Hizz

After taking the boys to the cinema to watch the Secret Life of Pets (I give it a B – it was not bad, not particularly good, but boy it had some exciting previews for some really cool movies coming out!) we wandered over to our new place to peer in the windows.

You’ll note the wee front porch, which can only be gotten to by crawling through the window.  That whole front bit that juts out is the master suite – bed, bath, closet.  Although it obviously reduces the footprint of the home to have the driveway there, we deeply appreciate having off-street parking.  Our street is very NOLA – window boxes, quirky little tucked-away courtyards overrun with giant-leafed vegetation and stray cats, crumbly brick walkways that’ll trip you up in a heartbeat.  And a fairly narrow two-way street with cars parked on either side, leaving a tiny bit of room to squeeze one car through.  We will appreciate not competing with neighbors for spots.

We don’t close for a few weeks so we have no key as yet, but we inched our way sideways in the teeny tiny narrow bit of space between our house and the next, and discovered that the side gate was unlocked, and so we wandered around the backyard a bit.

It’s got a nice elevated deck, and a square of grass in which the boys can definitely play a very truncated game of soccer.  We’ll put some patio furniture out there, and to the right of those steps is a little patch of cement just for a grill.  We peered in the windows a bit, and I started thinking about how to put the pretty minimal amount of counter space in the kitchen to its best use.

The door to the right is a sliding barn-door into a very large pantry, where All The Things will have to go as storage is limited in this place.  That island is pretty giant and will probably be the homework/weeknight dinner station.  We’ll put the tv and couches in here – this is the living space.   It’s very reminiscent of my last kitchen – the backsplash in this one is better, though.  And the light fixtures are pretty nice.

I scooched over and took another shot through the windows of the dining room area, but it did not come out so well – you mostly see the reflection of the backyard (that reflected roofline to the right of the pic is the pseudo-Lion’s-Club building, which the prior owners of this house thoughtfully screened out with that lattice work upward extension of the fence-line.  I shall plant some Confederate jasmine there.)  You can just barely make out the little built in bar area, and if you look very closely in the upper left, just under the bright clouds, you can see the gold-rimmed light fixture that will hang over the dining table.  This is all one room – kitchen, living, dining – and the back side of those X shelves is the pantry.

Right over the fence next door is a tiny house on a giant lot, and the rest of the lot is covered in giant, beautiful trees.  I’m told the man who lives there is blind and very old, and they anticipate that when he goes, the small house will be razed and a giant McMansion put on this lot (perhaps two).  I’ll be sad – I love this magnolia – but that’s city living for you.

You can see the back corner of the fence in this pic – it’s a truly small yard but we’ll grateful for any yard.  The other two edges of the yard are abutted by buildings, right up against the fence line.  Behind us is a house – they have a nice courtyard and screened in porch, so hopefully they’re nice and we get to be friends.  Opposite the Great Magnolia Forest is the wacky Lions Club type place, which has no yard – the lot is about the same size as ours and they fill every inch of it with tall red brick building – hence the lattice work screen.  I shall hang some twinkle lights therefrom, and all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

So that’s the outside of the new digs.  Our inspection report came and we have some things to work through, but we anticipate closing will go through without issues.  Just a couple more weeks in our 2 BR 1 BA place and we get to spread out and give the boys their own rooms again!  I’m tired just thinking about it, and bummed we have to pay movers twice in a year, but will be glad to feel a little more settled.  It’s a really nice place.  We are very lucky.