Welcome to the Nut House

We had an unexpected surprise this morning. While I was at work (yay... dripping sarcasm there) I got a text from the First Reader. "They brought us the keys." At which point it's a good thing I was alone in the lab, because there was definitely a Squee! out loud. We were not supposed to get the keys until Thursday, so this was perfect timing. We could go over to the house, christen it, measure stuff, make lists, and not have to rush through it or do it after dark. 

The man of the house unlocking it for the first time.

As it turned out, we did visit the house... twice. Once with the kids, which was a swirling pool of chaos, and again just the two of us and a coffeepot, for a proper christening. 

Cherry blooming behind the deck. We have the lot all the way to the road - double lot.

We've been here a few times, of course. We saw it and offered for it, we came back for the inspection. We came in for the two-day walkthrough (which was useless, really. They removed several things they weren't supposed to while moving out that couple of days after the closing. Eh. Nothing major, just dirty pool to dig up all the landscaping and take most of it away). But this was the first time it was empty, and it was ours, and we could really see the place without rushing or feeling intrusive. It makes a big difference! 

We'd never been able to see inside the shed, or the garage, so this was a first.

The big yard, where I plan a backyard orchard, and a garden, and some lawn for the First Reader (typical male, has to have something to mow!) is going to be a palette for my long-suppressed landscape designing to see full play. 

Real wood paneling!

Inside, we finally had the ability to see a clean slate and talk about what is going where. We'll make the kitchen an eat-in kitchen, which is what both of us are accustomed to. The open concept dining room will become the office/library, and I'll cover some of that pretty paneling with bookcases! 

The Junior Mad Scientist had to try on the tub, it fits! 

The nice thing about this house is that it needs very little work from us. There's one project that must be done before we reside, and some smaller things that need to be done soonish. The project is converting a doorway between the Little Man's bedroom and ours into a closet - right now there is no door there, and he doesn't have a closet. So that will work out nicely to fill both needs. 

The dragon of the house - Yaolong (Herb Dragon). He'll live in the front garden soon.

The first things to be moved into the house, appropriately enough, were some boxes of books I'd had in the back of my car for a while (one was the boxy my grandmother sent from Oregon!) and the coffeepot with accouterments. We also hauled over four chairs, all outside chairs, so we could try out the porch and back deck to see how they were for sitting. 

My grandma sent us this sign for the new house, and gave it it's name. It fits our family well!

There's a lot of work to do with moving, but we'll do it a bit at a time. We're in no rush. We have the rental to the end of May, and there's a lot going on, so we'll pick and peck at it until we're done. I'll be posting photos, of course! 

It's ours now!

And a video walk-through of the house. I'm afraid that I'm not the best camera, er, woman.