Show me your home

[jessica31876]

it is nice until some little juvenile delinquents decide to play mailbox tag and run down the road hanging out the window of a car hitting mailboxes with a baseball bat. Has happened 5 times at least to us at around 12-15 dollars a mailbox. If they however miss and hit our pole they are gonna be in some serious pain because my husband sunk an 8 foot steel pole into concrete several feet into the ground. It will hurt to hit it. He did this after losing several poles as well as boxes. hasnt happened in awhile but most likely we will have another rash of them once school lets out.

Originally Posted by Geordie Girl

You know what makes me really jealous? You have those proper little mail boxes on posts outside your house! We just have a letterbox in the front door and the post drops onto the doormat. It must be much more exciting to wander out to your mail box each day to see if the postman has been

[Beth Swann]

Originally Posted by Geordie Girl

Land is expensive here in the UK, our little bungalow (3 beds, living room, kitchen, family bathroom, ensuite, garage and garden) would be about $350,000. We don't have basements over here either.

As of 1997's earthquake construction code for California, there are hardly any basements here in California either because it triples the price of construction.

And when the real estate market peaked here in California in 2006, we paid a similar price for the same amount of space you mentioned. However, we did get a larger lot than what you probably get in the UK.

Everyone has such lovely and large homes! I can't imagine having that much living space!

[Beth Swann]

Jessica, you and I posted the same thought at the same time! LOL! Too funny...

[jessica31876]

we dont have basements here in Florida either because of the high water level. In some places you can hit water in just a few inches. Most of the time a couple feet and you are hitting water. Not very condusive to having a basement I suppose. There are some people who pay big bucks to have a basement here but Id imagine its difficult and very expensive.

[jessica31876]

Beth it is a serious pet peeve for me because some of the people hit pay big bucks to have a custom mailbox made and when they are hit it is really sad. We spend a couple bucks to replace ours and just buy the cheapest one they sell at walmart or home depot which is usually in the 10-15 dollar price range. If we can we just bang the old mailbox back out and put it back up. I just dont get the enjoyment out of destroying someone elses property especially since alot of people in the area I live in are out of work (the area I live in is predominately blue collar workers...construction or skilled laborers)

Originally Posted by Beth Swann

Jessica, you and I posted the same thought at the same time! LOL! Too funny...

[laurabobaura]

here is a page i made last year, i think- house still looks the same

[MamaBee]

Here is my house from March... but now there is no snow... small compared to the monster houses in my neighborhood... 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath... We wish it were a bit bigger, however, not having a mortgage means more.



Tornado season... a basement for me is a must.

[[michele]]

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

What I don't like is that so many neighborhoods here have "community" mailboxes... so like, half the street has mailboxes all in one place, and you have to use a key to get your mail--it's like apartments, and I don't like that! I love how homey a real mailbox is.

That's what we have. Most of the time it doesn't bother me but ooooh I hate it when it's pouring rain. Or when our crankypants mailman shoves so much in that I can't get it out!!!!

[maryinaz]

Originally Posted by Sarah8914

Yes, I love that my grandparents still have a little box at their front door!!

I do love having a mailbox, but that sounds fun to me.

What I don't like is that so many neighborhoods here have "community" mailboxes... so like, half the street has mailboxes all in one place, and you have to use a key to get your mail--it's like apartments, and I don't like that! I love how homey a real mailbox is.

I like homey mailboxes too. But with identity theft becoming more common, I like safe mail even more. So I don't mind walking down a couple of houses to get the mail out of a locked box.

[Melissa Bennett]

Here is our home that we just closed on a few weeks ago.

[xboxmom]

I scrapped mine awhile ago as well....Though for some reason I flipped the pic of it around not sure why I did that.

[nikkiARNGwife]

Our house sits on 5 acres and our driveway is looong...sometimes i feel like I have to go on a hike to check our mail lol...

Basements are pretty uncommon anywhere in the South...the humidity is just too high. One thing around here that is becoming more common is a "tornado room" which we plan on having when we build our next home. Basically just a room in the center of the house with 4 walls encased in reinforced concrete..DH's uncle has one and it is so neat..it's just like any other room except it has no windows..they use it as a home office and then when it's bad weather they just all camp out in there.

[WalkersMommy]

Hahha, my house looks like a dump compared to all your beautiful homes. We live on a very busy street, so I can't get a full view picture unless I cross the road lol. These pictures are from when we moved in 2 years ago.




The garage door is still there, but there is no garage lol. It was converted into a master suite by the last owner.

[BrattyMeg]

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

Basements are pretty uncommon anywhere in the South...the humidity is just too high.

Where we live there's a lot of basements...wonder if it's regional by state, etc

we have a basement and pretty sure I'll never live in another house without one

[nikkiARNGwife]

Originally Posted by FlirtatiousBrat

Where we live there's alot of basements...wonder if it's regional by state, etc

we have a basement and pretty sure I'll never live in another house without one

I'm not sure...maybe it's just a Mississippi thing lol..all I know is that I REALLY wanted a basement when we were looking for houses both times that we've purchased homes and they are literally so hard to find around here..and those that did have them always had that dank mildewy smell. I do wish we had one though.

[Megan Turnidge]

I LOVE this thread! Really gorgeous houses... and jealous of all the BIG houses some of you have!

Exciting news for us... we are supposed to close on this little house this month. It is pretty small, but will be a really great starter house for us. Sits on 1.29 acres and I'm looking forward to planting some trees, grass, and a garden!

[Sarah8914]

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

I'm not sure...maybe it's just a Mississippi thing lol..all I know is that I REALLY wanted a basement when we were looking for houses both times that we've purchased homes and they are literally so hard to find around here..and those that did have them always had that dank mildewy smell. I do wish we had one though.

I don't think there are any basements in Texas either... at least, not many if there are. You don't even look for a basement when looking for a house because it's pretty much impossible to find. In fact, the idea of basements was totally new to me when I first moved out!! I think it's the soil here--at least, that's what my engineer hubby says!

[Andrea Gourley]

I'm so pleased I started this thread

[SeattleSheri]

Wow, I love everyone's houses (especially Lauren's). Unfortunately, the housing market in Seattle is horrible (IMHO). You don't get much for your $$. I am so jealous when I see houses that look like McMansions for the same price as our humble little home.

I took these a few months ago and I've done a lot of yard work since, but you get the general idea. 4 bd/2bth 1 1/2 stories. We are on a 7,000 sq ft lot and there is a carport and a 700 sq ft detached garage in the back of our house.

[Priscilla]

I think on top of himidity, some parts of TExas would be far too expensive for a basement. .. in Austin, at least there is LOTS and LOTS of rock.

[Andrea Gourley]

I really only want a basement so I can turn it into a fantastic craft room

[DawnMarch]

I so miss the finished basement we had at our old house in Virgina. There are no basements here in AZ either -- too much rock.

[scrapmonkey]

I'll post my home later, but I wanted to say that having lived in a number of places in the country, we moved to Ohio because of housing costs being so reasonable here. Andrea - your home would cost about the same in much of New England. My parents' house (3BR, 1 bath, DR, LR, Galley kitchen, den, really old and scuzzy unfinished basement) was worth about $350K-400K before the drop in the housing market and the house is almost 200 years old and has even been moved from one site to another. In Ohio, our 3 BR, LR, DR, galley kitchen, 1 1/2 bath, finished basement) was less than half the lower price. And yes part of the basement room is my craft area (the rest of the space is my office and my exercise area), I just need to keep the dehumidifier going otherwise everything gets mildewy.
And basements are a regional thing. In Texas, you can't fin one to save your life, unless you are in a tornado zone and then you have the tornado shelter under the home. In Connecticut, every home that I knew had a basement but if you are on the coast, you can't do a lot with it nor can you really "finish" it, because they can flood or seep a lot. In Ohio, it's hit or miss whether you have a basement or not. Ours is a raised ranch, so the basement isn't completely underground and isn't really great to double as a tornado shelter.

[bellbird425]

Originally Posted by ksbella

I'm an Aussie too, we are on the Sunshine Coast!

LOL that explains why i just looked at ur pic and said ' that looks NORMAL' lol - i so want something quaint and american looking !

[bellbird425]

i'm still looking for a LO i did of our house in the DST gallery -cant find anything they're not sorted by date atm -uggh - and it's been several EHDs since i scrapped it - if i find it i'll add it

[bellbird425]

here it is: still the same

[glumirk]

Originally Posted by scrapmonkey

I'll post my home later, but I wanted to say that having lived in a number of places in the country, we moved to Ohio because of housing costs being so reasonable here. Andrea - your home would cost about the same in much of New England. My parents' house (3BR, 1 bath, DR, LR, Galley kitchen, den, really old and scuzzy unfinished basement) was worth about $350K-400K before the drop in the housing market and the house is almost 200 years old and has even been moved from one site to another. In Ohio, our 3 BR, LR, DR, galley kitchen, 1 1/2 bath, finished basement) was less than half the lower price. And yes part of the basement room is my craft area (the rest of the space is my office and my exercise area), I just need to keep the dehumidifier going otherwise everything gets mildewy.
And basements are a regional thing. In Texas, you can't fin one to save your life, unless you are in a tornado zone and then you have the tornado shelter under the home. In Connecticut, every home that I knew had a basement but if you are on the coast, you can't do a lot with it nor can you really "finish" it, because they can flood or seep a lot. In Ohio, it's hit or miss whether you have a basement or not. Ours is a raised ranch, so the basement isn't completely underground and isn't really great to double as a tornado shelter.

Yeah, we're paying over twice as much as Meeegan for less space and WAAAAY less land. That may be the one thing I miss about Arizona! I don't think that any of the houses we looked at didn't have basements. Luckily ours stayed dry during the crazily rainy spring.

[Megan Turnidge]

Originally Posted by glumirk

Yeah, we're paying over twice as much as Meeegan for less space and WAAAAY less land. That may be the one thing I miss about Arizona! I don't think that any of the houses we looked at didn't have basements. Luckily ours stayed dry during the crazily rainy spring.

Your house is smaller? It doesn't look smaller! But it is sooo cute! I love your house! It's got character! Tucson would've been more expensive for the same house compared to where we are now. We're in podunkville. lol

[nikkiARNGwife]

Y'all just all need to move on down to rural Mississippi...houses and land are sooo much cheaper...we were talking to an older couple from New York who retired and moved down here..they said they sold their 1500 sq. ft home on just a lot in NY and were able to buy a nearly 3000 sq. foot home on ACRES of land for what they made on the sale of their home.

[glumirk]

Originally Posted by mturnidge

Your house is smaller? It doesn't look smaller! But it is sooo cute! I love your house! It's got character! Tucson would've been more expensive for the same house compared to where we are now. We're in podunkville. lol

Oops, I guess we have 300 sf on you guys. I guess I just thought yours was bigger because it's 3 bed/2 bath and we have 3 bed/ 1 1/2 bath, and one of the bedrooms will only really hold a crib. Still, our 0.11 acres is almost nothing, but it will be nice not paying taxes since our almost $4000/year is about normal for houses in our price range with almost no land. I do love the housing market here, and that houses are cute and I haven't seen stucco! And it's a lot greener here just naturally, so land looks far more attractive. I just wish our prices were a little closer to Arizona prices so we could pay off our house sooner.

[nesser1981]

The house we're buying has a full basement, half of it is finished. I can't wait to get in there. We're closing May 26th.

It's going to be a great starter house for us.

[jessica31876]

Ummm Nikki I have been trying to convince my husband of exactly this for oh about ten years!!! I gave him a choice of Mississippi, Tennesse or West Virginia. Yeaa his mom and dad live like 3 miles from our house and even though he is not there everyday anymore he used to be and as long as they are still htere and the kids are still in school we are stuck here. He did say the other day though that he could kick himself for not getting out of here when prices went up. And we just have a manufactured home on a one acre lot and had offers of 150,000 dollars. Would not get that now...probably be lucky to get 40,000. So we will wait til Orlando pushes its way further east and land gets harder and harder to come by HERE and when it does our values will go back up and we will sell to someone for 10 times what we paid (we paid 20,000 way back in 1987). Then I will get my home in hte mountains somewhere that I have been telling ihm I want for so very long

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

Y'all just all need to move on down to rural Mississippi...houses and land are sooo much cheaper...we were talking to an older couple from New York who retired and moved down here..they said they sold their 1500 sq. ft home on just a lot in NY and were able to buy a nearly 3000 sq. foot home on ACRES of land for what they made on the sale of their home.

[Zoe Pearn]

After seeing all your beautiful homes, you ain't got no hope of seeing mine now, it's an embarrassment - LOL!!

When I saw Lauren's, I was like WHOA!! That's ONE house?? Haha!

I guess it's true what they say - you guys just do everything BIG in America...

[jessica31876]

Zoe my house is only 800 sq. ft. Id take a picture but our yard looks like total crap right now thanks to my brother-in-law storing all his crap in our yard.

[cindys732003]

Wow, beautiful houses here! These are so fun to look at!
Here's mine taken last fall (yard is in need of a good raking LOL)

[Randa]

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

excuse the toys and potting stuff...

Oh, wow!!! I looooove your house Nikki!!! Wanna share your plans? Maybe I'll take a pic of mine when I finish the landscaping!

And wowzers, Lauren!! Get lost much?? Absolutely gorgeous!! Bet you love it!

[sprauncey1]

Originally Posted by Zoe Pearn

I guess it's true what they say - you guys just do everything BIG in America...

Well she is in TEXAS after all! LOL yeah...houses here in TX are way bigger than anywhere else we've lived. And we live in an "expensive" part of TX.

Everyone's houses are so fun to look at! Big/small, old/new...they all are cool cause we live there!

[nikkiARNGwife]

Originally Posted by Randa

Oh, wow!!! I looooove your house Nikki!!! Wanna share your plans? Maybe I'll take a pic of mine when I finish the landscaping!

And wowzers, Lauren!! Get lost much?? Absolutely gorgeous!! Bet you love it!

Aw thanks!!

[junebug]

Originally Posted by livelys

You have such lovely houses! Ours looks dreadful in comparison - I may add a pic here later, but I feel like crying when I see your gorgeous properties in comparison, so I may not! Our home has zero character and virtually no garden - actually we're extending this summer to add more space upstairs as we couldn't begin to afford to move. As Andrea said, house prices over in the UK are just silly.

ditto. i love looking at houses, as someday we will move. but we just can't yet. and i frustrates me intensely. i HATE this house. it was very cheap, and its paid for but it too small and has no character. so, i'm way jealous at all the pretty houses i see here, lol. but i keep looking . someday maybe i'll have my dream home i've always wanted.

[Zoe Pearn]

I am officially addicted to this thread... Glutton for punishment I guess - LOL!!

Originally Posted by nikkiARNGwife

excuse the toys and potting stuff...

O M G !!! I am seriously jealous of this one... This is like my dream home. I need one of those Home Renovation shows to come and work their magic at my house (and I'll show them this picture - LOL!!)

Just one question though... How on earth do you guys clean these massive houses?? My house would be probably half the size of most of these (and that's being generous LOL), and I can't even keep on top of that!!

[[michele]]

How on earth do you guys clean these massive houses??

I don't - I play Farmville and hope that it will clean itself.

Our condo is about 1500 sqft. - pretty much everyone we know has a much, much bigger house.

[Keely~B]

Wow, I love seeing everyone's homes.

I don't have many pictures of mine, I had to go take one...(for what it's worth, my house is definitely not the norm for where I live, most places around here are about 3x the size and $ of ours) We have things that bug us (ie the kitchen!!) but we mostly really love our little house. I'm too old to care what anyone else thinks about it

[jessica31876]

LOL Zoe I know Nikki's house is pretty much one of my dream homes too!! When I think of what a southern country home looks like that is pretty much the perfect picture of it...super big porch with the swing and rocking chairs white with dark shutters. Just gorgeous!!

[nikkiARNGwife]

Thanks so much Jessica and Zoe...ours isn't nearly as big as some posted here..about 2500 sq feet...but we love it

[ColleenSwerb]

I keep forgetting to take a picture! Ugh!

OH! OH! I just remembered I have one on FB from when we put new garage doors in! WOOOOOTTTTT!!!!

It's about 1200 sq ft of living space, 2 car garage. 3 bedroom, 2 full baths, ginormous master suite (29'x12'). We're adding a deck this year, and fencing in the backyard. It's a good starter home for us, and we can start to raise a family here. In a few years we hope to sell it and build a home further out in the country on a large plot of land. A girl can dream right?

[Angie4b1g]

Zoe - the crap is spread out more so it doesn't look as messy.

[Lauren Reid]

Originally Posted by Randa

And wowzers, Lauren!! Get lost much?? Absolutely gorgeous!! Bet you love it!

bwahahah! no on the getting lost, but yes to loving it our old house in Massachusetts was only 1400sq ft and i remember when we flew down to look at houses in TX b4 our relocation... my jaw dropped when i'd go into all the model homes... everything IS bigger in TX! But we could never have this house anywhere else.

And I'm w/ Zoe, Nikki's is my dream house... the porch, the trees... oh how i miss trees!!!

xo

[lovely1m]

I currently live in a crappy, old 2 bedroom/1 bathroom apt with no deck, no dishwasher and no garage! It sucks. But here was my beautiful house before I became single again. It was in an outer suburb and we bought it when it was repo-ed, so a great deal, but it was funny. Look at this huge, thing, it has ONE bedroom. lol Its the size of most large living rooms, but only 1. It also had a 3 stall garage with a loft and a kitchen that is probably close to the size of my entire apt now. lol Crazy previous owners.

[Zoe Pearn]

Originally Posted by Angie4b1g

Zoe - the crap is spread out more so it doesn't look as messy.

Haha... I keep telling my hubby we should have bought a bigger place for that reason - LOL!! I just have so much crap crammed in this place it drives me up the wall... But I can't seem to get rid of anything either - LOL!

[Zoe Pearn]

Ooh - this one is soooo pretty!! Reminds me of a house I used to pass on the way to school each day and I used to tell my parents it was my dream house - it had one of those attic windows too!

Unfortunately the area I grew up in is close to the city, worth an absolute fortune now, and ramshackle old houses are way overpriced, so no attic windows for me - LOL! I'll just have to stay in my semiural "idyll" surrounded by clutter, having to catch a car ferry whenever I want to leave the suburb... we are in the dark ages LOL

Originally Posted by lovely1m