New House!

Another thing we haven't had time to report on...our new house! We finally closed on September 4th on a house in DC near the Georgia Avenue/Petworth metro stop. It was a long process getting us to this point. We started looking at the beginning of June, but on only one income, we weren't finding homes in good condition in the neighborhoods that we would like to live in. Our new neighborhood is called Petworth and just blocks north of Columbia Heights which was where Stephen first lived when he came in March and our first choice of neighborhoods. We wanted to be close to a metro stop and have some yard though it didn't need to be large. Being in the city is also important; we want to avoid the suburbs for as long as we can!

The new house is a row house but at the end of the row so it has windows on 3 sides. The entrance is on the side which makes the house appear huge when you approach it. But when you get in, you see that it is not as deep as you might have thought. With all of the windows though, it is very light. No one was living in the house before this; it had been purchased by someone and renovated for the purpose of reselling it. There are 3 floors with 3 bedrooms on the top floor (and two full baths); the main floor with an open kitchen/dining room combination (and a half bath) and the basement with another bedroom and full bath. The house has no towel racks or closet bars so that is the major inside thing that we need to correct. While there are closets in every bedroom, the house doesn't have any other closets - like a linen closet or a coat closet inside the front door. Probably the only other drawback is the fact that because of how the house is situated on the street, there is no private backyard. We will get creative to work around these things.

All of our furniture is in the house which is good. A couple of things couldn't go on the preferred level because they didn't fit up or down the stairs, but otherwise, all of the big things are where we want them. Decorating ideas are being discussed but that is still a little ways off. It is nice to get settled - and we think we really do have too much stuff! I know you don't usually have a yard sale AFTER you move, but we might have to do just that!