catching up - our new house
Our new house... how to describe it....
Tryn did a really good job on her live journal but I simply cannot pass on commenting about it. First, it is HUGE. Not quite as big as the house in Olympia but the only real difference is in the number of bedrooms. This one is probably close to 3600 with three bedrooms.
The sweet thing is that this house is laid out MUCH better. The main floor is open, airy and beautiful. The Den/Family room is the width of the house (my brother keeps joking that I should turn it into a bowling alley...). The living room is gorgeous and has a natural feel (probably due to the big bay window just begging for someone to curl up in and read...). The kitchen is easily a six butt kitchen and the house has a formal dining room big enough to accomidate my families 100 year old Mahogany banquet table (Tryn and I picked it up from my brother on Thursday...).
Downstairs is the craft room. The size is hard to describe without pictures. It is bigger than the bonus room in the Olympia house (the one I had the shop set up in...). I will have plenty of room not only to work on my archery stuff/craft stuff but also set up a sewing area and an area dedicated to my gunsmithing stuff. I even have room for the TV/VSR/DVD player so that I can do my gunsmithing classes down there (the professional class includes classes done on DVD as well as virtual classrooms and actual projects you have to turn in).
The Laundry room is as big as the Kitchen and will serve not only as a laundry room but also as a canning room (it has pantry shelves perfect for canning lining an entire wall) and a mead/wine making room. The previous owners left a HUGE chest freezer down there (with the hinges removed) because it doesn't work. I am going to turn it into a controlled climate "warm-a-rator" for making mead. I can easily get two five gallon carboys in there as well as a smaller one (2 gallon). Further, Dillon has an apiary that is known throughout Montana for the quality of their Honey and the honey is far cheaper than anywhere I could find in Washington. Look for me to start bringing mead to events within the next three years. I simply wish mead didn't have to sit for so long before you drink it...
The upstairs has two smaller bedrooms. One we have already set up as a spare bedroom for guests - including a dish system receiver so guests can watch TV if they want - and the other room is set up for Kiki. It was originally going to be a dedicated sewing room but I found that I could easily set up the sewing stuff in my craftroom when we found out we were getting Kiki back.
The yard is perfect. It looked really bad when we first saw it because the previous tenants were not watering it (they had a water problem that they didn't really care about. I have since solved the problem - a valve was all but shut off). Now it looks increadable. After we get it fed and fix some of the weed problem around the very edges of the property, this house will look like the model house it is. It even has a pond (that needs serious work - that is a project for next spring). The house also has two decks - one uncovered on the back of the house, one covered on the side. The back deck is set up for free standing hot tub (they had one here before and all the wiring is still here...).
Last but certainly not least - the garage. The garage is actually two seperate garages. The original garage (huge in and of itself) had a new car and a half garage added onto it. Both have garage door openers, but the one for the larger side (a two and half car garage) is broken. We have decided to make the old garage into my shop and Tryn uses the newer side to park the van. I am building storage shelves on that side (there is PLENTY of room) so that my shop is simply my shop. I will not only have more room than in Olympia (the garage is larger and there won't be anything but shop stuff in it) but it will also allow me to set up a forge.
I can't wait to begin working on the shop. I was ready to start purchasing the materials I needed but with Kiki coming back to us, that had to be postponed a little while (though with what has happened financially for us, not very long - like two weeks...). I should be ready to grind steel by the first of December. Again, I can't wait.
Next - Being a Father at 45 - again.
Tryn did a really good job on her live journal but I simply cannot pass on commenting about it. First, it is HUGE. Not quite as big as the house in Olympia but the only real difference is in the number of bedrooms. This one is probably close to 3600 with three bedrooms.
The sweet thing is that this house is laid out MUCH better. The main floor is open, airy and beautiful. The Den/Family room is the width of the house (my brother keeps joking that I should turn it into a bowling alley...). The living room is gorgeous and has a natural feel (probably due to the big bay window just begging for someone to curl up in and read...). The kitchen is easily a six butt kitchen and the house has a formal dining room big enough to accomidate my families 100 year old Mahogany banquet table (Tryn and I picked it up from my brother on Thursday...).
Downstairs is the craft room. The size is hard to describe without pictures. It is bigger than the bonus room in the Olympia house (the one I had the shop set up in...). I will have plenty of room not only to work on my archery stuff/craft stuff but also set up a sewing area and an area dedicated to my gunsmithing stuff. I even have room for the TV/VSR/DVD player so that I can do my gunsmithing classes down there (the professional class includes classes done on DVD as well as virtual classrooms and actual projects you have to turn in).
The Laundry room is as big as the Kitchen and will serve not only as a laundry room but also as a canning room (it has pantry shelves perfect for canning lining an entire wall) and a mead/wine making room. The previous owners left a HUGE chest freezer down there (with the hinges removed) because it doesn't work. I am going to turn it into a controlled climate "warm-a-rator" for making mead. I can easily get two five gallon carboys in there as well as a smaller one (2 gallon). Further, Dillon has an apiary that is known throughout Montana for the quality of their Honey and the honey is far cheaper than anywhere I could find in Washington. Look for me to start bringing mead to events within the next three years. I simply wish mead didn't have to sit for so long before you drink it...
The upstairs has two smaller bedrooms. One we have already set up as a spare bedroom for guests - including a dish system receiver so guests can watch TV if they want - and the other room is set up for Kiki. It was originally going to be a dedicated sewing room but I found that I could easily set up the sewing stuff in my craftroom when we found out we were getting Kiki back.
The yard is perfect. It looked really bad when we first saw it because the previous tenants were not watering it (they had a water problem that they didn't really care about. I have since solved the problem - a valve was all but shut off). Now it looks increadable. After we get it fed and fix some of the weed problem around the very edges of the property, this house will look like the model house it is. It even has a pond (that needs serious work - that is a project for next spring). The house also has two decks - one uncovered on the back of the house, one covered on the side. The back deck is set up for free standing hot tub (they had one here before and all the wiring is still here...).
Last but certainly not least - the garage. The garage is actually two seperate garages. The original garage (huge in and of itself) had a new car and a half garage added onto it. Both have garage door openers, but the one for the larger side (a two and half car garage) is broken. We have decided to make the old garage into my shop and Tryn uses the newer side to park the van. I am building storage shelves on that side (there is PLENTY of room) so that my shop is simply my shop. I will not only have more room than in Olympia (the garage is larger and there won't be anything but shop stuff in it) but it will also allow me to set up a forge.
I can't wait to begin working on the shop. I was ready to start purchasing the materials I needed but with Kiki coming back to us, that had to be postponed a little while (though with what has happened financially for us, not very long - like two weeks...). I should be ready to grind steel by the first of December. Again, I can't wait.
Next - Being a Father at 45 - again.