The Casa in Ohio

Like that spanglish in the title? I knew you would...

So now that we have been here coming on a year, I thought I would post pics of our casa up here in Ohio since so many have asked for pictures. :) No time like the present, eh? This house has taught me a few must-haves and will-never-again haves for our future house when we get back to Raleigh.

You know, to get the full "ohio" effect....with snow everywhere :)

 

First never-have: a garage with two doors instead of one big door. I cant' tell you how many times I have scratchded the sides of those doors. Our Pilot was a tight fit and now the van is SUPER tight. I had to pull up multiple times just to back out for the first 3-4 months living here. Now, it is winter so I just dont go anywhere :) ha

 

Second never-have: 3 steps and call it a "deck." Oh how we have missed our deck! Ohio summers are beautiful! No humidity, no bugs, but we had no where to sit outside and enjoy our grilled dinners. We ended up going camping-style and sitting in our camping chairs while the twins ate at their picnic table, but wow, would have loved a deck up here!

 

 

We have been blessed with a HUGE yard. It was a bit demanding when we first got here with 16 month olds wanting to run two different directions (it is not fenced), but we have grown to love it and let them run, run, run to get their energy out!

 

gotta love a huge cell phone tower in your back yard...at least the sunset adds some backdrop :)

 The inside: as you walk in, you see our "family" room that opens to our dining room. We have huge cathedral ceilings so it feels very bright and open when you come in (a definate plus). 

 

If you look up, you see the loft which makes things feel even more open and airy

 

From the family room, you walk into the kitchen. I'll be honest, I've enjoyed the kitchen in this house...it is open and plenty big. I can see the family room, parts of the dining room, AND the twin zone (aka living room) from the kitchen. I LOVE having an island!! It is so nice to spread everything out I'm making for dinner and have space to prepare it. HATE the white sink. That is an immediate change if our next house has that. ick. It always looks dirty!!

 



 

 

ummmm...a must have if I can help it! Slide out drawers! Every single cabinet has slide outs...it's amazing.

 

 

And now to the "living room" which we have renamed "Twin Zone." All of the twins' toys are in here and they can spread out, play with them, leave them out and no one trips on them. Many a night, we dont even clean up in there since it is in the back of the house and we don't have to see it :) It was very clean on a day we were having company, so I snapped a picture quickly! You usually can't see the carpet :)

 



 

 

 

Upstairs we have 3 bedrooms and the loft. The rooms are a bit bigger than our previous house so that has been very nice! The loft started as a catch all, then became our guest room when Easton came along and needed a room :) We contemplated closing the wall opening in, but decided against it since we didn't know how long we would be here. So, we hung curtains up instead to pull for "privacy" for our guest. ha!

 

Here it is as a catch all....

 



 

 

 

 

And now, our guest "bedroom"...

This is the 3rd bedroom which started out as our Guest Bedroom, then became Easton's Nursery(a whole post to itself!): 

 

 

 

 

A brief pause to show you the highest upgrade in the home...our 70's flower/popcorn ceiling. Really folks? If your going to take the time to stamp a flower shape over the ENTIRE house, just spray it with popcorn!

 



 

Ok, we're back. This is the twins room...bigger than our house in Raleigh so it was nice to be able to fit both cribs (now toddler beds) in the room with some space for toys and such. This is how the room was for a long time - I was taking one todler bed transition at a time!  

 

 

Now, we have two big kids in toddler beds! :( We sold Caden's crib to a family expecting twins up here and it was so sad! We're down to one crib in the house for Easton.

 

 

 

 

 

And last, our very non exciting Master bedroom. I had no motivation to fix it up not knowing how long we would be up here. As you can see, I did nothing fun with my plant shelf. I started, and then miserably failed :) Oh well.