If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

I talked about the neighborhood yesterday so I thought it was time I wrote some about the house.

I am a firm believer that the area your house is in is 80% of what matters and the house is only 20%.  I would gladly live in a bad house in a good neighborhood rather than a good house miles from anything. The cool thing about this place is that we get both, and in all the houses I have lived in throughout my life that I have never had both.

We moved into the S, the middle of the three sizes in the project. It’s a 3 story home with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The design is minimalist and low maintenance which I always thought was a good idea but living here it’s easy to see that it really is a lot less work. Take for instance the kitchen, it has smooth white cabinets that are really easy to clean off. Our last place had cabinets with designs in them and we were always cleaning off the little ledges and corners. There is also the shadow box we used instead of baseboards that does not need to be dusted. I think it’s pretty cool to not have to dust the baseboards.

OK I have to jump out and say that it feels awkward to talk about the house like this. Its odd not just because I am talking about the house I live in but because we designed and built it (with help of course.. but you know what I mean). I just needed to say that I feel strange writing this and you have to bear with me.

So anyway back to the house.

The one thing I can say about having 3 stories, is that there is no way you live here without getting very strong legs. And I am not complaining, I rarely work out other than riding my bike and the exercise is a welcomed addition to my daily routine. But if you have ever lived in a three story house you will know what I mean. (and no those are not my legs…..yet anyway…)

A month ago I put my lawn mower on craigslist and never looked back. We don’t have any grass to take care of and it could not make me more happy. But the thing is we actually have more space to run around and enjoy ourselves. The project has this neat park area right out front of our house and we are always out there. The kids ride around and around the path on their bikes, they have way more freedom to enjoy the outdoors here than they ever did with their own grassy yard. Plus we get to meet new people when we hang out there. (Like Michael who rode by on his bike yesterday and stopped to say hi. Hi Michael!)

We have this awesome porch off the main floor of the home and it’s my new favorite place to hang out and look at the stars. You can see all the buildings downtown from there and that just makes me happy.

We still have not gotten our first electric bill but I will be sure to let you know when it comes in. My wife thinks I am somewhat of a dork because I always go down and check on how much power the solar panels are creating but really I think she loves the updates. I mean it’s good to know when it’s a 1400 watt day vs a 800 watt day. It just would not be right not knowing what kind day it was.

So even thought it feels funny saying all this to you about my house I love it. It’s the best home we have ever lived in and in so many ways life is better here.

Levi