The house is in a really great neighborhood (met a couple of the neighbors already--they have been there since the late 50's/early 60's, where they raised their families). It's a couple blocks from a park and just a short five-minute drive to my school (THRILLED about that!).
Just about everything in the house is original--1956! It was owned and probably built by Joe, a master carpenter, so everything is very well built. Our inspector yesterday said over and over, "solidly built house, very well-maintained." We love the size (almost 3300 sq. ft.!) and is basically move-in ready. We only have to buy a washer/dryer, freezer, microwave; build a kitchen island; install a new electrical panel (thank you, homeowner electrician Steve); buy carpet remnants for the living room, master, and baby's room; and a couple other little things to make it work. Really, not much at all for our 1956 house!
I somehow managed not to get pictures of both bathrooms, sheesh! Here is the realtor.com listing which has the bathrooms included.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/13126-E-Blossey-Ave_Spokane-Valley_WA_99216_M15586-74201
And here's the tour!
Garage: 624 sq. ft.
RV parking on the side
This fenced-off area was used as dog kennel, we think. If there is enough light, I think we will in the very-near future build some raised garden beds to grow some yummy vegetables! The "dream" would be to eventually put a shop that is attached to the garage here.
More room around the back. Not sure what is going to bloom back here, but there are buds.
Backyard, standing at the corner of our property line. There is no fence between the two yards, so our little girl might have more running room. :-)
Standing by the garage.
Standing in front of the garage. SUPER long driveway (kid heaven)! Good thing Don gave us his "extra" snowblower. :-)
Garage, standing at the back door. Mostly all covered by the eaves except for about 6 inches.
Back door, standing at the garage. Hydrangea bush right there. There are also roses around the side and front yard, with some ground cover that has purple blooms (forgot what Sue called them).
Walking in the back door. You go up two stairs into the kitchen or down the stairs to the basement.
Kitchen! Big space, not a lot of kitchen. Steve is going to build an island (probably portable so that we can either push it against the wall or have it more in the middle of the kitchen). We'll find used cabinet bottoms, probably from the Habitat for Humanity store, and throw a countertop on top. That will make this kitchen livable for a long while. Just have to buy an on-the-counter white microwave.
Dining room around the corner of the kitchen.
Looking through the doorway of the living room into the dining room. Pocket door to close off the living room from a possibly unsightly dining room/kitchen! (Our house inspector is the in the background. You'll see him later doing his thing.) Dining room windows open, as well as the living room, so a breeze should be able to blow through. With no A/C, this will be good. We have a basement to hide from the heat, if needed!
Living room, standing in the corner near the doorway to the dining room.
Standing at the other doorway, by the hallway (front door of house).
Front door. As you come in, the living room is on your left, coat closet is the first door to your right, closet storage straight ahead. That will be used as our pantry for the kitchen, since there is a doorway from the kitchen to the main hallway.
In the main hallway, looking into the kitchen. There are two nice built-ins in the hallway. One of the doors is a laundry shoot to downstairs.
If you are standing at the doorway from the kitchen to the main hall, here is the order of rooms: pantry on the left
and a built-in on the right, right next to what will be the baby's room.
The baby's room is right across from bathroom #1 (not pictured), which is the largest of the side-by-side bathrooms. As you walk in the bathroom, it has the double sinks on the left with cool slanted cabinets below (and two mirrors with medicine cabinets), tub/shower combo on the right (we will have to buy two new shower heads for both bathrooms), and the toilet straight ahead with the option of closing it off with a pocket door!
There is a built-in in the hall that separates the two bathrooms. Bathroom #2 is located right next to the first, has the same layout but one sink and a stand-up shower. (Steve is standing in bathroom #1 in the picture below.)
The last door on the left is the guest bedroom.
Master bedroom (big!) is the last door on the right, sharing a wall with the baby's room.
That's it for the upstairs. Downstairs: as you come in the backdoor, you can go up to the kitchen or down to the basement. This picture is taken from downstairs, standing in the family room.
When you reach the bottom of the stairs, there is a hallway to your left that leads to a storage room (unfinished), the workshop (unfinished room that can eventually be a bedroom), and a finished bedroom that just needs an egress window. Straight ahead is the family room.
And at the bottom of the stairs to your right is the big storage/laundry room. LOTS of shelf storage!!
There is a little storage closet/room (future fun playroom/hiding spot?). Steve is standing in front of it in the picture above.
The doorway you see between the two storage shelves also leads to the family room (besides the entrance at the bottom of the stairs). The pool table is negotiable, but we don't want it. We need the space for the furniture we have and the office/music room on the other end. Nice wood-burning fireplace (here and up in the living room).
Hallway, standing at the foot of the stairs. First door on the left is the unfinished storage room.
At the end of the hallway, the door to the right is what they used as a workshop.
The door to the finished bedroom is at the very end of the hallway.
And that is our home!! We love it already. We will be here for a very, very long while.
