It's Official!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

We have had the most crazy week ever!!!! Here's the run-down...

Monday and Tuesday we were running here, there, and everywhere trying to get all of the paperwork squared away for the sale of the condo. Then on Wednesday, they had the closing back in Maine, and we were no longer home owners. Thankfully all of the paperwork arrived on time, and we were in the clear!

Thursday and Friday were challenging too, as Hannah hasn't been feeling very good. Her body is still adjusting to her non-baby food diet, and she just wasn't feeling up to par. Consequently, we had some REALLY long nights, and lots of cuddle time. She seems to be feeling better now, though still not 100%. Friday was also a big day for us, because we went to the bank to have the down-payment check written.

So, early this afternoon we went over to the builder's office and put handed over the check. We are homeowners...again!!!

So, here's the story about the house...and LOTS of photos (as promised!!!). The house we bought is a former show home. Actually, it was the Sales Office. Ironically, Craig had gone through the house before I moved up to Calgary. Never did he imagine that he would eventually live in it.

We had been looking at houses for a while, and really hadn't seen "the one". We saw a lot that we liked...but they either were sold before we had time to go back, or just didn't feel right. As soon as we walked into this one, we fell in love! Because it was a show home, it is loaded with upgrades...I'll mention some of them below. One downside is that the entire downstairs originally had cork floors...Craig and I love cork floors! However, they were pretty beat up from all the foot traffic, so they are being replaced with hard wood. I won't turn my nose up at the hardwood, I just wish that the cork could have been saved.

So, on to the photos...

Here is the front of the house...the fence posts are going to be removed soon. The photo doesn't show it, but they had the whole front yard landscaped.

When you come in to the house, the stairs are right in front of you...so is a HUGE coat closet!

You then enter into the living room with the two-sided fireplace. The tile is pretty modern for us, so we've talked about eventually replacing both sides with large river rock instead.

There are doorways on both sides of the fireplace into the dining room. On the other side there are these cubbies built into the wall.

Here is the other side of the fireplace...and the dining room.

The dining room opens up into the kitchen. There is a granite breakfast bar (upgrade!!!), and LOTS of cabinets!!!

Beyond the kitchen is a 1/2 bath. It has a really neat grass-like wall covering. It is really cool. There is also a large closet and the door to the backyard. (I'll show you that in a minute)

On to the upstairs...here is the stairwell. You can see a little of the sill for the niche (on the right of the photo). The niche was made to hang art in the stairwell, and it has it's own light...pretty cool, huh?? I guess we now have to go out and buy some art to hang!!!

At the top of the stairs is my laundry closet!!! No more lugging laundry into the basement!!!! For me, this sealed the deal! I also like that the washer and dryer are in a smaller space...that way I can't let the laundry pile up...like I do now...oops!

Here is the master bedroom...yes, the window coverings come with the house!! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the central vac and central A/C that we got too!!!

...and the view out our window onto the street.

Here was another deal sealer for me...the master closet. Never in my life did I think that I would have a closet like this. Craig and I are talking about putting two dressers in the closet for more storage.

...and the master bath.

Here is the final deal sealer...a soaking tub!!! I had to make sure that I fit in it before we bought the place!! Who needs a pool? Hannah can go swimming in the tub!!

Here is the guest bathroom upstairs.

...and the guest bedroom. It is actually bigger than Hannah's room, but we figure that she has plenty of space, and guests would probably appreciate the extra room. On the walls they had painted dandelions. The same flowers are on the curtains too...they match 100%. we really liked the flowers, and they don't go with Hannah's bedding, so that was another reason why we decided that this would be the guest room.

Here is a close-up of one of the flowers.

Hannah had to test out the rug in her room...I think it passed the test!

Here's Hannah's room. We will most likely paint the walls to match her bedding better. I like the stripes, but I still love Hannah's crib set, and I could justify painting more than buying a whole new crib set.

Here is the back of the house. We need to have a fence put in, and we are already budgeting in a garage.

Here's our deck. We'd like to expand it at some point, but for now it will work. I have already picked out the planters I want to add...I can't wait to garden again!!!

Here is the view of the backyard from Hannah's window. You can see where the parking pad is now...we'll have the fence posts removed from blocking it, and the garage will sit right on that footprint. Most of the new houses in Calgary that have garages fall into one of two categories...they either have a garage in the front of the house that is attached and typically has the master bedroom or a bonus room over the garage, or they have a detached garage in the back. You can see the alley way behind the house in the photo. This is how everyone accesses their garages. You also put your trash out back in the alley, etc. Because of this, most homes have mudrooms in the back of the house, and that is how you typically enter your home.
So, that's the photo tour of the house. We are so excited about moving in!!! Because they are doing work (the floors, repainting the walls, cleaning the carpets, furnace, etc.) we cannot move in right away. They have promised us a possession date of May 28th, and they are going to have to rush to meet their own deadline. We have our rental house until June 14th, so we have the extra two weeks to move our stuff over...I don't plan on it taking that long, since if I had my way, we'd already be in there!!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the house, and tour. I'll be sure to keep you all posted on how things go between now and move-in day!!!

I hope you all have a great remainder of your weekend, and a great week!!!

Love,

~Sharon~