8 Greenway....

Is officially going to be our new address as of the 7th of March! Okay, well I say officially although it's not 100% official yet as we're still waiting for our background checks and etc. to come back but other then that, it's totally ours! Mark & I went out to look at 4 places on Saturday and started at 8 Greenway which was the wild card of the group. To start, it doesn't look amazing from the outside but here in the U.K that doesn't really mean much-I've learned there is no way to predict what a house will look like inside based on the outside. It's not that it's so bad outside, it's just in this pebble-dash style which I'm not a big fan of but which is really common here since all houses are made from brick rather then wood like at home. It's also not very close to a train station which is important since when baby comes I might not be able to drive Mark there in the mornings (we're moving to a suburb southeast of London in the county of Kent called Chislehurst so instead of taking the tube or bus we will have to take a high speed over ground train to get into London which only takes about 15 minutes). It is really close however to Mark's Mum's-she's half a mile away which is just close enough and will be great for those times when I need some help watching the baby. It's also in the cutest little town ever with great restaurants and bars and cute little shops as well as a grocery store within walking distance (which might be important if I don't pass my next theory test on the 19th!).

Anyway, the house is "semi-detached" meaning it shares one wall (again, super common in the U.K. where houses are closer together and we're a bit more limited on space) and is two stories with 3 bedrooms upstairs. Downstairs we have a "sitting room" (AKA living room) which has a door to it and is a bit more private with bay windows to the front. The kitchen is probably the best thing about the house-it's completely brand new and has an "American fridge" (which means it's the same size as those I'm used to in America rather then this mini fridge I've been living with for the past 2.5 years!), an American oven (two separate ovens and 6 beautiful gas burners) and a separate washer and dryer (which is a huge improvement on the combo units that are more typical). I know it sounds pretty standard but these are huge luxuries here in London! The kitchen/dining room is open plan and super huge-so large that we will probably use that area as a family room and will have a couch and t.v. there as well as our dining table which will be perfect as baby gets older.

Oh, another highlight is that we've got 2 bathrooms! I know this sounds silly but seriously, this isn't something you find in every house here since 100 or more years ago when most of these places were built this just wasn't necessary. One is downstairs so when we have guests baby can sleep soundly upstairs. We also have a "garden" AKA back yard which is a big treat, too. I just can't wait! Will post pics when the renovation work is done-they are about 90% there and will be completed just in time for us to move in the first weekend of March. Can't wait!

P.S. Our new house will have plenty of space for guests so no excuses for not coming to visit, especially when baby is born!