of the time, I park in front of the garage and Andy parks on the street, but he often needs to have his vehicle near the garage for a tool trade out or organization. Oh well, I'm pretty sure we'll survive!
So, now you know all about our new digs! And you also know that A) we have a big guest suite with plenty of room and B) you're welcome to come visit any time!!
Thank you for the tour of the rest of your house and the outside. I really like it - it has such charm and character. There is so much potential for your yard. The deck is really nice - I imagine that you use it a lot. Thank you for sharing.
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