Our "Until-Retirement" Home

It's the Fall of 2016 and we've just purchased our "until-retirement" home.  (Mr. DIY prefers this "until-retirement" name over "forever home" as you never know where God will take us.) So, our until-retirement home (let's call it the URH for length-sake) is a yellow brick tri-level built in 1962.

Kitchen Saloon Doors

1962: the 5th year of our space race with Russia, the beginning of the Vietnam War, the year of the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis, and also the year Tom Cruise was born (we've got a sincere affinity for The Cruise).  It was quite an eventful year when our little home took root.

This practical, yellow brick, tri-level features 3 bedrooms, 1 & 1/2 baths, eat-in kitchen, 2 living areas, an office nook, laundry room, 2 car garage, corner lot yard, and (the icing on the cake) a decadently large back patio.

Dutch Doors

Our URH has several specific design elements that give it a cowboy feel, such as the saloon doors in the kitchen,
the wood floors throughout, a tasteful use of wood paneling in the den, big Dutch doors, and two floating stained glass inserts.  These personal touches excited our imaginations when we first viewed the place and now they are the inspiration for our many design dreams.

Floating Stained Glass

During an introductory chat with our neighbor across the street, we learned we are the third owners and that our URH used to have "the most beautiful lawn on the street." (which we also heard from a random couple taking a walk one day) So we've clearly got some big shoes to fill as we look ahead towards our diy projects.  The exciting part of that introductory chat came when she divulged a personal history with our URH.  Our neighbor "practically grew up in our home" as it was her childhood best friend's residence.  She maintains contact with those children, now grown, and while the father has long since joined his relatives in the great beyond, the mother is still kicking at a local adult community.  I look forward to learning more about the history of our home as we settle into the neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by our neck of the DIY neighborhood. And as our favorite neighbor Mr. Rogers used to say, "You always make each day a special day for me, by just being you. There's only 1 person in this WHOLE world like you; that's you yourself, and people can like you exactly the way you are.  I'll be back next time. Bye-bye!"

Bye-bye neighbor!