Our new home

Y'all been requesting pictures of the house so here's a photo tour of our home here in Budapest.  We're mostly settle now, although there's still things I'm hunting for.  We feel lucky to have found a home that is so new and with so many "American" touches.  Here's the front elevation and gate.

Most homes here have gates with buzzers.  The buzzer rings a phone inside the home and theoretically the homeowner can buzz the visitor in with a press of the button.  That's assuming the homeowner is smart enough to figure out the system, which yours truly is not.  When I have visitors, I make a mad dash to open the gate, much to the horror of our landlord.  Every time he comes and I run out in the cold to open the gate in my bare feet, he about has a litter of kittens.  He's a sweet old man and can't stand that I would expose my feet to such cold, but as you can see, it's not that far from the front door and the gate.

The home is build like a split level.  At the entry way, you can go up a 1/2 flight of stairs to the right and enter the guest quarters (Kyle's bedroom) or you can turn left and go to the living room and kitchen.  Plus, there is a set of stairs that take you down to the storage room and then eventually down into the laundry, sauna and garage.

 Here is the living room and kitchen that you access through the double doors from the entry.

For those that will appreciate the rarity of this site:  here's my American-sized fridge, complete with built-in ice maker!

The owner of this house designed and built it along with his wife and they did a great job designing ingenous space-saving built-ins.  I wasn't expecting to have so much space and storage.  We feel really blessed to have found a home with such good design, storage and openness, especially because it is so rare here.

The kitchen has french doors that lead out to the wrap-around patio and down into the back yard with a pool.  Currently, the pool is covered and not in use, but everyone is pretty excited for the weather to be nice enough to roll back the screen and test it out.  In the meantime, we are hoping for a good storm to give us enough snow to build our very own snowman.  The yard goes back quite a ways and the kids like running round down there.  

Moving on...if you return to the entry way and go up the 1/2 flight of stairs you enter into the 2nd kitchen and guest room, which has been designed to be used as a seperate living space. 

We are currently using the 2nd kitchen as a TV/Game room for the kids.  This room leads directly into the Kyle's bedroom, which will also serve as a guest room, if/when we have guests.  There is a ensuite bath and walk-in closet here as well.

Going back out on to the stairs, if you go up another flight of stairs, you enter into the kids floor. Lincoln and David's rooms are here along with a bathroom.  The hallway overlooks the 1st floor.  One of my favorite things about this space is all the book shelves serving as a half wall.

Our room is up another 1/2 flight of stairs on the top floor.  I didn't bother taking any pictures because we don't actually have much up there right now.  We left our king-sized bed in storage for fear that it wouldn't fit.  It would have, by the way.  Oh well.  So now we are awaiting the arrival of our bed that we ordered 4 weeks ago.  They say it will be another 2 weeks.  Yeah, 6 weeks for a bed. *shrug* I don't get it either.

So, that's the tour.  We enjoy living here.  The location is great.  Five minutes from school and 10-15 mins from work.  We shared a backyard fence with another Exxon expat family with kids the boys' age.  If necessary, Adam can take public transport, which picks up at the top of the street (about 50 yards).  We live up in the hills but not so high up that we worry about getting down when there's snow. There's a 2-car garage and space on the street for visitors, when necessary.  It's so much better than I'd ever hoped.  So good, in fact, that even our side neighbor's half-finished yard of projects didn't discourage us from renting this place the minute we saw it.

Comments

[Becky Wallace]

Oh my gosh! It's AWESOME! *jealousy returns full force*

[Melissa]

Yay! Love this post. So fun to see where you are living and how you've decorated it. Gorgeous!

[Tracy]

Wow, everything looks amazing. It is a gorgeous home and all your furniture and decorations look so nice. The pool looks like fun too. I'm glad you have a nice place to live and a neighbor with kids your boys can play with.

[Jon]

Wow, was the builder American? I've never seen so much open space in a European home.

[Diana]

The builder is our landlord and no, he's not American. He's a retired Hungarian businessman. He and his wife built and designed the home on their own for his father, who unfortunately passed away just prior to completion. Our landlord decided to rent the property. The previous tenant was the first to do so and they only stay a year and it was a couple with a young child, so the house has hardly been lived in. The open space design is a rare thing here for sure, but we love it. This home has helped make the transition so much smoother. It really is a blessing.

[kathy]

Diana, what a great house. The front is so different from what American housing is like, I was a little scared. But the house is gorgeous. You seem to fit right in to the Hungarian way. It is so beautiful and I love your area rugs. Where did you ever find them? Hope you have had a good week. Miss you.

[kathy]

Jenna and I agree the door by the stairs is AWESOME! Love that door. What exactly is your neighbor doing? Rebuilding a pool?

[Diana]

Our neighbor's yard and home are in desperate need of some TLC. There's holes in the roof, cracks in the exterior walls, trees that need uprooted and that's not even addressing the unfinished projects. I don't know exactly what the original plan was, but if I had to guess, I'd say that over the last 10 years or so, he's begun about 20 different DYI projects, all of which ran out of money or time or patience prior to completion. If I were to inherit the property, I'd start by bulldozing the whole thing. That being said, he doesn't bother us with noise or barking dogs or parking in our drive. In fact, I'm not sure that anyone actually lives there. I kinda wonder if it's a family-inherited property that is only used during the summer months or something. Either way, we have to be glad the unfinished projects are all he's in to. It could be worse and there is so many other things to like about the property that I have to let it go.

[Genny Stutesman]

How much does it cost? Wow, it's very spacious, and the fact that it has 2 kitchens just made green with envy. You see, if I were to spend my retirement in Budapest, I'd like a house just like yours.

[Diana]

I have no idea, as we are renters, but as I understand it, there are some great deals in the real estate market right now. It is a beautiful home and we are so happy to enjoy it for our years here. Good luck with your retirement plans.

[Abdul Jackson]

Your new home looks so nice and spacious. The kitchen looks great, and it can definitely make preparing food more enjoyable. In fact, it's a kitchen that would make any pro chef proud! Is that an Olympic-sized pool? It looks big in the picture. I hope you're all good and settled as of now. :)

[Maria]

What a great European home! I've never seen one with such great space and, yes, a full fridge/freezer combo. It is beautiful and so happy that you are comfortable there.

[Kerita Kantz]

Congratulations on your new home! Anyway, what does your sauna look like? For me, it is the most relaxing part of the house. And I would appreciate it if you can show us a photo of it. In which part of the house is it situated? Is it somewhere near your garage? With the cold weather, it would be soothing to take a sauna bath, dear.