We got the house! & {Exterior Before Pictures}

I just want to start out by saying THANK YOU to all our family, friends and many of you we've never even met for praying for us as we anxiously bit our nails during this whole house process. God has blessed us beyond our imagination, and with that said, we are still in a dream-like state. So thank you for praying on our behalf. We pray our home will be used to glorify Him; that comers and goers will know that this was His doing; His will for our family.

Time to start building memories.

...But we also have a lot of work ahead of us. I will begin with a "before" exterior shot of our little homestead. I will post many "after" photos starting in August.

The home is a newer construction with a story behind it. It sits on 26 acres atop a hardwood mountain. An older couple built this home to retire in. The husband was a contractor and built it from the ground up. He passed away in 2009, leaving behind his wife and their unfinished home. She resided in the home for a year or two, and decided to move closer to family. Two weeks after she listed the property for sale, we placed an offer.

I imagine it was difficult letting go of this home, but at closing we could see relief in the seller's eyes when she heard our vision for the home and that it is being sold to a family who will truly love and care for it.

There were three showings before us and each inquirer was turned off by the same thing:

the driveway. It is 600 feet long. We live in New England. One word: winter. 

We have a solution for that. He is a 6 ft, tall, dark and handsome country man who wants nothing more than to run his own snow plow. I like to call him Hubby :)
 
There are so many things we had in common with the seller when it came to our ideal house lot and one of them is this: privacy. Absolute, serene seclusion.

view from the house

berries on the property

Our immediate exterior to-do list:

1. Make a lawn. Hubs loves running an excavator so he plans to extend the edge of the existing "lawn" (it is all dirt and a loop driveway right now, with the exception of green grass growing on the leech bed). He plans to get rid of the loop driveway and make the majority of it a lush, green yard :)

2. Stain the porch and fix up/stain the deck.

At some point we'd also like to make another sitting area under the deck (first photo in this post). Right now there is a tarp under there with some wood the seller left behind, along with other random things that are being tossed. I think it will eventually look nice with a couple rocking chairs and maybe a porch swing :)


Well, that is it for the exterior shots for now! I plan to post before pictures of the interior tomorrow. I would love some feedback on paint selection after the pictures are up :)