The New House
Buds shared the great news at work yesterday which makes it feel like an appropriate time for a blog post.
Our scouting trip to Rochester turned into a buying trip. The favorite house from looking at pictures online remained the favorite house after seeing 8 or 9 houses on our trip.
Though our realtor and I had a few disagreements over process and offer (arguments I enjoyed since I certainly can’t get anyone at home to fight with me), he called to tell us we had won out against another couple.
The grand old dame we’ve taken to calling “Avonlea” was built in 1900. The previous owners lived there 16 years and redid the kitchen and bathroom, adding a half-bath for which we will be ever grateful.
There’s still plenty of work for us to do, but we’re thrilled with this new style of home and new style of everyday life.
We should be well settled by Christmas and what fun it will be to decorate a house like this.
The pictures are all higgeldy-piggeldy, so to sum up: on the first floor there’s a front room that would have been the parlor in Avonlea’s youth, but will be an office in her middle-age; a living room with a fireplace; a dining room; the kitchen, which is composed of three connected rooms and a butler’s pantry; the half-bath off the entry halfway, the stairs down to a mudroom entrance to the backyard which continues down to the finished basement where the previous owner had his office.
The second floor is four bedrooms, including a small anteroom off our bedroom which used to have a door that led out to a second floor porch. That porch was removed and the door replaced with a window. We will most likely turn this space into a reading nook.
The full bathroom is also on this floor. And on the landing, a closet with a built-in dresser. The landing is where the front grand entrance staircase and the blue-stepped back staircase disembark.
Finally, a door on the second floor landing leads up to the magical attic. The dreams are flying thick and fast here about what that space might eventually hold.
There are stained glass windows and pocket doors. A garage with a mechanical door that takes a little cajoling but is still a marvel of perfectly balanced springs sits out back in the very small yard.
Mocha will miss her huge fenced-in yard, but we’ll make up for it with walks.
One block down is the largest community garden in the city. It will be a delight to wander through it even if we aren’t able to get a plot right away.
Much more to come, but for now, back to packing.
