Welcome to Chez Hofmann

Ta DA! Hooray! It's finished!

The backyard (the photo was taken from the side of the house and I don't know why). "Oh, crap!" Chris said once the sod was in and he saw how far to the left our property line is. "I didn't know our lot was this wide! We only budgeted for a push lawnmower, not a riding one!" (I, however, LOVE how far apart each house is in our new neighborhood. And lawn care is Chris's responsibility!)

The right side.

About a zillion of you (and I thank you, dear readers, for giving a hoot) have asked for pictures of chez Hofmann. I’ll go room by room in the coming months, revealing the decorating extravaganza that is my new home, but today I’ll start with the exterior. Why? Because a) it’s finished and b) the photos are already uploaded to the computer. About a week ago, late at night, two giant trucks dropped off 1,080 rolls of sod for the lawn. And lo and behold, that wasn’t enough sod. They had to return the following day with more. I hope Chris likes mowing! The lot is a half acre, which was part of why we chose to build here in what is now our fair town. We both insisted on having a big yard so our future kids could run and play and be kids without having to venture into the street. Chris wants to plant a vegetable and herb garden, and I’m just going to stay out of his way and let him do his thing. Eventually, we’ll build a deck out back—but not yet! (It’s been an expensive year so far.) As far as flowers, I’ve always wanted a tulip border to line the path since seeing the idea in the movie “Father of the Bride” when I was about 10 years old. And now we have a looooong pathway leading up to the front door! Chris, bless his heart, has promised to plant me tulips wherever my heart fancies, so our place may very well look like the Hofmann Tulip Festival come next spring. As far as the house itself, we selected the light brick and the cream-colored siding. Although we had no problem with darker shades of brick and think it’s perfectly pretty, the majority of folks in the neighborhood chose dark brick and we wanted something different. This was my clever idea, which Chris resisted until I pointed out that another house that we had fallen in love with many moons earlier (but did not put an offer on because of crappy schools and, oh yeah, the condo hadn’t yet sold) also had lighter brick. We also opted for the solid black door. Chris didn’t like the look of the double-glass doors and I wanted the privacy of a solid one. Added bonus? It saved us a few hundred bucks. We also added the two bay windows in the front of the house. I thought they added some texture and visual interest from the outside point of view, and indoors they generated a nice amount of additional space. Besides that, they’re purdy. Finally, the “elevation” of the house (I have no clue why they call it that) was my choice. The floor plan of the house we chose had several different ways it could appear, such as roof lines, front porches, garage locations, and so on. I loved this elevation. I’m a sucker for a “hip roof” (see all of the lingo I’ve learned?), rather than sharp triangles jutting out all over. The big dormer over the garage was our selection as well, which created a sitting area in the master bedroom. So there you go! Welcome to chez Hofmann.