Our New House

Well- as you all know, Derek will be graduating from his residency program at St. Vincent's in Erie, PA this June. He could tell you the exact number of days, hours, minutes if you ask him! Anyway- he's accepted a job with a family practice in Stanley, NC which is about 30 minutes west of Charlotte. We'll be living in Gastonia, NC (about 15 minutes from Charlotte and 20 minutes from his practice) Derek and I went down the last week of March to look for a house (my mom was gracious enough to give up her spring break to come watch the girls for us) and we were successful! First off, I have to say that God is so good! We were praying that our house here would sell before we went down and it did. We prayed that we'd get a great price for it and we did. We prayed that the new family moving in would be willing to close early and allow us to rent back from them for a few months so we could get our money from them and put it towards our new house and they are! Finally- we prayed that we'd find a great house with a great yard in a great neighborhood and we did! Derek and I made a wish list of all our ideal features in a house and this one has them all (and it was a LOOOOONG list!) After looking Monday, we were discouraged because we didn't find anything we liked- they all were really expensive, but needed work to make it "ours." On Tuesday, we found 2 houses we really liked, but one had the 4 bedrooms and bonus room we wanted but a small, non-private backyard while the other one had a fantastic backyard, but only 3 BR's and a bonus room. Wednesday, we went to a new development called Bethesda Oaks and decided to build a house! The house we're building is literally our dream house. It has everything we could have wanted and much more. The first floor has a study for Derek, a dining room, a great room, a fantastic eat-in kitchen (with granite counters, cherry cupboards, hardwood floors, and stainless appliances- oh and a double oven!!), a sun room (which will be the girls playroom), a 1/2 bath and laundry room. The second floor has 4 BR's, a master bathroom, and a full bathroom. the third floor (yes...three floors!) is the bonus room...or media room...or "man cave." Below are some pictures Derek took of the model home which is pretty much what we're getting. We jokingly call this house the "love child" of those 2 houses we loved.

The Pinecliff- our house will look similar but with dark brown shutters and door

the view from the front door- the office is to the right and the dining room to the left (although our house will be the flip-flop version...)

the office with french doors

the inside of the office- Derek and I are back and forth about adding the bay window (Realtor not included...)

the dining room- we won't have the gigantic wall mirror :)

my beautiful kitchen- we have stainless appliances and our cupboards are darker

so pretty!


the "eat-in" part of the kitchen

the view from the kitchen into the great room

the view from the kitchen into the sun room (this will be the girls playroom)

the back hallway to the laundry room, 1/2 bath, and garage

the 1/2 bath

the master bedroom

still the master (hallway goes to the master bath and 2 closets)


master bedroom



master bathroom

master bathroom


this will be Nora's room


another view of Nora's room

the view of the stairs going up to the 3rd floor and the guest room

the guest room

the 2nd floor bath

Princess Olivia's room- there are dormers (this would be the bonus room if we didn't add the 3rd floor)

another view

the 3rd floor bonus room


another view

another view...