We have been back from our house-hunting trip for one week today. A lot has happened since we left for our trip on November 12. Since our return on November 21, we have finalized the contract on a house in Denver, celebrated Thanksgiving, started decorating for Christmas...and I have a cold. =( It's hard to feel energetic about all of these changes taking place when you just want to take a nap! So, with as much enthusiasm as I can muster, I am revealing what will hopefully (with fingers crossed until closing) be our new home in Denver.
Our house-hunting trip was anything but easy or a vacation. It was 10 solid days of non-stop looking, analyzing, driving (we put over 700 miles on our rental car) and offering. We went with the expectation of offering on one house and ended up putting in offers on two different houses. For a planner like me, it was h-e-double-hockey-sticks. BUT, hopefully, in the long run we have settled on the home that is best for our family. It is located in the Pinery community near Parker, which is about half an hour southeast of Denver. So....drum roll please.....here is the house.......
the front yard is as big (if not bigger) than the backyard
it has a long, sloping driveway....which could make the winters interesting
I'm eager to see this grove of Scrub Oak during the non-winter months
the front deck
the rear deck
beyond the trees and rooftops, you can see the mountains
the backyard
This is an elevated home. You can access the house through the garage on the lower level, this separate door that enters the basement or the exterior stairs on the front of the house to the front door.
This will, hopefully, be my future studio space.
the rear of the basement will be our exercise room.
there are 3.5 baths in the house....plenty of room for company
My dear friend, Heather, showing that the stairs will not be that big of a deal. =) These are the stairs that go from the garage/basement level to the main floor (kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, laundry room and 1/2 bath).
The door to the left is the one with the stairs from the basement and the one to the right is the pantry.
Standing on the opposite side of the table near the door as shown above, you can see the door that leads to the back deck and yard.
The picture below is the family room adjacent to the kitchen. The door to the yard is on the left and the door to the basement is on the right. The front living room is on the other side of the paneled wall.
A closer view of the family room and the wood fireplace.
We LOVE this kitchen. Even though this home was built in the 80s, the previous owners did a fantastic job remodeling.
This is the current dining room and my future office.
If you follow the circle around the stairs in the middle of the house, you come to the living room adjacent to the front door of the house (accessed by the exterior stairs).
Looking down from the stairs to the living room at the front of the house.
This is the view out of the master bedroom--QUITE an improvement from our current residence!
Master bedroom
Master bedroom leading to the master bath
master bath
Nikolas/guest bath
guest room
Nikolas' future room
We are looking forward to living in the Pinery. Deer roam around as abundantly as the squirrels and groundhogs do here on Fort Meade. Not good for gardening, but great for entertainment!
Can you believe we saw this fox in someone's front yard?!
There was so much work to do this trip...find a house....a week's worth of missed schoolwork....augh.....
these crazy boys were SO excited at the first snowfall
We even looked as far as Golden, CO, in our house-hunting efforts. We found a lot of beauty and serenity, but no home for us there.
A beautiful sunset on our way to the hotel from the Pinery.
This is Bingham Lake in the Pinery neighborhood. It's only about a 'block' from our future (fingers crossed....) home. There's a mile path around the lake. A perfect place to take a walk!
This is the view from the lake west towards the mountains.
I think, it's safe to say, we'll find the escape to nature in Colorado that we've been longing for. Come February, stop by and share it with us! See you all (hopefully) soon!
