Saturday, July 21, 2012

Love This Kitchen

Playing around tonight with a panoramic app on my iPhone to try and capture most of the kitchen in one shot.  The photo bends the angle a bit oddly (the wall does not in fact bow inwards at the junction of dishwasher and sink), but you get the idea...


Doesn't show the countertop and cabinets that extend out toward the camera at the right side of the photograph, so you'll have to use your imagination.  Not bad for a phone!

On a side note, this oven has settings for bake, broil, convection bake, convection roast, cakes, and breads.  I think I'm in over my head.

Week One Updates

We really like it here, in our little hideaway in the woods.  We have been busy, though!  Well, mostly N has since I've been at work all week.  In addition to massive amounts of unpacking (I really do have lots of shoes), we've done a few maintenance items so far:
  • Swapped out the kitchen light switch for one with a dimmer because with the lights on all the way the kitchen gets hot.  It's still pretty toasty when we're cooking and the whole kitchen/living room combo needs an overhead fan, but it's more pleasant now with the dimmer.  N succeeded in not electrocuting himself and was rather proud of the fact.  I am not in the least bit surprised since he is thoughtful that way and remembers to flip breakers first.
  • Replaced the dining room dimmer switch because it was broken and made the lights occasionally flicker on and off randomly as if we had ghosts. I forgot to flip the breaker and N had to intervene on my behalf and take my equipment away.  To be fair, it is not fully my fault as I was on the phone with a coworker at the time.  Lesson learned: no distracted electrical work.  Check.
  • Hung a hanging basket for fruits and veggies in the kitchen near the sink.  N finally got to use his drill. There will be much more drilling soon, since today we purchased floating shelves for the living room and a curved curtain bar for the master bath.

We've also learned a couple of things about this house:
  • The washing machine is pretty darn noisy.  We are thinking of having someone come take a look at it to make sure there isn't a problem with it.  It works fine, but for a new washer it's awfully loud, and that doesn't seem quite right.
  • Electric panel on the front of the freezer for ice and water is broken.  Hello. home warranty!
  • There is a tiny leak under the sink when we run the dishwasher.  Easily contained, will need to be addressed eventually but isn't really major.
  • One of the original owners years back must have been a smoker, and we think they chucked their butts into the fireplace.  The far corner of the living room smells faintly of cigarette smoke when it rains, which it's been doing on and off for days now.  We think that once we swap the natural gas fireplace to a wood-burning one, the lovely smell of woodsmoke will obliterate any faint cigarette remnants.  Not really major; I'm sitting 4 feet from the corner now and I can't smell it.  But I did put a diffuser there just in case.

Still haven't found the camera charger, but here are a couple of shots taken before the battery died...

The tea and coffee cabinet.  After years of not having any good place to store all of our teas, I am overly-excited about this.  Just below the cabinet is the breadmaker, as well as the various coffee and tea-making accessories (French press, electric kettle, sugar bowl).


The hall bathroom, all laid out.  To the right are beautiful paper flowers recycled from their original use as a wedding centrepiece (not mine - I'm not that talented), and a basket full of lotions and bath things for guests.  Yes, there is lotion in the basket.  Don't go there.  My makeup and hair styling products are also in here for now until I have a vanity.  My husband wants to buy me a vanity table  - he's so sweet!


Last but not least, I think the boys are settling in.  Don't you?

Friday, July 20, 2012

Move-in

We've been here for nearly a week now, and are actually fairly settled in.  Which is to say that the kitchen and the computers are totally useable. I have bread baking in the bread maker, a banana bread baking in the oven, and I'm sitting on the living room couch using my computer since it's hooked up to use the TV as its monitor.  Yep, mostly settled in.

I finally have some photographs from moving day!  Took us a week to find the USB connector cable to hook the camera up to the computer.


Here's the front of the house.  We're not terribly keen on the brown-on-brown with brown look, so the chocolate-colored trim and garage door will have to go eventually.  But hello there, two-car garage!  The ugly pavers and concrete steps will be replaced eventually too; I turned an ankle on the edge of a paver the day of home inspection so I am not loving those.  Not an urgent matter, though.






Our house is situated on 1.3 acres, most of it wooded.  The woods are going to need some serious maintenance, but N is already looking forward to owning a chainsaw.   There's a little creek down the hill at the back of the property.



Here's a view of the back of the house.  The area on the left is where N is planning to put the garden, since it gets good light.  Just have to figure out how far down the septic field is.  We'll be using raised beds.



This is the front room just inside the front door .  It has a lovely bay window that I utterly failed to capture properly in a photograph.  We're not really sure what to do with this room yet - perhaps a library?  Sitting room?



Dining room with another nice bay window that looks onto the wooded backyard.  It's quite restful.




Behold the new kitchen!  The most recent owners completely redid it less than two years ago.  Brand new stainless steel appliances (and a recessed refrigerator), recessed lighting, butcher block countertops, a giant farmhouse sink, and slick cabinetry.  Plus a sizable pantry and easily accessible washer/dryer.  Photographs of this kitchen in the original listing are the reason why I was willing to come look at this house with our realtor, and when we actually walked into the kitchen we both fell in love with it.  Plus, it looks out onto the backyard.  The previous owners also left behind their kitchen cart, which was a nice unexpected bonus.



This is the darling little living room just beyond the kitchen.  It is the only carpeted room in the house, and as you can see, the previous owners took great care to let us know they had carefully vacuum.  The walls are a pretty pale sage green and I think we will leave them that way, at least for now.  The natural gas fireplace works, though we might swap it out for a wood-burning one eventually.  We like the built-ins as well.  Previous owners left their TV mounting setup so we'll probably use it.  Just outside the photo on the left is the door to the sunroom, and on the right is the door to the garage.  Also featured in this photo are our hilarious skylights, which look like Star Trek transporter beams.  They're the only light in the room, so lamps will definitely be needed here.  Beam me up, Scotty!



Here is the aforementioned sunroom.  Yes, I know; ironic that all the blinds were closed.  This room is pretty nifty.  Particularly the French doors separating it from the living room; one of the panels has been replaced by a kitty door!  Eventually N wants to swap the floor our to hardwood; the checkerboard flooring works well in the kitchen but not as well here.  This room is also not included in the A/C and heating of the house, since it was built onto the exterior, so we may want to do something about that eventually.



Hall bathroom, recently redone by last owners.  We are not enthralled with the series of three oval mirrors, but  the nice long countertop is great for guests and will let me set out soaps and such for them to use.  We will also be storing many of our things in it as the master bath is short on storage.  Walls are white and will be repainted eventually.




This is our master bedroom, which is much nicer than my lousy photos showcase.  Walls are greige-ish, which I don't really like, but I can cope for now.  Decently-sized closet, two windows facing the side and back of the house.  Plus they left these nice wooden blinds!  Actually, they left blinds in all of the rooms.  Convenient.



The master bathroom is tiny but cute.  Also brand new like the other bathroom and kitchen.  Very deep soaking tub.  It's not really any bigger than it looks in the photograph, but that mirror is actually a mirrored cabinet so we do have some space.  It is in dire need of towel racks, as well as a wooden wall cabinet above the glass shelf.  It also needs paint.  The photograph does not convey how bright white this space is.  It's a little too bright so it needs softening up a bit.


Here is where I should have photos of the other two bedrooms, but alas they came out blurry and until I find the camera charger, I am out of luck.  There is a blue bedroom across from the hall bath that we are using as an office, and a slightly larger pink bedroom that will be the guestroom after we take down the vinyl owls and repaint it.

So...that's the house!  More photos to come as we actually start moving in.


Friday, July 13, 2012

Signed, Sealed, Delivered....

...it's ours!


Today's the Day!

Neither of us slept all that well last night - we're too excited about the house!  I'm too nervous to eat breakfast, and I always eat breakfast.  The closing is scheduled for 10 am, but there may be a delay as the bank folks (yet again) do not fully have their act together.  This is not a major problem but it may make N late in picking our friend E up at the airport.  An annoyance, really.  The elevator is still working so that's what counts.  There may be scattered rain today and the forecast all weekend is for scattered T-storms.  Oh well.  At least it's not 105 degrees anymore!  90 is much better *chortle*.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

T-minus Two Days and Counting

Not that we're counting.

We wouldn't do that.

It's not as if we have our entire day planned out on Friday...or our entire weekend in fact.  What with one friend flying down from Boston to help us move and another driving over after work, and the U-Haul we're renting...

Speaking of counting, management in our current complex has one day to fix the elevator in our building before we start to get worried.  The recent storm blew a motherboard.  The replacement should be here any moment now, they swear.  It had better be - we're on the third floor.  If it's not fixed ASAP I might blow a motherboard.  I think management should help carry boxes.

Updated:  Got home from work - elevator is working.  Thank goodness!