New Life in a New Place

Nothing like starting our new life in a new state with a bang.

Jason started working in Nashville in April of this year while the rest of us finished school in Illinois/Wisconsin.  I had my graduation ceremony in May, finished my internship in June and the kids finished their school year out in June as well.  It was time for us to join Jason in Nashville!

After a month and a half living in a very unfortunate place for temporary housing, our house was ready for us to move in!

Our move went very smoothly from storage to the new house in a town south of Nashville in Williamson County.  And by the time we were generally settled, in we got a call from the Tennessean newspaper asking if we'd be willing to have our home photographed for the real estate section. 

The following photos and link are the result of us saying "yes."

Funny story: I was approached by a man at the local YMCA while I was waiting for the kids at swim practice.  He had just been sitting in the pool area reading the paper and I was just outside the pool at a table.  He looked amazed and asked me if I was in the paper.  He had JUST seen my family's photo in the paper.  And they say people in Nashville leave celebrities alone when they see them.  HA!

 The following photos are from the online article which you can access from the link at the bottom of this post.

Our subdivision is called Stream Valley.  There are different sized homes in this neighborhood starting with larger "manor" homes near the entrance.  Our home is from the "Home Town" Collection.  The development is growing and houses are going up all around us.  I mean literally!

When you walk in the door, the dining room is to your right.  We had 2 extra windows put in on the side (seen here on either side of the china hutch).  I'm hoping to change the chandelier at some point and even have a dream one picked out.  A rug would be nice now.  On the left side of the front entrance is our office (not shown).  It is a total mess.  We plan to get some custom made functional furniture to fill up a wall in the office.  A mixture of  2 desks, book cases, and storage cabinets will be designed and built by a local furniture maker at a good price.

 

Down the hall and to the left, past the short hall to the half bath, storage closets, and staircase, is the family room.  We opted for a fireplace, but were disappointed that there was not an option for brick or stone.  In fact, it is not a "real" fireplace.  And definitely not a wood burning fireplace, which we miss.  We had the option of putting it here, or on a corner wall.  We felt the corner location really ate up space.  We also opted for an extra space called a "morning room" which moved a third window in this family room to the extra one to the left of the fireplace.  Still working on decorating the walls, though we already have a few family photos on the wall by the lamp on the left.

Coming from the front door and going all the way to the back of the house is the morning room.  Our new and beloved kitchen table looks a bit swallowed up in this large room.  We did get a rug made of sisal and chenille which I think helps a little.  Though we are not sure that it is going to hold up very well, so I don't know if it will stay.  We are also thinking of getting a low sideboard to put under the window on the right side.  We want something that will hold family board games and maybe a place for shoes on the bottom.  I think it might be nice to get it painted a fun color to break up the natural colors.  And those windows on the right were also extra that we had put in because we like lots of natural light.  All of these windows need dressing soon.  I was going to make some cafe curtains to cover the bottom parts of the windows.  But I'm wondering if that is the right answer.  We really do need something for privacy at least.

The kitchen is past the dining room after you go through a small hall with a pantry on one side and a butler's pantry on the other.  It is across from the family room and next to the morning room.  Some of the best decorative features are not shown in this photo, such as the glass display cabinets in the kitchen and butler's pantry.  It is a big kitchen, almost too big.  I find myself running back and forth at times.  Maybe a future movable island will help. But I especially look forward to one day having a back splash!

The photographer for the paper wanted to know where the girl's room was.  He didn't care at all to take a picture of our son's bedroom.  Both of their bedrooms are at the front of the home on the second floor with a laundry room in between.  I will have to post a picture of the butterfly quilt my mom recently made for her.  It is precious!  There is a fourth bedroom that has become a sewing/craft room.  I've actually sewn a few things, but am still working on organizing and decorating the room.  My first addition was a much needed OttLite as the room was too dark, even with two lamps, even during day light.  Too bad it is more utilitarian than stylish.

We love our nice roomy master bath.  Still room for improvements like a better shower head and a frame for the mirror.

Our master bedroom is also very spacious and has a tray ceiling.  It is a work in progress.  Still working on wall hangings.  The artwork over the bed came from a local store called Refresh.  The artist added little bits of hymnal pages in the birch trees.  I'll have to take a closer photo sometime.

We also have a bonus room above the garage with an extra full bath.  We got the dormer as an extra and it adds so much space.

 Here's another view of the front of our new home.  I will have to take photos of the rooms that were not featured in the article.  Well minus a few, like the messy office.

Here is the link to the online article from the Tennessean.