It’s official!! Conditions have been waived and agreements have been signed — come hell or high water, we’re moving to Manotick a little more than 60 days from today!!
Wanna see the new house? It’s beee-yooo-ti-ful! It’s a three-plus-two bedroom bungalow that was built in 1968, and it sits on about a half-acre of land on the northern part of Long Island. I don’t have any interior pics to share yet, but here’s the outside:
Lookit that veranda! It stretches almost the entire length of the house. Have I ever told you that I have a porch fetish? As I was paging through the MLS and FSBO listings looking for a place, the three things I’d check were: is it a four bedroom? What does the kitchen look like? And, does it have a porch? I love love love me some porches.
Here, tell me this is not a porch to die for:
And? And!! You can’t quite see it, but at the end of that long and lovely veranda, there’s a Separate! Private! Porch! off the master bedroom. I kid you not. When I saw that porch on the online listing, I just about fell over myself in my hurry to make an appointment for a closer look.
And if you think the porch made *my* head explode, imagine the reaction of the boys when they got a look at this back yard:
Yeah baby, that’s a play structure AND a tree house AND a tire swing. As my mother quite rightly observed, Tristan has been asking for a tree house since he was old enough to talk. During the first showing, where we brought along not only both my parents but also all three kids, the boys ran around the house saying, “This is our dream home, this is our dream home!”
Oh yeah, and it’s nice on the inside, too! Like I said, three bedrooms upstairs, plus your usual living room (with fireplace) and dining room and kitchen (which has a patio walk-out to the back yard), all in lovely blond hardwood, and plenty of bright windows. In the basement, there’s a family room and a bedroom, and another room that can’t officially be called a fifth bedroom because it has no windows so they call it a second family room, but it will actually be used as a huge bedroom for one of the boys.
At first, the idea of putting the boys in a basement bedroom really worried me — but then I realized that since it’s a bungalow, they’re actually just one floor below me instead of two, and that made it seem much more reasonable. Plus, the basement bedrooms are HUGE! We’ve already decided that the northern half of the basement will simply be decreed “boy land” and they will have plenty of room to grow — and we have room for an upstairs office/guest room as well as a room for Lucas.
Speaking of the boys, I’m going to go ahead and register them in their new school (which has some spectacular results based on the latest EQAO testing) for the first day of school. It will be a bit of a pain during the transition phase, but less traumatic by far than having them change in mid-year — especially since Simon entering Grade One will have enough transition on his plate as it is!
We take possession at the end of October, so wish us many, many happy house-selling vibes. We list it tomorrow and the sign is already on the lawn – eek! I have a whole ‘nother post to write about the absolutely insane 10 days we just put in to get everything ready.
But for now, do you love that porch — erm, I mean, house! — or what? 🙂
Congratulations! It is really beautiful, and Manotick is such a lovely place.
Your new home AND property…absolutely beautiful! What a find! I love porches and this (and the one off the MBdrm) are to die for. You are gonna to love it there. We live on an acre and a half in the country and we don’t miss the city one iota. You may find that when you go into the city, after living in the country, how much the open space really means to you.
Congratulations on finding the *dream home* for the entire family 🙂
It’s BEAUTIFUL! The backyard, the huge lot and the porch. Love it! So happy for you. Long Island is beautiful. Enjoy your new home. Congrats.
It’s fantastic! I’m so happy for you guys, I’m certain you will love it there 🙂 Good luck with the whole moving process.
Congratulations – it’s just lovely!
I will bring the bevvies if I can come sit on your porch sometimes?!
Congrats on your new house! It’s beautiful, lovely and will be a great place for the boys to grow. And a tree house? You’re going to get the parent of the year award from the kids!
Ohhh, I love the porch!!! I wish we had one like that, you will love it!!!!
Congratulations and best of lucks!
Congratulations!!!
I love porches too.
The back yard is beautiful and the boys lucked out with all of those…ahem…toys? Lucky them.
Can hardly wait to see interior pics.
It’s beautiful, and that backyard is definitely a boy’s dream come true.
Good luck and fingers crossed for a speedy sale of your house!!!
Wow! This IS a dream house. Congratulations!
Now I’ll go fetch some chocolate to fight the huge house envy that mysteriously aroused in the last 5 minutes or so. Weird…
Wow, it is a beaut! Congrats!! i hope that your current house sells quickly.
http://bit.ly/4EQ38v Our house, is a very very very fine house!: It’s official!! Conditions h… http://bit.ly/bdhaEI http://bit.ly/5bAgvn
Oh – it's beautiful! Congrats. 🙂 RT @DaniGirl: The big reveal — our new house in Manotick! http://tinyurl.com/2dv68td
I really, really do LOVE it. It is 15 kinds of gorgeous. And it’s all yours – congratulations!
I can’t wait to see how fabulous it is on the inside.
hi , what a beautiful place, I also love porches and can’t wait for us to sit and enjoy. we are soooooooooooo happy for you all .take care talk to you soon
Congratulations. That porch looks amazing!
Good thing you have 3 strong chidren to mow the grass! It sounds very exciting – I think you’ll love the extra space.
Awesome! Congrats to everyone!
It’s a beautiful house Dani – I LOVE the porch. Congratulations!
Ohmygoodnessthatisanawesomehouse! Congrats!! So happy for you and the kids. Wow! Looking forward to hearing all the stories (and to seeing some inside pics!). Hope it all runs smoothly and that you throw a porch-warming party later this fall. I can just see all the jack-o-lanterns now….
Congratulations, Dani! Glad you got it! That’s a better shot of the back yard than we saw before – your kids must be over the top. Awesome. Doesn’t matter what the inside looks like; you’ll be spending your days rocking on the porch watching your boys climb and swing!
Wow! Loving it… good luck with the move!
Congrats on the new house! Manotick is such a cute little village with great schools and lots of greenery. Love the porch and your backyard is a kids dream! I can imagine that in no time your house will the be the place to be for the neighbourhood kids.
Love love love!
I hope the house selling goes well!! *fingers crossed*
(tweetup on dani’s porch maybe? 😉
Congrats Dani! 🙂 The house is beautiful. And the porch and backyard are to die for!!
YAY!!! That porch is amazing. The porch is one of the things I miss the most about our house in Osgoode. I can’t wait to see inside photos (or maybe I can finagle a visit!). My boys would kill at a chance to play in that AWESOME back yard.
i grew up on the island, you are going to love it, the boys are going to love it. i have great memories of manotick public school. my parents have been firmly rooted there for 40+ years now……
When you wrote that the boys were running around shouting “this is our dream house! this is our dream house!” I literally did laugh out loud. That is so adorable! 🙂 Congrats and happy, smooth transition!
OMG Dani YOU Are going to love that porch…Imagine all the neat times reading on the porch swing with the boys! I have a porch that goes around 3 sides of my house and I love, except when I have to restain it, but hey that is what kids are for. PLUS I am still waiting for that bloodly porch swing where I can spend hours reading all my classics!
I can’t say HOW thrilled I am for YOU and the FamilY!
spectacular find! wow, what a dream back yard and verandah thing. old trees, big space. pretty sweet!
I too have a porch fetish. That is a might fine porch.
Congrats on your new home 🙂