There were two reasons for our whirlwind trip to Missouri – to get Addie back home and to see the house.
Of course, Addie was returned to her parents and the three of them were all very happy to be together again.
The House:
I’ve talked about it so much here – I apologize if some of you are sick of hearing about it. We had seen so many pictures and videos, had asked the owners so many questions and as weird as it sounds, I felt like I knew the place pretty good before even seeing it.
It really is just a perfect house for us for so many reasons:
Bedrooms:
I have always said that I do not need or want large bedrooms.
My feeling is that we sleep in the bedrooms. We don’t watch TV in the bedrooms, we don’t really do anything but go to bed and maybe read in bed for a few minutes. I’d much rather have lots of storage and smaller bedrooms and that’s pretty much what this house has.
From the pictures, I knew the two extra main level bedrooms were small. Both have queen size beds, a nightstand, a dresser and one may have an entertainment center but the furniture we bought from the sellers doesn’t have an entertainment center (as I recall!). Addie’s room will have plenty of room for her to play when she’s visiting with us, though she mostly will play in the sewing room or wherever I’m hanging out.
Our master bedroom here in Texas, and the one in Nevada, MO were huge. Both have/had so much wasted space. I found myself thinking they looked empty or sparsely furnished with a normal amount of furniture. The new bedroom has just the right amount of furniture and just the right amount of space. The closet is much larger than in our current or previous house. I can’t get too much storage!
The fourth bedroom is in the basement and we will keep it furnished as a bedroom and that’s where we will sleep when there’s threatening weather. It’s fairly small but will do what we need it to do.
All of the bedrooms are perfect for what we need in bedrooms.
The Kitchen:
Many people love the open concept but I do not. I’ve always said I’d be happy if the kitchen was totally separate from the house but that’s not quite true. I wouldn’t want to be hauling food back and forth to the house! The kitchen in this house is off the living room but you walk through an opening to get to it. At one end of the family room on the main level is an opening the size of a regular door and a the other side of the family room is an opening about the size of a double door but it actually leads into the breakfast area so to see into the actual working area of the kitchen, you would have to walk to one of those doors and look inside. You can’t be in the family room and see into the kitchen. That makes me happy.
I’ve already mentioned how much I love the kitchen – the layout, the size, the cabinets, the two ovens, the microwave not over the stove, the thought and planning that went into designing it. I am super pleased with the kitchen.
The sellers designed the home and had it built to their specs and they did so many extras. One thing that I had never thought about – for the lights that have multiple switches that control them, they had those switches installed so that when the light is off, all of the switches are in the off position. I stood there and thought about it for a few seconds – I didn’t ask but I guess some of “guts” to the switches are upside down. Those who understand electrical design . . don’t laugh at me! I’ve always had them so that one may be in the on position while the other is in the off position.
The house is pretty much what we expected after having seen all the pictures and videos.
Location:
The biggest surprise for us was the location . . and that was a good surprise. The inspector had noted that the location was “rural”. Looking at all the photos, it had not seemed rural at all. I expected it to be in a subdivision where everyone had approximately one acre lots.
As we were driving to the house, which isn’t far out of town at all, the road went through farms and very sparsely populated areas. Even to us, it seemed quite rural. The land across from the house is owned by an elderly gentleman who has planted a huge grove of nut trees – maybe hazelnuts.
The road on the side of the house, which I feared would have a lot of traffic, appears to be a very lightly traveled country road – hardly any traffic at all. The house behind us is far enough away that even after we walked around in the back yard, I didn’t notice much about the neighbor’s house and can’t even tell you what it looked like. The house on the side of us . . our solar panels pretty much block the view so we don’t even see it. There is only our house and one more house on our little dead end street and maybe only two houses on the street behind us. We could only see two but there may be a third, so it seems to be a very quiet area.
We are both excited about everything and so looking forward to getting settled in there!
Besides being totally exhausted after the trip to Missouri, I didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures of inside the house. It’s still their home and still their furniture and their personal belongings in there. I had asked previously about using some of their photos from the internet and was given the ok to do that. I promise I’ll post more pictures once it’s our home! You’ll probably be saying “No more pictures please!” 🙂
Laura says
I love hearing about the new house! Not tired of it at all. We’ve been in our new home for two months now, and the storage situation has been a challenge. It’s a more open plan than we had before. There are lots of things I don’t miss about our previous home, but it did have lots of built in cabinets and big closets. Maybe I really don’t need all that dinnerware and fabric? (yeah right)
Tricia says
I’m so happy for you and excited to see what your future brings! It’s nice when great things happen to really good people!
Debbie Koczela says
I’m excited for you. Your posts are always entertaining. Post away!!! It is your blog.
Elle says
Enjoying all your “new house” posts. I’m excited that you both are happy with this being your next (or final) home together.
Diana says
so happy for you
Carolyn says
I’m thrilled that you love your new house! It still seems so surreal that you found this house and everything is perfect. Can’t wait until the closing is over and it’s officially yours!
Teri says
So happy for you! Can’t wait to see more pictures!
Marsha says
So excited for you. Sounds like the perfect house and area for you
Ruth says
At least SOMEbody gets to move around the country! We will all move along with you in our imaginations.
Judy Laquidara says
It will make me smile knowing a few readers are thinking about me as we do this.
Linda B. says
I am so happy for the two of you and for Chad, Nicole and Addie too. Good news is so welcome in this world! The actual move is not fun but you will be settled in for the fall and really able to enjoy it. Maybe a small condo for Vince at the beach would be perfect for a month or so in the winter?
Kathleen R Robin says
The moving bit would be my problem we have lived in our house for 59 years. Think of all the stuff that is stored around the place. But your place sounds so wonderful I am very excited for you and look forward to lots and lots of pictures when the place is finally yours and you are moved in. Good luck with your move.
Paula Philpot says
Love hearing about the house.
Sunny Thomas says
Love all the pictures so keep them coming.
Nelle Coursey says
NO!! I want to see more pictures!! I love looking at houses. I love the master bedroom and all the space. I would love to see the other rooms also.
Eileen says
SO happy for y’all!! I’ve waited all day hoping to see that y’all still loved your new home!!! FANTASTIC!!
Susan Nixon says
I want to see ALL the pictures! I’m so glad it is as perfect in person as in picture. I thought it would be, but there’s always that reservation so we don’t get too disappointed. I agree on bedroom sizes.
Linda in NE says
I love seeing other people’s houses so the more pictures the better. It’s so wonderful that you found this beautiful house that both you & Vince like. You’ll be close enough to Chad, Nicole & Addie to see them regularly, but not so close that you’re always in each other’s hair. After all your looking for a place it’s all working out for the best isn’t it?
Judy Laquidara says
You’re right. I never wanted to be right next door and I think 45 minutes is about perfect, especially since they go to Joplin fairly often and will pass almost right by our house.
It is really nice the way things have worked out for this deal.
sue says
Never to much house talk or too many photos. Just so happy for you and excited to see how your journey goes. It was so meant to be, congrats you two.
Rebecca in SoCal says
It sounds wonderful! I do hope you get snowplow service out there, and that your first winter isn’t too bad.
I agree on bedrooms, except…my sewing room is in the “extra” bedroom, and it’s small enough I haven’t figured out where to put my ironing board yet, or half a dozen boxes of stuff. Meanwhile, the master bedroom has enough room for a sitting area, but we don’t do that! I believe that you sleep better if you don’t do other activities in there.
I’ve kind of been wondering–how would my husband feel about switching the rooms? HA!
Judy Laquidara says
We don’t need snowplow service. We’re retired! 🙂
Seriously, we keep plenty of food on hand and since we have no place we have to be, when there’s snow, we’re better off staying home. The little road we live on will not be plowed but the road on the side of the house will be so if we needed emergency services, they could get to us from there. All our vehicles are four wheel drive from when we lived there before so we’re ok with small amounts of snow . . not so much with lots of snow or any ice.
About switching rooms — why not . . if he’s happy with it. At the house we had in town in Kentucky, I made the master bedroom my sewing room and we used the bedroom across the hall. I kept a path clean to the bathroom because we did use the master bath.
Helene says
I’ll go along with the never too many pictures or too much talk about the new house. Send it all. I’m so happy for all of you that you found this house. Soon it will be your home!