Loving Austin! Downsizing Adventures Revisited

My older three kids plus their cousin, D!

Have I mentioned how much we love Austin?  Well, we do!  We adore this house.  Of all 3 homes we've owned, this is by far my favorite!  While I did really enjoy our location and pool in Highland Village, this house is arranged better and is easier to maintain.  In our 15 years of marriage and ownership of 3 homes, we've learned that extensive landscaping is beautiful, but also costly and a ton of work!  We have a few pretty shrubs and plants in the front yard.  There are two trees in the back, but otherwise, it's just a grassy backyard, which means easy maintenance.  Of course, we have the fabulous team at The Austin Lawn Service taking care of our mowing and trimming, so the amount of work we have to do in the yard is minimal.

We had hoped for a one-story home, but with the layout of this house, we don't mind two stories at all.  The stairs lead to an open "balcony" hallway that looks down to the front of the house on one side, and the living room on the other side.  The openness makes it Deaf-friendly and toddler-friendly since we can easily see each other from either level.

Another detail I enjoy about this home is the location of the kitchen and breakfast area.  The kitchen is not open to the living room, which I always thought I preferred.   There is simply an open doorway from the living/dining room into the kitchen.  The kitchen is a nice size with a bar that separates the breakfast nook.   This nook has become our school room.  It's perfect!  We have huge floor-to-ceiling windows that look out back and toward the front door.  The walls are golden-yellow, so it's bright and cheery.  It's hidden away enough from the rest of the house, that I have been covering the walls with school posters, maps, dry-erase board and art.  I spend so much time in the kitchen anyway, it's nice to have the school room and kitchen together.  It's like my own office space!

The square-footage of this house is just right.  We were a tad tight in the apartment, but it wasn't too bad.  Our Highland Village house was a bit too much in both square-footage and landscaped yard.  This house is just what we need.

We've met a lot of our neighbors, (almost all of the neighbors who share the cup-de-sac) and they are fabulous!  We have super-sweet empty-nesters on either side of us.  There are a few families with kids in the Brownies' age-range and they've already had a great time playing for hours.

Click here to continue reading why we are loving Austin...