Our house is the wooden house on the left - kinda dark and hard to see. The tin house on the right (behind the truck) is a guest house owned by another mission (so nice guest housing if anyone wants to come visit!!!) Together the two houses are some of the oldest mission properties on our island. The administrator for our house - who has 3 kids in college and is probably in his early 50s - lived in our house when he was a little boy and his parents were missionaries here!!! But, don't freak out... the house got totally gutted and redone two years ago so it's beautiful and nice and new inside. :)
This is the view when you first walk in the door... the kitchen is right off the dining area. Through the door on the left is our porch. The hall to the bedrooms is down the right.
I LOVE the kitchen! The pics don't really do it justice. It's really nice, with tile counter tops (that's actually standard here - it's tile or plywood) :) In the corner cabinets are "lazy susan" type cabinets and there's a slotted cabinet for cookie sheets.
You can tell how tiny our fridge and oven are though! Our oven is actually pretty standard size - the extra space is for the LPG tank (ours is outside). The fridge is tiny - it's a bit of a joke. But we weren't thinking we would even have a real fridge and this one was given to us, so I won't complain. (So you don't think we were going to be without a fridge/freezer we had planned on using our solar powered fridge and freezer that we have for when we live in a tribe - you can also run them on regular power - which is what we're doing with our chest freezer to have more freezer space.)
This is our enclosed porch. I LOVE it! It wraps around the back of the house and has our washer and our big chest freezer, but this part is the boys' play area. I had wanted to put all their toys out on the porch, but it's not real secure and the people living here prior to us had had some break-ins on the porch (but never into the actual house!) So for now, we basically just keep some little toys and their vast Play Dough stash out here. Elijah takes his rest time out here so Caleb can get a good nap.
This is the view from the porch door looking down the hallway at the bedrooms.
First door on the right is the older boys' room. Brant built the bunk beds; it's the first time they've shared a room and the transition is going HORRIBLE... so if anyone has any tips on how to get them to go to sleep at night and not talk and play then I'd be happy to hear them. (But I do NOT want to hear "You and Melanie were just like that, so you're getting what you deserve" from my parents!!) :):)
Ezra's room (last door on the right). I loved our old house with its tiny bedrooms. Why does a 2 year old need so much space???
Our bedroom is right across the hall from the older boys' room. It is HUGE. Not sure what else to put in it.... :)
Took a pic of all the cabinets/dressers/closets... every bedroom has these - SO much storage space. But it eliminates the need for dressers (which is good as we don't own any!) so leaves the bedrooms pretty bare.
The bathroom is at the end of the hallway. I LOVE it.... wonderful great inventions like a real shower and hot water. :) I do NOT love that there is only one bathroom in the whole house... sharing a bathroom with a 4 year old and a 6 year old little boy is not my idea of fun. :) But I'm very thankful that it's big and nice. :)
I didn't take a picture of our office - it's the smallest bedroom right next to ours. It's been our dumping ground for stuff that doesn't have a home yet so it's not exactly something I want posted for the whole world to see. :)
We've made a few changes since these pictures were taken - Brant's built some shelves/nightstands, and we put another bar on Elijah's bunkbeds (so the grandmas can stop freaking out!!) :):)
Just for a bit of reference for everyone out there that likes to study house plans (like my dad!) - our house measures in at just over 1500 sq feet (according to our measurements). And all the bedrooms are 10x12ish... so really, by States' standards, they are not huge. But we don't have a lot of furniture and we're used to bedrooms here (Elijah's bedroom at our other house was 7x9 and our "master bedroom" was 9x11) so to us we are living in a mansion. :)
Emily ~
ReplyDeleteWow! Thank you for the pictures and the tour! It is so nice to have a mental image of where you live and what things are like. I understand, now, what you meant when you told me there was A LOT of open space! I'll bet your boys love all the room to play! The closed in porch is nice for them, too.
It's nice to see your "things" up in your new home. I recognize some of them from your very first little converted garage house! I like your new furniture. I would love to see a close up of your rocking chair, now that it has been refinished. Is that a corner cabinet??? You know how I love my corner cabinets!
I really like the bunk beds. My compliments to Brant! That configuration is similar to what Amber and Beau have for the girls' bunks (they used to be the twin beds at GG's house). To be honest, Amber and Brant's first set of bunks had NO rail and he slept on top! I don't remember him ever falling off, though I must say, I do feel better seeing that Elijah will be more secure than his Daddy was.
Those built in closet/cupboard/dressers are really quite nice. What a great idea! There's one thing about it...less furniture means easier cleaning.
What does the front of your house look like? The garage? The view? The yard? Do the boys have a nice place to play outside? Is there a place to hang Ezra's swing? I guess I am just never satisfied, am I? So sorry!
I really can't wait to come visit! Your home looks very comfy and inviting. Thank you for making a nice home for our boys, Emily.
My love ~ Kathy
Beautiful pictures! I miss it already! You have such a lovely house & your innate gift of hospitality makes it that much lovelier. It was so incredible to finally see a glimpse of your life. Hugs to you, dear friend. :) :) :)
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