We bought a House!!!

Let me rephrase that to Holy Crap we bought a house!!! We have been working with a realtor in Tampa ever since we got our orders a couple months ago and we hit the ground running with her last Saturday morning.  Although Rob and I have both been to Tampa a bunch of times it was never as a family (or for me more than a college trips).  So while we knew the city and knew we loved it finding a place where we would want to live took us out of the areas we would had been before.  The fact that Florida doesn't have the best public schools really forced us to narrow it down even more to a couple communities outside of Tampa in Pinellas county.  After looking at about 20 homes the 4th home we saw was the one for us! We kind of knew it just from our own research before we got down there but we had to cover our bases and make sure we really saw what was out there, so we continued the search even though I had basically unpacked my bags.

We will be living in Palm Harbor, which is a town on the gulf a few miles north of Clearwater.  It's close to the beach, close to the city, close to really any type of restaurant or store that we could want to go to.  Really the only draw back we had with this neighborhood was that it was on the higher end of the acceptable commuting range for Rob, and the community is located off of a busy road.  After spending some time there we realized once you are in the development (which is gated) you would have no idea the road is there.  Palm Harbor has awesome schools, and the neighborhood has water access for all homeowners to Lake Tarpon.  Rob is pretty excited about this because it's known for great fishing.

Construction has already begun on our house and it's hopefully going to be completed by mid August.  The builder is aware that Ava needs to start school (and we need a place to live) so as long as everything stays on track hopefully it will work out.  As long as no hurricanes or long periods of bad weather show up delaying construction we are keeping our fingers crossed that we stay on schedule.

We are just so excited, it's pretty scary signing what feels like your life away when you buy a house, but Rob and I have been talking about this and planning for a house just like this for so long now.  It's hard to believe it's actually happening!

Here it is!

The back view

Side view

This is our future neighbor's home down the street a little ways from us, it's the same exact model so this is what it will look like when it's done.  Ours will be tan on the outside with red shutters and a red front door, same color garage.

And these pics are from the inside of that home (they haven't closed yet so the builder is still letting people check it out)  The layout is exactly the same but most of our finishes are different.  We didn't like this tile at all, ours will be a lighter tan color.

 Cabinets will be similar if not the same, but different color granite and backsplash.  Note the gas range too - pretty normal for up north but in Florida it's hard to find!  Above the range is a stainless steel hood (it looks funny with the flash here)

 Sliding glass doors that will lead to......A SCREENED IN POOL!! I know this isn't that exciting for Florida people, but I'm from NH.  And this is pretty awesome!! :)  We got to design it this week with the pool guy and I think it's going to be gorgeous.  It's going to have a child gate around it as well so the kids can't get in.

It's a 5 bedroom/4bath, one of the bedrooms is just through that doorway pictured on the lower level and all the kids and the master are upstairs.

 The great room.

 Formal living room and dining room when you walk in the house.

 Looking town to the great room/kitchen.  I can only imagine the projectiles that will come down this staircase....

 The loft upstairs.

 Master bedroom.  It's a bit bigger than we were looking for, but nowhere near as big as the room we had in Fort Washington (for those of you who saw that room).  I think once we get a king bed and a little sitting/reading area it won't feel so huge.

 Entry from the master to closets and master bath.

 Master bathroom that I'm in love with :)

 Ours will be the same layout but we won't have that ugly color tile, and the shower will be frameless and have a cool glass tile design in it.

 Playing around in the bathroom with Ava

This is the view from the home that is done in the backyard, ours is just just a few lots down and also goes against this little body of water.  It has a fountain in it that's being repaired right now.  Apparently people in Florida are used to having these things around even with kids, but I am not. So we will be getting a fence asap once we move in.  The fences that are approved by the HOA are black with thin rails and actually look pretty nice so it shouldn't be a big deal.

This is the dock out to Lake Tarpon! It's about a 5 minute walk from the house.

And this is what I'm excited about!! This gorgeous beach, which is actually a lot prettier in person is 5.7 miles from the house.  And on the drive there we went through downtown Tarpon Springs which is apparently ran by Greek people.  The Greek church was the focal point, all the doctors names were Greek, Greek restaurants, the eye doctor was called "YiaYia's eye doctor."  I'm not kidding.  I think it's a sign we're in the right place!

This beach goes to the Gulf but when you drive it's actually an island, on the inner side of the island it's all really shallow and great for the kids to splash around in (the Gulf was really flat when I took this shot).

 Well we are pumped as you can probably tell.  I think when we finally move in will be like um who let us in here?  It's quite the upgrade from base housing :)  The neighborhood just has a great feel too it, I can see the kids riding there bikes around and playing with the kids.  The sales lady from the builder wasn't allowed to disclose what type of people live in the neighborhood but we were there on a Saturday and she said to make sure we look around at the other houses and their garages....we saw a few kids across the street from where our house will be and lots of bikes/strollers in garages.  That is usually a good indicator that the kids will have friends to grow up with in the neighborhood! We will be checking on the construction throughout the summer so we will keep the blog up to date!!