The cottage next door.

My friends and family that are on facebook have been following this adventure but much of my family and lots of my friends don’t use facebook so I feel a need to detail this here on the blog as well. We -meaning my parents and myself- bought a house 2 doors away from Clint and I. My folks currently reside at our family farm but the farm house isn’t really equipped for older folks and it is really out in the country. It is on 40 acres which already makes their neighbors quite distant and then several of the “near by” folks have moved and left their houses vacant really leaving my folks quite isolated. My dad just turned 85 at the end of December and my mother will be 75 in February and has some health issues. My dear husband got this idea when he saw several foreclosed houses in our neighborhood. I should probably preface this idea with a statement of good fortune for the amazing neighbors we have that make this seem like a good idea. We have the most FABULOUS neighbors. Clint calls it the “Fifth Street commune” but these folks are really like a second family. At any rate we saw this house 2 doors down come on the market and after some negotiating we bought it.  The house needed plumbing work and came with no appliances but we got it for less than the cost of 1 year of assisted living. We aren’t selling the family farm- we don’t intend to ever sell it. I make this statement to alleviate any concerns some folks may have. A friend’s 9 year old son was very concerned when he heard my folks were moving here- “But if Grandpa Bob moves to Cedar Springs who will take care of his tractor and where will we have our egg hunt at Easter?” No worries the farm is here to stay. Clint and I also hope to be able to more easily make improvements there when we and my folks have the ability to walk away and sleep in a non-work destructed house. Everyone who has done remodeling while trying to live in a house knows what I am talking about. I think my folks intend to go back and forth this is simply an alternative to assisted living as needed. At any rate let me give you a tour and let you know there will be LOTS of future posts as we make improvements and get it ready for them to move into. The house is a basic craftsman cottage from we believe the 1930’s but the deed is a bit fuzzy on the date. It has a mostly open floor plan with all of the required amenities- master bedroom, bathroom, laundry facilities on the main floor. The door ways are relatively wide and there is a garage. These were requirements when we were looking for a house. As a bonus we got 2 upstairs bedrooms, a good sized yard- for being in town- and a pole barn. Yes a pole barn- Clint can hardly contain himself. He has visions of he and my dad out there with lots of power tools all around them.The best part of this house is it’s proximity to ours. We can see each other out our windows. You will see what I mean when you take the virtual tour. Come on along- I would offer you some coffee or a snack but we don’t have a coffee maker yet- or a fridge for that mater.

The kitchen

  

 

The dining room.

 

A view from the dining room  to the living room and up the stairs.

A place for a stove in the dining room. Dad is thinking a wood stove.

From the dining room  out the kitchen.

The first bathroom. These pictures are from the day we signed the purchase agreement and the heat had just been turned on- which is why my helper is all bundled.

The second bathroom/laundry room that isn’t finished but we intend to finish it.

Laundry facility hook up.

Living room

Master bedroom

      

Heading up the stairs.

The front bedroom upstairs with cute eyebrow windows.

 

Knee walls with lots of storage.

The back bedroom upstairs with a knee wall and a great play nook. Caelun has it all planned out you can tell.

   

Back downstairs

 

The dining room again

 

Back to the kitchen.

The best part… look through the dinning room window… the red house..

  

…the red house is our house. The neighbors with the play place are friends and we have a gate between my folks and their yard.

 

Here here for the cottage next door!