Friday, April 18, 2008
Drumroll, please....
Ok, since some of you (:::cough:::, Leeann) are impatiently hinting to see pictures, I'm going to go ahead and post some even though the house is far from ready. Since our walls are masonry, we don't have the tools necessary to hang any artwork and we are lacking couches in our living room (which, come to think of it, I didn't even photograph, so never mind), we need carpets and some places need new drapes, etc., etc.
So, now without further ado here is our new home (comments are for the picture below them):
Here is the family room and dining room. You can see through the doorway to the right the living room and stairs leading to the second floor. The door behind the dining table leads to a hallway and the guest bath, kitchen, 5th bedroom and opens up into the stairs and living room.
This is a view of the family room standing in the dining room. You can see that out our window there is a little garden area. Right now there is are two trees and a bougainvillea (that needs quite a bit of TLC) in the middle. On the right side of the garden there are some lovely white flowers, impatiens maybe) that are starting to come back with a little attention. Unfortunately, the entire left side is completely dead and we will need to redo the whole thing probably. We have our patio furniture just outside the window. Oh, and the doors to the left? There are two sets of front doors - one in this room and one in the living room. We assume that it was originally designed to be a men's entrance and a ladies' entrance. But the previous tenant lost the key to this set of doors so we only use the one in the living room.
Here's a picture of our dining room. You can see we really need to hang our artwork! But I have our china cabinet set up with our Willow Tree and Precious Moments collectibles, and oh yeah, some chinaware! And see that rectangular box up on the wall near the top of the picture? That our "split a/c unit." They are similar to window units, but work SUPER well. In fact, it's often too cold in the house. The thing I like about them is that we only have to cool the room(s) we are in. In a house this size central air would cost a fortune, I'm sure!
Here's our kitchen. See that mound of dishes drying? That's what I spend my life doing. That dishwasher is coming soon, I tell you. You want to hear something funny? All refrigerators here come with a lock. We think it is to keep out the maid. But I should probably hide the key from myself! LOL!! To the right of the picture, out of sight, is the door to the back, where you would find a "maid's room" which we are using for storage and a second kitchen. For some weird reason, Arabs don't seem to appreciate the smell of food cooking in the house, so they often use another kitchen for cooking and just use the main kitchen for small things. There is not stove there, so we are using that for storage as well and also as a laundry room. You can see the door - it's that brown thing with the semi-circle on it out the window. Also, you can see here the stove of death. I should have taken a close up of the knives of death as well, but didn't want to get too close.
Here is the loft, where the stairs lead you. The four bedrooms upstairs are along the wall to the right and one behind you. The couches and entertainment center belong to the company and we will replace the eventually. I found a rug I wanted to put up here today, but we had plants and soil in the car and I didn't want it to get ruined, so we will go back tomorrow.
Here is half of my bedroom. The other half is a) too messy to show you and b) wouldn't fit in the picture. The little alcove on the left is directly above the garden area described above. I love it because the tree is FULL of birds chirping all the time. I want to get a birdbath (now that I'm not in mosquito laden South Florida) and watch them splash about. Out of camera sight on the left is my bathroom (did I mention Hubby and I have our own bathrooms? I am loving it!!!) and wardrobe. Yes, no closets here in the Middle East. In fact, Jimmy Carter could have stayed home because I'm convinced that a great majority of the anger and tension here is that people have no place to put things. It's very annoying. Really, really annoying. No clothes closets, no linen closets, no coat closets - nada. But I like the room. The curtains I brought from home are too short and I want to get a nice armchair and table to put in the corner (or maybe the alcove, but it might get too hot) and make a little quiet place for me to read.
Here's Emily's room. She had wanted this exact color from the time we were in Miami, so it's like this was made for her. It really looks nice with her white furniture. She's got tons of things to put up on her walls as well and she would like to have a mural painted on the ceiling.
She wanted me to include this picture. She took photos of all her friends from Miami and made a pyramid out of all of them. It is not, I repeat NOT, a Christmas tree, or so she claims.
So that's all I've got for now. Next week I'll hopefully have pictures of the outside of the house, Daniel's room, and the living room. Little by little we are getting there!
Thanks for taking a tour of the house with me!
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11 comments:
Now you know how I feel about washing dishes....ALL THE TIME!!! lol And, we have 6 people, not 4!!! Hey, when's MY dishwasher coming?? Oh, I forgot...right after the stove!!! lol The house looks great, I don't care what you say! :-)
The house looks enormous!! You are making great progress!
Hey Lori,
I am loving the tour! Your new house looks fantastic and I can hear the optimism in your voice. I am so proud of how you are adjusting to your new life.
I seriously want to visit you in about a year or so.
Love ya,
Leeann
I LOVE it!!
Fun story-ages ago when looking at an old house to get married in, we asked why there were no closets. i think the house was 1930's, maybe earlier. they just did not build houses with closets then-i think b/c of the expense. i don't quite remember.
Lori, you are making a home out of your house. Its wonderful.
I just need to ask where are you hanging the clothes? And do all houses have 3 floors. Remember S.Fl where most houses are 1 or 2 stories max and plenty of closets....
Have a great weekend....Ivy
What a beautiful home!! It looks wonderful! And I will confess I'm WAY jealous that you have no mosquitoes. Up here in Canada, we have the frozen season and the mosquito season....
I LOVE that window alcove in your bedroom! Thanks for the tour!!
PS. You're one of my featured favourites this week.
Hi Lori,
So nice to hear you're meeting people and getting your house together. Your home looks beautiful! I loved looking at the pictures. I sure miss you and your children. Dylan asked me the other day if we could go visit someday. :)
Love you,
Kathy Calhoun
Thanks for sharing these photos with us. All of the rooms are large. I love the little alcove in your bedroom. That would be my spot for quiet time. Looks like you have tile thoughout which helps cool. I have them in my bath and kitchen here for the first time and I find that these and my wood floors make it difficult to keep the house clean. They're always dusty. I would prefer carpet in my house.
Keep sharing,
Mama Bear
i just love this post - i feel like i have been waiting months to see what your new house looks like. since i keep re-looking at the pictures, i figured i should leave a comment!!!
yeah!!!
love
jess
Lori,
I'm just catching up on your blog. There are really cool wall hangers that you find at Carrefour in the hardware section. They come in a box of about 50 with different sizes the box is green I think. They have 4 or 5 small nails and are white plastic. You find it in with the hardware. I've used two of the biggest sizes for my big pictures but mostly just one. They are fantastic.
They are great because you just use a hammer to attach them to the wall. If careful they don't leave big marks when you take them out.
Your house is great!