House hunters no more

We bought a house!  After 9 months of looking at homes all over the Houston area, we finally settled on a neighborhood and a house.  Remember back when I said that we didn't want a fixer-upper?   Yeeaaaahhh, about that.  After looking at dozens of homes in person, and hundreds of homes online, crying a lot of tears (me), and feeling certain that we'd never ever ever be able to choose a house (also me), we decided that we are happiest with an older house.  We visited new(er) and even brand new houses - some that weren't finished yet, but as much as we liked the idea of a brand new house, it just didn't feel like us.  As we started focusing solely on older homes, we found that the ones in our price range desperately needed updating.  The one we finally made an offer on felt special - we liked that it still belonged to the original owners and felt well taken care of.  It has amazing light, a wonderful yard, good spaces for us, and much closer to Jon's office.  Many of the older homes we walked through were recently flipped and felt "like lipstick on a pig" as our Agent kept saying. Ha ha!

So, c'mon in, to what we affectionately call "our old lady house" (wigs in the closet, and all!) 

In the photos the exterior looks blue, but the true color is a dark gray.

Yep.  I'm painting this floor! Love the brick - not the color.

I love the big slab mantle.

Someday we will do away with the built-in bar and make the kitchen more spacious.

In the meantime, the kids are excited to play restaurant through the pass through window.

This kitchen is so much like our previous kitchen.  I mean.

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

His and hers closets  {{high five!}}

Homeschool room/guest room- next to the kitchen

the playroom, or, as Jon and I like to call it, the "Romper Room"

Henry's room

Havalah's room

H & H will share a Hollywood Bath - have you ever heard of this? Yeah me neither. Basically it's like a Jack and Jill, but they each have their own sink/toilet, with a bathtub room between them.  Interesting!

Playroom is off to the left.

Standing on the landing area outside the playroom.  I can't wait to paint all that brick... Black? White? 

At the end of the yard is a small stream, or as they say in Texas, "bayou."  Across the bayou is a golf course.  I believe we are on the 18th hole.

On our immediate to do list:  1) figure out a fence for the backyard.  Because we are on a golf course, the rules state it has to be black wrought iron.  Will we do a small area just for our Scottie or bite the bullet and do a large area?  2) flooring - it pretty much needs new flooring from top to bottom, minus the tile and the kitchen, both of those floors we will work with.  New carpeting?  Hard woods?  Stay tuned.  3) paint, paint, paint. I promised the kids their rooms are first.

Please feel free to pray for us as we get our renovation hats back on.  Never say never.  When will I ever learn??  Ha!