Casa de los Carrs

It's official! As my father would say, Kody and I have achieved the American dream ... a home mortgage!

Or if you prefer a little more optimistic outlook, you could say that we bought our first home!

Welcome to Casa de los Carrs at something, something, something, Champaign, IL!

After we found out Kody got into vet school, we've been anxiously awaiting this day when we don't have to share walls with strangers, let Noodles out on a leash, wash clothes in a tiny washer, eat at a folding table and have guests sleep on the living room futon. Now if you visit us, you get to have your own room with a door! (Still working on the bed part though, sorry!)

So here's a little tour of our humble abode - a 1962 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 1,080 sq. ft. ranch that we can now call home!

One of our three bedrooms - I believe this is what we'll use as the master. I'm only including this pic b/c all the other rooms all look the same - small, wood floors, two windows, different paint.

Living room looking toward the kitchen - I'm standing at the front of the house with the front door on the right and garage on the left. I love those doors!

View of the living room from the doors that lead to the kitchen.

Beautiful kitchen!! SO excited for this!!

They redid the kitchen, but forgot to include a dishwasher. Because of that, I'm pretty sure this kitchen will never look this nice again (re: dirty dishes everywhere). I think the thing I'm most excited about is not having a microwave on our counter!

Fenced in backyard for Noodles! We have a beautiful patio for grilling out (now we just need some furniture for it), two big trees with a hammock and a fire pit! Behind where I'm standing is the beginning of a small garden!

And now you get to see the beautiful teal blue bathroom that is slightly overwhelming. Vanity is to the right and toilet is to the left. It's really a nice bathroom and in good shape if you can get over the blueness. Any suggestions on how to handle it!? We're planning on probably redoing it next summer, but if it's salvageable, please let me know!

We've got a long to-do list that Kody is super excited about, including sanding and staining the hard wood floors (tackling that this weekend before we move any of our furniture in), painting all the rooms and adding landscaping to this house that has barely an inch of it. Those three are priority this summer, but the longer list includes things like:

- redoing the bathroom
- adding a dishwasher
- extending the driveway to the left, so we don't have to shuffle cars around
- beautifying the front porch
- patio fence edging
- replace a few windows
- insulate attic
- address my hallway laundry room that is covered by curtains

I took these pictures at our home inspection, but I'm planning on sharing lots more as Kody, and the many friends and family who have offered to help (thank you thank you so much!), start making these empty rooms a little more homey.

And now pray for me as I spend the weekend in an extremely dusty, smelly, dusty, dirty and dusty home while we sand and stain the floors. Did I mention dust? Dust that is going to try to inhabit every crevice of our new, beautiful, pristine home. Lots of d.u.s.t. = lots of c.l.e.a.n.i.n.g. for me. :-)

Welcome to the loveliness of home ownership, Katie! And to you two blog readers - welcome to our home adventure that you get to follow from a nice, clean distance via computer.