Title and Intention

ThreeTwoOne. My blog name. What does THAT mean? A little play-on-words attempt from a mind that was having trouble coming up with a clever title for this new blog. It describes what my DH (Dear Husband) and I (the TWO of us) are preparing to do soon. We have decided to move from a THREE story fifteen year old home with an elevator to a ONE story 32 year old ranch home. Thus, ThreeTwoOne! Here I intend to write about yet another one of my many journeys in life. This blog will be about my experience of what my DH likes to call "Right Sizing" and will chronicle the renovation and updating of our new (older) ranch home beginning on June 20th. It will be a place to post my thoughts, excitement, anticipation, and challenges about, as well as photos of, the transformation process. I begin by posting a couple of pictures of the two homes. This is where we currently live and have been for the past 12 years.

A winter shot:

And this is the house we are closing on in 12 days:

Our current home sits on about two thirds of an acre and our house-to-be sits on 1. 3 acres. So we will go from a big house on a smallish lot to a smallish house on a BIG lot! We have several changes planned for this ranch which I will note in a moment. With the help of two important people in this endeavor, a talented designer and a reputable builder, our ideas and dreams and desires have been put on paper and it will be a great adventure watching them develop.

A few of the planned changes include replacing an asphalt driveway with aggregate and adding a circular drive. Possibly painting the brick or just the trim or maybe doing a mortar wash. (Undecided at this point) Adding an architectural design in the triangle of the front porch over the door. Removing the current screened in aggregate patio and building a larger screened in porch off the rear of the great room. Remodeling the hall way bathroom. Redesigning and enlarging the master bath and closet area. Adding a set of windows in the master bedroom. Changing the access to the master bedroom. Adding a wall in the bonus room over the garage to create a storage area as well as a full bath room. Adding a 10 x 10 eating area to the kitchen as well as completely remodeling it. Changing the current laundry room/powder room, which is now accessed from the hall way, to a laundry room/pantry with access only from the kitchen. Removing a wall that currently separates the kitchen from the formal dining room. Removing paneling, beams, and wall paper and painting everywhere as well as adding hardwood floors in the foyer, living room, dining room, kitchen, great room and DH's office room. Whew!!! We are doing ALOT!!! And I haven't even begun the discussion of how to reduce the amount of "stuff" a three story home holds in order to move only what we truly use and love to a one story ranch!!

Or the minor detail of preparing our current home for the real estate market. No doubt we will be having a busy summer of 2011!! See you next post!