As is our tradition each year, we grabbed a video camera and walked the exterior of the house to document what’s been finished and what still needs work (spoiler: there’s plenty left at our new place). You can see last year’s tour here and the 2011 tour here. When I say “we take a video camera,” what I really mean is “John takes the video camera” — I’ve been banned from holding recording devices since I tend to Blair Witch the footage (yes, it’s a verb when I do it).
Enough chatter. Let’s walk around the house together:
I hope the video clears up a few “what’s going on outside?” questions and gives you a better sense of the property. We have a long list of outdoor projects (many of them still in the idea stage) that we’ll research, plan, and tackle over time — you can find that running list here.
We also like to include a not-to-scale lot sketch each year, so here’s one for our new house:
One quirky thing about this house is the lot’s orientation. Because we’re on the end of a cul-de-sac, we often describe our yard like a baseball diamond. Interestingly, all three of our homes have had similar lot sizes — almost an acre — but each felt different based on shape and layout. Our first lot was long and skinny, which gave a very different feel:
The second lot felt more square-ish, though the sketch of that one isn’t exactly to scale (the house looks as big as a Target in the drawing):
Another interesting comparison: our previous house and this one are almost identical in square footage (within about 60 square feet), yet they present very differently from the street. The earlier house sat lower and blended into the woods, while this house shows a visible second floor from the curb, which makes it look larger and more prominent.
One nice full-circle moment is having a double garage again. We had one at our first house, then a carport at the last place, so returning to a two-car garage is great — especially because John’s workshop is conveniently just off the house now instead of down exterior stairs into a separate basement entry.
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Psst — we’re testing a small Friday feature that highlights four fun projects, conversations, or questions happening over in the Forums. Just in case you’re not ready to go back to work yet…
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| by MayRicherFullerBe | by Tina | by hannaschelling | by lcraig1027 |
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