Sweet Home New England, 2013 edition

It is customary among others of our acquaintance to post photos of their new homes online when they move. We've done our fair share of moving, but very little "this is our house" posting, primarily because most of the places we've lived thus far have fallen under the category "well, at least it's only for a couple of years". Cost and location are usually the deciding factors. That was also the case this time, but, miraculously, the end result is in the "We're so glad we get to live here!!!" category. It's about the same size as our last place in terms of square footage and room count, but, unlike the last place, the space is actually distributed in way that fits our needs. Kind of like the difference between a blah pair of jeans and an amazing pair of jeans. We start our tour in the living room. Most of the photos are from the day we moved in, hence the lack of furniture and other trappings. Behold Clarissa on the glorious brand new non orange carpet!

Here we have the same room a couple of weeks later with couches, obtained from a local thrift store for less than $50 total and hauled home in our faithful minivan.

Here's the main level bathroom. Note the absence of washer and dryer. (No, Mom wasn't a fan of having a laundry room/bathroom combo on the main ["company"] floor of the last place.)

Moving on to the kitchen (cue angelic choir music here). The space that would have housed the washer and dryer in the old layout goes instead to a great pantry (see door by fridge). There's actually room for a table beyond the area shown, which means it's actually possible to have a family meal without bumping into the fridge all the time (more "unlike the last place" issues being solved here).

Next up, the playroom/family room/den/you-get-the-idea. The equivalent room in our last place was in the basement. A finished basement, mind you, but still a far cry from the cozy room with a great view that we now enjoy.

The master bedroom:

The upper level bathrooms. Note the toothpaste, soap, and toilet paper placed there by our new landlord. How thoughtful is that?

Kid room 1:

Kid room 2:

The closets in the kids' rooms are really fun, like secret hideaways. Here's Lydia in a closet to give some size perspective:

We like the yard, too. We ate our first prepared-in-the-new-kitchen meal out back. Lots of lovely lawn there.

And yes, there is still a bit of dirt to play in, too.

This concludes our tour.