Our House

Maybe you are curious-maybe not, but here are the details. After living in very small accommodations for many years, we were determined to find a large house to spread out. I'm not exactly sure how large this house is, but probably at least 3000 sq. feet. For us, that's a huge difference. We previously had a 4 bedroom house in the UK that was between 1300-1400 sq. feet....for 7 people. Ugh. Needless to say, storage and living space was at a premium.

Our new van is on the left. I am not sure who owns that other van parked in front. Our house is about 20 minutes from DH's work, and about the same amount of time to the girls' school. The distance is actually shorter to school, but the roads are curvy up the mountain, so a much slower speed than using the autobahn. We live in an established residential area. It is a mixture of apartment buildings or flats, and free-standing (single dwelling) homes. We actually live in a building that used to be 5 apartment flats. It is 3 levels, plus the basement. The first floor is above street level and has the kitchen, living room, dining room and bathroom/storage/utility. The landlord has 4 other rooms (with a wall dividing) and separate entrance on this level as his offices. The second floor has 2 full baths and 5 bedrooms. The third level has a large family/play area ,a bedroom used as storage, and the "Princess Suite" for the oldest daughter. This consists of a bathroom and two adjoining bedrooms. We really have lots of space! So much, that some days I wish we had a smaller space so that I could keep up with the daily maintenance! It really is difficult to keep up with this 8-9 bedroom/4 bath house. The tile floors attract quite a bit of "fluff". However, I'm not sure that we'll ever have this much space again.

I really miss having closets. That's where I keep everything so the house looks tidy. When you just have wardrobes, it's really hard to hide your stuff effectively. The kids are sure enjoying lots of space to run, hide and play!

Update: I forgot to mention that the house was built in the post-war 1950's. This, apparently, was not a great time for architecture. It is a stucco, like many of the other houses here. It looks pink in this photo. It really is more of a peach-y color. Not my first choice, but you won't see me on a tall ladder to repaint. It doesn't have that "cookie cutter" wood look like other houses here-it's a building. It was a bit of curiosity to the neighbors. Our landlord gutted the house and put in new pipes, heating, floors, walls, etc. When we first moved in we noticed small groups of older German ladies on the sidewalk chatting. Maybe they were speculating how one family could accommodate such a large house. Or...just maybe they were wondering how one family could afford to heat this monster house. This is a discussion that we have very often ourselves :)