We Moved In!

As previously mentioned, we have started to settle into our new digs! We are very excited to have our own space and to be surrounded by our own things once again! The highlights of our home include: it is a three level townhome, and it has four bedrooms and four bathrooms.

The best thing about our new home is that it is a three minute bike ride to the metro, and Kent doesn't use his car at all during the week. That means no paying for parking, no gas money, no wear and tear on his car, and a little break on his car insurance which we need since this new home is costing us a pretty penny.

Some other high points include a neighborhood pool and excellent schools. Since the girls will go to work with me, we won't actually use the neighborhood school, but it still makes me feel good to know we have some excellent back-ups if things don't work out with my work, or if the girls decide they want to go to school with their neighborhood friends.

Luckily, the place came with window treatments that work for us, but unfortunately there is little overhead lighting, and we've had to purchase several lamps.

Ok, back to the layout of the house. The basement is basically our storage, the contents of our two sheds, Kent's studio space, and a full bath. The upstairs, we love! We have a large master bedroom and two closets! Two closets! The storage is fabulous. The girls each have their own rooms, which they love and spend hours upon hours in and kicking each other out of. :) They each have large closets with organizers, and I am constantly wondering how I fit all of their things into one little closet for the past four years????

Following are some pictures of our main level. The layout is awkward. Where we use to have a large kitchen and a large living room, we now have four smaller spaces. Thanks to a previous owner and his installment of a wall making the dining room into more of an office space, we have had to be creative with our furniture arrangement.

Starting with the kitchen (refer to first picture at the top of the post). It is on the back of the house. It is small. Not much cabinet or counter space, but I do love the island, and I love the amount of window and light it gets.

Here is the view of our new backyard from the kitchen window. Yes, it is quite large for a town home, but compared to our old yard, anything would be a disappointment. We loved our old back yard, the swing set, and patio area. :( Still, I don't have to walk the dog, and we enough space for a little backyard gathering of friends and family.

Next to the kitchen, is this room. It would make sense to use it as a dining room since it is so close to the kitchen, but with the fireplace, we wanted this to be our family room on cold winter evenings. We also love the afternoon and evening light this room gets around sunset.

This TV cabinet is against the wall that use to be an opening for the dining room. Since that area is harder to get to from the kitchen, we are using the main living room for our dining room. It's not perfect, but it is working for us.

Since the family room is too small for both our couch and love seat, our love seat hangs out in the living room which we're using for our dining room. :) Awkward, like I said.

Behind the area where we dine, is what was meant to be the dining room. But, we're currently using it as a playroom. I want to get some book and toy shelves for the area to spruce it up a bit, but for right now, we're using some make shift baskets and stacks of stuff to organize toys.

Once our upstairs is mostly put together, I'll take some pictures of those rooms too. They are pretty sparse at the moment since the girls' old furniture has been divided into two rooms. Sophie needs a dresser, both girls are waiting on their lamps to be delivered, and we're going to paint some pictures to frame for their walls.

There you have the details so far. More to come!