We are renting out the lower level of the duplex owned by our church. There are some cons to the place (which is to be expected with any sort of rental property) but definitely more pros, including:
1. Our landlord is our Pastor.
Should a problem arise, we know that we can trust him to be fair and try to fix the problem in a timely manner.
2. Our upstairs "neighbors" are friends of ours and attend our church.
This one is HUGE for me! As a young momma with no car the only interaction I get 6 days out of the week is (mostly) with my almost 11 month old son. I can't wait to be able to just walk upstairs any time I want to hang out or talk to someone! And, my friend can't wait to babysit Gunnar....I would not be surprised if she came down every day just to take him off my hands for a couple hours :)
3. Storage space!
We have accumulated so much stuff over the 3 years we've been married! Honestly half of it we could probably just get rid of, but there's always that slight possibility you might need it, and therefore it gets shoved under the bed or in the back of a closet....well, no longer! We now will have an entire basement and garage for all of those "might need someday" materials.
4. Bigger Pantry
The kitchen was one of the only cons (a lot smaller than the one we have now) with the exception of the large pantry. It's a lot deeper than the one we have now (plus we could always store canned goods in the basement!)
5. The chance to decorate!
We have never painted before because up until this point we had always been in an apartment. We were told we could paint however we wanted, and it was so much fun picking out paint colors and dreaming about what the finished product would look like. My mom came up last weekend and the two of us cleaned the entire house (former tenant was a smoking bachelor with a big dog...so it took a lot of work!) and painted 3 of the 5 rooms! As of yesterday, the other 2 rooms were painted as well. We are planning on doing a couple of accent walls, but need a break from painting :) Maybe in a couple months....
And now I leave you with the "Before" pictures. In a couple weeks I will post the "After" pictures. Just so you know, here is what we have done so far....pulled up the carpet in the nursery, repainted every single room (all rooms are now a beige color called Vanilla Brandy, except for Gunnar's room. It is sky blue), and thoroughly cleaned every thing. Literally. Think cleaning blinds and wiping down baseboards. Now, we just have to move in the furniture next week!
