It's the details I love...

Yesterday I went out to the new house to pick out the roof shingles. In our offer, the bank said they would replace the roof. Part of me is sad to have the wood-shake shingles go, but it needs to be done. I just hope we don't lose an element of the "character" of the house. Oh well, better that than having a fire hazard. How can people put up wooden roofs anyway--I'd be scared to death on the fourth of July.

I fell in love with the house all over again. I realized it's a lot of the details that make me love it so much so I thought I'd include some of them here just so I can convince myself again that all the work of selling my old house, packing up my stuff, is worth it.

I love the English ivy that crawls up the house and up around the arch on the front door. It seems so European. I like the stone on the front of the house as well.

This is door to the coat closet. I love that they used actual antique doors and mantels. I feel like a get a piece of history without having all the problems of a 100-year-old house.

This is the antique mantel in the master bedroom with wood-burning fireplace. I love the smell of a real wood-burning fire but part of me wishes it were actually gas. So much easier to turn off and on. And a lot cleaner.  Eric's not wild about the old tiles but I like them.

This is the door to the master bedroom. It's another antique door, but you can tell it once was an exterior door because it still has the cool postal slot where the mailman would slip the mail inside. I love the old knob and the imperfections of this door as well.

One of the things I love about my mom's old house is the stained glass. This house has two stained-glass windows. This one is on one side of a bedroom (Bianca's I think) and it looks out onto the library.

Finally, a half bath. I've been dying for a half bath for years. Not sure what to do with the wallpaper here though. Should I paint over it, take it down, or keep it? Oh, and how can I hide that awful baseboard radiator? 

Did I mention there's a drinking fountain? For some reason, this is a very popular idea in this area.

Our music room. I love that there are french doors so that I can shut them if we need to. Also, there's finally room for a grand piano if I can ever afford one. I'm thinking of replacing the mushroom light though...

Let's go downstairs now. I love the craftroom. Look at those cabinets and all the storage! Eric hates these florescent lights though. I'm not as biased.

There's another wood-burning fireplace in the basement. The previous owners were even kind enough to leave us some wood in the closet. 

There's this back house. It's about 500 square feet. At first, I immediately thought, "Writing Retreat." I'm not sure now. There's a hot tub in one room and exercise equipment in the other room. Maybe we'll just use it as that for now. Maybe someday it can be my writing retreat though. 

Another thing that reminds me of my mom's house is this wonderful rope swing and I love that there are trees big enough to hold a swing. I already have picked out the two trees in the backyard that are going to hold my hammock. I've wanted one of those since we went to Maine and spent a lazy afternoon in a hammock. Oh, and another thing I love--the stone fence in the background of this picture of Bianca. Not faux stone like they seem to only do now, but big fat stones all stuck together in this one. 

Oh, here's the creek. It's a little snowed over now but the sound of the water is amazing. I'm so excited to give my kids a creek to kick through, the way I used to when I was a kid.

I'll end with this picture. My Aunt Joanie came with us and took all these pictures. But this one I think is my very favorite. I'm walking with my kids down the quiet street in front of the house with the guy from the bank. But look at those mountains next to the house.