Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Our House in pictures.

The front of our house. The tree to the right is the frangipani/plumeria tree. Notice the bars on the windows- they're all on the inside (not the outside like in Tucson).
The hallway and our phone. I like the colors and the floors. I hate the phone's ringer. That is a large mirror in the back.

The Lounge (aka the living room). It is the first room on the left as you enter the front door. I love the bay window- it catches a lot of sunlight and the wind blows through it nicely. The couches are the most uncomfortable ones ever (many sore backs have been caused). Fire place not pictured.
The guest bedroom. The first room to the right off of the front door. The pillows were stolen for use on our couches to lessen the back pain!
Our bedroom. The second room on the right. Duvets and their covers are very big here.
The dining room. The second room on the left. It has a fireplace and gets great morning light.
The kitchen. The last door on the left. The stove is electric and the plates are flat metal discs (not coils). The fridge size is what would be considered "apartment sized" in the US. Because it is small and things go bad quickly here, we go to the grocery store almost every day for food. The owners are going to re-do almost everything! New cabinets, new window; hopefully new floors too!
The bathroom. The last door on the left. The tile is falling apart; the owners are going to re-do it all and make it a shower stall, replace the window and the vanity. They will also add a medicine cabinet, which will mean that we won't have to use our travel cases for storage.
The breakfast nook. Off of the kitchen. We do not use this room for anything, but it may become an office or craft room once we get our things.
Our back patio. It has three levels, two of bricks, one of grass. Not pictured to the immediate left is our laundry room. The structure to the front and left (you can see the corner) is the guest house that is being rented to a grad student; we both use the same entrance.
Our grassy back yard. It is enough of a yard for the dogs. It is a bit dry because it hasn't been watered this summer. The pink flowers you see are oleander.



Well, I hope you've enjoyed the tour! It is the biggest place we have ever lived and because we do not have our things, it feels very empty and unlived in. Our lease agreement does not allow us to hang things on the walls, but I noticed that we have a picture rail in many of our rooms. Have any of you used on of these? How did it work? I’m hoping to add some variation to the yellow walls. We now have an updated estimate of our things arriving 08 April 2011. Another month of waiting! I think that it won’t really feel like home until we have our things around us. As I mentioned in some of the photo captions, the owners (UCT) are going to be re-doing several rooms, fixing floors, and painting inside and out. I’m getting worried that this is going to be a major problem for me/us. I will have to be here most of the day to let workers in and out and the dogs will be on alert all the time (as well as stuck inside!). One possibility that we have been considering is to move to another, long-term, place before most of the work begins and before our things arrive. I really can’t face more home construction, unpacking boxes and then moving in less than six months! But at the same time, I don’t want to rush into a lease agreement and not take our time finding the right place. What is your opinion?

If you noticed, I asked questions in the post, hoping that you might answer. In the history of this blog, I have had over 250 views and only 14 comments posted. Please, please say something, even if it is just to say “hi, hello, or howzit.” We really need to feel as though we have not fallen off the face of the earth and been forgotten- so post comments on P’s blog too! Thanks in advance!



Love,
M

5 comments:

Yvette said...

Hello there. The house looks so cute! Thanks for the pictures and the tour. In regards to looking for a new a place, I say do it. You are going to have to move anyways and if you don't have to unpack, pack and unpack again the better. Well, that is my opinion.
Thanks for all the updates.
Love, Yvette

Lovely Light said...

Yay for commenting! Thanks for the opinion about moving. The only hard part is that there are not many options for people with dogs... they are few and far between.

Anonymous said...

this posting is tricky just lost several paragraphs...will do better this time.
Thanks for the pictures. Now I have an idea. I like the floors too. I think you can use hooks on the rail for hanging pictures. Sometimes the rail is called wainscoting.
I UCT knew that they were planning construction in the house. It is too bad they were not forthright in telling you about it. That may be how it is there, so I would never trust them 100%. It may just be part of the cultural difference, but is shows little respect for tenants. I would wish you could find another place before it goes on...Like you say, stressful on animals and people. If you can move soon, you will not have to move everything two times. Start looking asap and see what you can find.
Anyway, it sounds like, other than some people getting older, that you are having some good times, and I think you will have many good times in the months and years to come.
Love, Dad ps will work on skype this week

Anonymous said...

Ok, I totally have issues with trying to post things on your blog! I swear I just did, but nothing is here so I'm just saying hello again:) You're place is really cute, but I agreed that you should look for other options. Moving is no fun, so it would be nice not to have to do it twice in 6 months. We should try to set up skype sometime soon! We miss you! Love,
Sarah

Lovely Light said...

D- UCT was not being sneaky, the projects just snowballed out of control from just re-doing the kitchen cabinets to everything else. We have not spoken up about it, and I think that they would respect us if we said we did not want the construction.
S- It seems as though some people, not just you, have problems posting as well. Not sure why. I miss you too! When are you going to Costa Rica?