Hope you like it!

Here, finally, is the great news I have been hinting at. After a crazy month, we have the house up for sale and have a contract in place on a new house in town. It's about 10 minutes from the office and less than that to the heart of campus.

Okay, first a bit of scene setting:

We have been in love with this house for about a year now. Periodically, we get to visit it in order to take care of a very cute Sheltie named Riley.

About a month ago, I mentioned to Jen while we walked up to the house to see Riley, that if Mary Ann would just put this house up for sale we'd make her an offer.

Not 20 minutes later she told us she was listing the house in about three weeks!! So needless to say we went on a tour of the house with completely different eyes than ever before. All of that has led to structural analysis, inspections, repairs and lots of negotiations.
The current owner, Mary Ann, has lived there for only a year. The prior owners were there for 40 years after the house was built in 1965.

Please forgive any messiness in the photos, because she didn't know we were going to take pics! Oops!

So here goes:

1965 two-story block home with a 150 yr old oak in the front yard!

Be sure to click on the photo for a larger view!

This is the foyer. The floor is beautiful original flagstone that has been maintained and sealed, so it is gorgeous. One of my favorite features of the house.
At this juncture, you may step up and enter the living room, turn right and enter the den, or turn left to the half bath area.

Another shot of the foyer including the front door.

After taking the two steps up into the living room, this wonderful view greets you!
Floor to ceiling windows encompass half of the room with a view into the shaded back yard. Between this and the flagstone foyer, we were hooked!
Click on the picture to see it in more detail.

This is from the window side of the living room, facing the wall and dining room to the left. The foyer is off camera to the right.

View of living room from the dining room.

This is the den which is off of the foyer. It has great light and a gas fireplace.
We love the built-ins!

The kitchen is right off the den and connects to the dining room on the other side. We will have to do some remodeling in the kitchen to bring it up to date, but it is fully functional. Emphasis on the "funk" part!! (Mauve tile!)
There is a sun room just off the kitchen to the right. It leads to a laundry room.

This is the back patio which is right off the dining room. It curves all the way around the left to connect with a walkthrough to the carport. Plenty of room to have a patio set and grill.
All shaded too!

This is the back side of the yard. I am standing at the fence at the back of the property. This grassy area is on the other side of some oak and cypress trees which are surrounded by very established and huge azaleias.

View of the backside of the house from the fence.

Patio and balcony off of master bedroom.

Upstairs landing
The floors are all original and has been taken care of very well. The current owner has had them refinished recently.

This is the landing facing the other way leading to the master bedroom.

This is the master bedroom looking out to the balcony and great windows. (Remember that we surprised her with a picture tour so forgive the unmade bed!)

So that is it! We are very excited and very ready for a change. We really are girls that like to be closer to the center of town. It just feels right once you have spent so many years right in the thick of things. The bigger house, friendlier yard, and overall investment will be so nice. The house has so much character and doesn't feel like a big box holding a bunch of unimaginative little boxes!

We will have to remodel the master bath because it is very small and update the kitchen, but that is built into the money we will make on the sale of this house. The new house is on close to 1/2 acre and the living space is about 2800 sq ft. A far cry from here. We are looking forward to having more space and allowing the dogs to enjoy their shaded oasis!

Let us know what you think!