Thursday Thirteen #12 - Things I love about my house!

Thirteen Things I love (or at least don't hate) about my house! Thanks for all of the comments last week - we did make it on our weekend trip and had a great time. So this week is the list that goes along with the previous "Thirteen things I hate about my house" - these are things that I love, like or at least am somewhat happy with about our current house. Our neighborhood - We bought our house for the neighborhood as much as anything else. We love it here! We are pretty close to several of our neighbors and know many more to varying degrees. After Becca was born, we received gifts and dinners from more than a few of them, which was a wonderful surprise. Even though there are a lot of ways I'd improve our house, there's not much I can think of that would improve where it sits. Our yard - It's definitely a work in progress, but the way it should (and hopefully someday will) look totally excites me. And we (well ok, Ron) have put in a lot of work so far to get it to where it's at today. We have a good-sized lot for our area since we're on a corner. The side yard is flat and open and perfect for kicking the soccer ball around in or games of tag. And our backyard contains a hill - something that both annoys me because it limits the amount of flat area in the fenced-in yard and excites me because let's face it, having a built-in sledding hill in our yard is pretty cool. Central Air - This is something I'd hate to do without ever again - I never had it until we bought our previous (and first) house but I've grown to love the comfort, especially during hot summers like this past one was. Attached two-car garage - I love, love, love our garage! And Ron even cleaned it out today so we can park both vans in it for the winter again. I do wish it were a smidgen bigger (or that we had a shed) so that we could fit the lawnmower and girls bikes and toys in it much easier, but I love the convenience of putting the kids in and out of the van inside and under cover. And not having to scrape my van off on icy, snowy mornings is a huge bonus as well! :) Basement - Our house really isn't huge - the main floor is only 1,000 square feet. What makes up for that is the basement, which offers quite a bit of additional living space. We have a large computer/storage room which is basically Ron's to do with as he wants, a laundry/storage/craft room which is supposed to be mine for crafts and is where all of my bookcases are. But the room is really too small to be comfortable sitting in and has become a catch-all for stuff we can't store anywhere else. The rest of the basement was finished off (by Ron mostly) right around the time Becca was born and is a recreation/play room. I love that the kids can go down there and play on their own, that we can store most of their toys down there and that it can totally be trashed and I don't have to look at the mess if I don't want to. :) From: To this: Although it's not even close to that empty or clean anymore... :) Living room window - The house I grew up in had a large 'picture' window. I love being able to see outside and having lots of windows gives such an open feel. I do wish our house had a more open floor plan, but I do enjoy having a large window in the living room again. The only thing better would be a bay window there - maybe someday. Lake - Our neighborhood is built on the south side of a man-made lake that was created from an old gravel pit. While most of the houses on our side of the street have access to the lake, or to the small 'channels' that were added to maximize the number of lakefront lots, because of our location on a corner, our property doesn't. Which is why we were able to afford the house in the first place. And what we do have, that a lot of our neighbors do not, is a pretty nice view of the water from our kitchen window, sliding glass door and our back deck. And remember the neighbors I raved about up in #1? The ones behind us let us walk through their yard any time and fish off of their dock. Ron loves to fish and he's taken Abby and Hannah many times (they've only made it once this year though because of Ron's work schedule). Someday I'd like to negotiate a way to get a formal easement so that our house would legally have lake access when we sell someday. Brick - I grew up in a house that was mostly covered in brick. I love brick on houses, even just as a decoration. Our house has brick on several portions of the facade so I felt 'at home' the first time I saw it. The putrid yellow paint color was another story though and thankfully one of the things we've been able to fix so far. From: To this: Windows - I do wish we had more of them, but after our last house, which had windows that were either painted over, too narrow or small, or didn't open, it's been a relief to have windows that open and close like they're supposed to and that have frames which aren't covered in multiple layers of paint. Closets - I do like our closets and especially the fact that each bedroom has one. In our last house, the closet in our bedroom was underneath the stairway and hardly accessible and the other downstairs bedroom didn't have one at all. Here we have a large double closet in our room, with a built-in wooden organizer, and the girls' bedrooms have the built-in organizers also. It makes storage so much more efficient! Built-in china cabinet - I do miss having a formal dining room - well not the 'formal' part, but having enough space to put a table and chairs without them being in the way. But I do love the built-in cabinet and drawer that we have in our kitchen and the extra storage certainly doesn't hurt either. :) It's still a work in progress (as is most of our kitchen remodel) but it's had a frame added around it since this photo and drywall between the upper cabinet and drawer as well. Everything's been primed, but not painted yet... Ranch style - I almost didn't list this because I'm not completely sure if I love it or not. But for right now, with having small kids and babies, I like that we're all on the same floor and that the girls' rooms are right across from ours. As the girls get older though, I can see where I might start wanting a bit of separation. And the thing that I love the most about this house is - that it's ours. And that we've somehow managed to hang onto it even through our financial troubles over the past few years. There are so many foreclosures around here and we almost were one of them. So even though there are a lot of things I'd love to fix or change about our house, I am very thankful that we have one to complain about, and that we have a safe, stable place to raise our family. I know that's something that not every family has. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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