Le Tour De House

Would ya like a tour of our abode?  (I'm pretending you're having a conversation with me.)

Yes, please!

Wonderful!  I'd pour you a cup of coffee, but nothing good would come out of me having two cups of hot liquid next to my lappy (lap top, of course).  So just sit back, relax, and enjoy a tour of the Carlson Casa from the comfort of your own home.

*Note:  pictures were taken by the realtor (Helen Crow - if you live in Topeka and need a house, go to HER - she is amaaaaaaazing).

Let's begin with the outside, shall we?

 This is the first picture of the house I ever saw.  I was less than impressed.  I still think the pictures from the side angle showcase it much better. 

 Aaaaand the back.  Note: Daniel and I have not mastered the art of gardening....we're hoping our thumbs will turn green this winter.  And if not, we both have moms with green thumbs, and they live less than a day's drive from us.......so perhaps they will offer to help greenify our lawn.  Hint, hint....

What you're looking at is the screened-in porch (duh), the living room addition (right side), the front living room (left, bottom), and entry into the kitchen (through the French doors you can barely see through the screened-in porch).  We're hoping for a killer 4th of July party next summer.  Consider this your invitation!

Step inside our house and you will see a quaint entryway with gorgeous woodwork.  The French doors you're looking through lead to the dining room (and the only room with floor-to-ceiling wallpaper, hallelujah).

Changes to be made in the dining room:  lose the brass chandelier (and stat!), remove the wallpaper, paint with a fun, boldish color (this room is entirely contained - swinging door leads to the kitchen - how fun!).

 Living room at the front of the house.  Don't you just love the woodwork on the fireplace!?

 All the wood floors are original to the house (built in 1940).

Before we travel upstairs, we'll finish the main floor.  This is the full bathroom on the main level.  Complete with bird decor.

 This is the room we will likely spend most of our time.  It is just off the kitchen (and by "just off," I mean the kitchen directly overlooks this room - what I've always wanted).  There are two sky-lights on the ceiling that are southeast-facing - perfect for sunlight of course!

I almost didn't have kitchen pictures to show you.  Now THAT would have been a travesty.  Already planning for the dozens of cinnamon rolls I'm going to make in the next few weeks.  We have BIG plans for the kitchen.  I've also always wanted a kitchen with white cabinets, so one of my summer jobs is to transform this kitchen.  Pretty excited about it.

*Note:  while the house was built in 1940, the kitchen/laundry room (to the right), screened-in porch, and living room with sky-lights were added in 1994 - what a great year (the year our fam-bam moved to Abilene, sigh).

 Another view. 

 And yet another view...

Let's move upstairs, shall we?  There's a lovely window seat at the top of the stairs.  I'll show it to you sometime.  This is the office - big plans for the bookshelves.  BIG. 

 Guest room.  We believe that lovely lamp is original to the house.  I'm planning to go with a beach cottage theme in this room - real light and airy. 

 Master bedroom.  Again, gorgeous light fixture.  Hoping to paint it a soothing blue over my Christmas break.

 This is my dad's room.  He's already claimed it.  Scroll to the top and look at the picture of the front of the house.  I'll wait........  The window on the top floor in the middle is the one you're looking at right now.  We refer to this room as the "sewing room," but I'm looking to use it for my morning quiet time.  It's an itty-bitty room, so I'm looking for a small, but comfortable, chair.  Any ideas?

 

Before we head outside again, let's take a quick peak at the basement and garage.  I have big dreams for the basement, but the nice thing is that because there's plenty of room elsewhere, we don't need the space it offers (right now...).  Maybe someday.  For now, it functions as laundry room #2 (story to come) and storage space (thanks to dad for investing in those awesome shelves for us!!).  

This, my friends, is what we in the biz like to call a tandem garage.  There is technically space for two vehicles...parked one in front of the other.  Most likely, the back part will be used for Daniel's workshop while the front part will house the beloved Alero.

Quickly, before you take off, let's look at the backyard.  Again, we will obviously need green thumbs...

 See that swing-set?  Yeah, that belongs to us now...

I will leave you with the image that began this journey.  We've only been here a week, but it's already starting to feel like home.  We feel so blessed to have found this house (and purchase it at a reasonable price!).  We already have 3 events on our entertaining calendar (all in the next 4 weeks, ee gads!), and we're hoping to schedule many more.  It is a big house, yes, and we obviously don't need all that space...which is why we are pumped to have YOU over!  Please, stop by sometime!  We promise to feed you, let you relax, or put you to work. Kidding.  Kind of. 

While we may have paid money for this sweet abode, we recognize that it's still not ours.  So we give this house and everything in it back to the One who gave it to us in the first place.
"The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him." Psalm 24:1

May we use it to glorify the One to whom it belongs.

Stop on by!  We'd love to have you. :)