Where We Live

So, my sisters have been begging for some photos of our new place. I have finally finished all the projects I thought were necessary to complete before I let them look at it. Now let me offer a precursor to my divulgement. When we moved to New York, we were so totally set on living in one of the fantastic looking houses on post. These photos are credited to www.army.mil.

See what I mean. Nice. Big. Close to work, friends, grocery store. Perfect for a potentially growing family. The only problem was, we had 2 months to be on the waiting list, then we would drop to place 97. The likelihood of getting a home on that list was pretty much impossible. Originally we thought we would just live in the hotel for the 2 months. Sounds like fun, right? That didn't seem like the best idea after a week of microwavable meals and drying cloth diapers on the extra bed. This entire time we were on the hunt for a place to rent just in case we didn't get a house on post.

In the midst of our searching, I found a HUGE house on 8.5 acres of land in a cute little town we thought would be fun to live in. Just for kicks one night, I said we should go search it out. We didn't find the house that was $2300 a month to rent, but we did find a little home that we thought could be fine as a month to month place until we got on post. After looking at it closer though, we realized there just wasn't going to be enough room for our trailer that had our entire house in it. Then, as a miracle, the owner told us of another place he said had plenty of parking.

We arranged to see him the next day and take a look. When we walked in, the place smelled terrible!!! Like rotten eggs and something dead. There was junk everywhere, old clothes molding in the tub, stains from the toilet on the floor, carpet bloches I didn't want to think about too hard, and food left in the fridge and cupboards from the occupants who had packed up (I use that term very loosely) and left 2 months prior.

I thought, "I can stay here for a month and half, but there is NO WAY I can live here for the next 3 years. This place is disgusting!!!" So, begrudgingly, we lived out of boxes and searched every day for an alternate place of residence. I probably drove for 36 solid hours looking at places. And all of them were overpriced, small, or falling apart. Occasionally the thought would come to me, "What if we stayed in the little green house." Then I would look around and see this:

No place for dining comfortably. A long hallway for a kitchen. Cupboards that I can only reach with a stool (That may or may not be a problem anywhere though.)

Small. Cramped. Small. 

No toilet paper holder! No counter space. Hardly any storage. Oh, and did I mention stinky. 

You can't tell from this picture, but the bathroom smells, no matter what I do to combat it. 

There is no closet in this room. Ya. No closet!!

If you look closely, you can see my little girl asleep in her port-a-crib. 

And the shape is a little funky. 

I know. I know. It is not that bad. I think I was just being super picky. I had set up in my mind that we would be getting a house with 3 bedrooms so that if I wanted to become crafty, I could. I wanted small niceties like a toilet paper holder, a garbage disposal, usable internet, screens on the windows, a heat vent in my bedroom. 

But the Lord is really good at what He does. Slowly he helped me to see that this small place was actually everything we were looking for. Once I let go of pride and decided to make it our home, we found it was just the right amount of secluded, we could put our desk in the kitchen (a placement we had been dreaming of having for a while now), the Hubby could build an aquaponics system, we could grow a garden, and our landlord is wonderful to work with. 

So, pride aside, and I'm sure with a little head shaking from above, we kept the place we originally found. And without further ado, this is now our home. 

A. Rae's room.Ya, she's a doll.

We built this closet. Much more accessible than the one I kept hitting my head on. 

The boxes hold A. Rae's toys. 

We make shifted a separator between the tile and the carpet. And I stained the doors and frames. 

This is now a storage closet.

This chalkboard is painted to the wall. I touched up the black back spray and added the frame. The totes hold our recycling. 

It is nice to have a place for everything to go in the entryway. Easier to drop it all when you get in.

I love, love, love our photos of Bear Lake on the wall.

Baking jars: idea courtesy of the Hubby.

I like my washing materials holder that is really a cake stand that is really a flower pot that is really neat. :)

The Hubby moved the microwave above the stove. Much more counter space that way, even though I hated!! the look of it at first. 

We needed extra space for our food, but the pantry was no big deal to purchase. And there is my crafty calendar. I got to be crafty after all, even with only 2 bedrooms. 

Here it is! The desk in the kitchen. It is so nice when someone needs to work on something and still wants to be a part of the conversations, which are always in the kitchen for some reason. 

Love our family tree wall. 

The house is not so small now. It actually is 130 sq. ft. smaller than our last place, but feels so much bigger because of the open concept. 

I love our area rug. So glad we had an excuse to buy it. No data analysis charts necessary to convince the Hubby of the need for this purchase. 

I stained and painted those stairs. The little girl who lived here before drew all over the side of the stairs, so they became white. Let's just say this project took a while. Everything was bare wood before.  

I'm going to get a sticker to go around the temple picture that says, "I love to see the TEMPLE". Idea courtesy of Mum. 

(Notice the toilet paper holder?)

No bathroom of mine would be complete without a few rubber ducks.

Easy storage space solution.

The stairs lead up to our room. It is kind of a loft, sort of....

Our patriotic wall. 

We built a closet like the one in A. Rae's room. 

And that's that. What a difference an attitude can make (and some good pins from Pinterest). Really we just needed to make it our own. Now when people come to visit, they say, "Wow! Your house is really nice." We always agree.