September has been pretty quiet for the most part – back to school, back to work, etcetera. At the end of the month we celebrated my birthday and I got the best present ever. We’re getting a house! For those of you who don’t know, we’ve been living with my in-laws since I moved to The Netherlands in June 2017. They’ve graciously shared their home with us as we’ve recovered from the major setbacks we experienced in 2015 and 2016. It’s been great living here, especially to have the extra baby help, but we’re also ready to be in our own space.

I don’t have real photos yet, but I can tell you a little about the house. It’s a row house with two larger bedrooms and one little office space. The first level is the living room, kitchen, entry and toilet. The second level has the two large bedrooms, a small office and the shower room. It is called a bathroom, as it does have the required elements for bathing, but to me it’s so weird that there’s no toilet! The third level is an unfinished attic with the hookups for the washing machine. Some of the houses on the street have converted the space into a bedroom, but since we’re renting, we’ll just use it for storage.

Before we get to move in the owner is replacing the kitchen and bathroom (the “shower room” as I call it). Then when we get the keys in November we need to put in flooring in the kitchen, entry and upstairs bedrooms, as well as updating the paint a bit. We also have to provide our own stove, refrigerator and washing machine. In America, usually those things are ready for the new tenant upon moving in, but on the other hand, our rent is way cheaper than what we’ve ever paid in the US.

Here’s the living room’s “Before” picture. So far we’ve managed to snag a leather couch for €25 and a matching dining table, coffee table and tv cabinet for €50, all in like-new condition. Hopefully we can keep finding quality items for that kind of price! Thanks for reading and I can’t wait to show it off when we get all settled in!