A House with... Character?

Yesterday, June 1st, my husband and I went over to our new (rental) house to pick up the keys! YAY! We are planning to move in gradually, as our current lease doesn't end until mid-July. Moving in slowly lets us minimize chaos and stress, and allows our dog some time to visit the house a few times before irreparably traumatize him move. Plus it lets us move small stuff in our cars so we can avoid renting the BIGGEST UHAUL EVAR when we move for realsies.

Here's a shot of the house:

It was built in the 50s, but clearly the last major decorating was done in the 70s. There is shiny shiny wallpaper in the living room, the closets have these funky plastic accordion doors, one bathroom is pink-and-black while the other is blue-and-black, and I don't even want to talk about the kitchen. The entire thing is being replaced (THANK GOD) so I didn't take a lot of photos of it, but just.... here:

That floor. Those cabinets. It's just.... it's so special, you guys.

Further quirkiness is to be found in the basement, which has, for no apparent reason, a whole separate kitchen! Just, y'know. In case the entire other kitchen isn't working. There is also a full bathroom in the basement. IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM. I can't make this sort of thing up.

The yard is fully-fenced, which is great for our adventurous little dog, and has a big patio and a shed.

We are especially excited about the patio, since we plan to throw some BBQs! As soon as we buy a grill...

The yard is big, and great, but like the interior it's got.... quirks. There are a number of what I imagine were once well-tended gardens that have, shall we say, run amok:

The owner assured me yesterday that there's actually a little brick terrace somewhere under all that!

There are also a number of odd little "arbors" built by the owner's late husband, and some distinctly DIY patio extensions. It's... special.



Happily, it's rental house! So I don't have to care! I will be doing my best to design around/cope with the many quirks of this house, and keep the yard at bay but mostly I am just excited to have lots of new space to work with!

The house is so much bigger than our apartment (duh), so we are planning to have exciting new adult-type features like a guest room/home office, and not-so-adult features like a man cave. I don't even KNOW what we're gonna do with the basement yet! I'm planning to document that whole process here on the blog.

We went over there yesterday to move a single symbolic box and take measurements of the principle rooms so we (read: I) can figure out some furniture placement ideas. We also let Bilbo explore a bit, and he was somewhere between excited/curious and why-are-we-still-here-let's-go-home. Progress?