our house

Well here we go. We put our house on the market yesterday. Yes, it's a little scary, but in a good way, like clickity-clicking to the top of the roller coaster, enjoying the wide open view, and then holding on tight for the ride of your life. If you're just catching up to me here, I'll back up a little bit and tell you we're moving to southern Oregon, the Ashland area, in the early part of summer. Taos has been great, but we're finished here, and it's time to move on. You want more than that, it's all in past blog entries.

So the realtors will be doing their job, and I thought I'd help them out here by showing you this wonderful place we've called Home for the last seven years. Maybe you want to move to Taos, or know someone who does. Or maybe you'd just like a look at where I live and work. Well, my friends, come on in and I'll show your around...

The house sits on almost an acre (.96, I think). As you pull into the driveway, you see the red doors to my studio, a large open area to the right, and the big old elm trees to the left, where we park our cars. There's Jerry in the driveway. He's the Meowing Welcoming Committee. A terrific little mouser, and very affectionate. He's looking for a new home, or can stay with this one, but we can't take him with us. Anybody want a nice, lovey kitty?



Rather than go in through the studio, I'm steering you to the left here, past the cars and in through the gate to the front door, which is really in the back yard. The studio is actually the back door, but at the front of the property... go figure!


Here's the patio, tiny guest casita (it would also make a great kid's playhouse or grown-up study), the goat yard with it's cute shelter, the hot tub, and the river rock labyrinth, which is covered with snow at the moment. Rick and our friend Standing Deer, from Taos Pueblo, built the patio walls from beautiful mud adobe blocks. The fireplace is a favorite spot to spend cool high desert summer evenings, and the horno (oven) was built to cook pizza in!



It's cold out here, so let's go inside. I'll show you some nice warm outdoor summer pictures later.


Here's Rick in the kitchen. He's really done miracles with this house. It was a funky, weird place when we bought it. I didn't even want it, but Rick saw through to it's beauty and warmth, and spent a lot of time bringing it out.


As you can see, we pulled out all the stops when it came to color. Coming here from Seattle, we needed a strong antidote to all the endless gray. We found it here in the big blue sky and in our own bright rooms. The counter tops in the kitchen are wonderful handmade tiles by our friend Jill Rounds.


And see what a nice job he did on the new floor? Remember the old one? It's in a past blog someplace. It was hideous. This is beautiful.


Now spin around and I'll take you out of the kitchen and through the rest of the house.


The hall goes to one bathroom, our bedroom, and the office. We'll see those in a minute.


Turn to the left and you're in the dining room. The big archway was originally the outside wall of the house, so I guess this little room served as the living room. It has a nice little kiva fireplace and flagstone floor. The big windows in the kitchen and dining room are set into rounded walls, so the whole are has a nice nest-like feel. This is my favorite room. This part of the house is real adobe. you can see the thickness of the mud walls in the archway to the living room.


This part of the house was added on by some past owner. It blends well with the rest of the house even though it's "frame" that only looks like adobe.


All the ceilings in the house have these beautiful vigas, which actually support the roof. This window side of the house faces south, and provides wonderful passive solar heat. We rarely need to heat the house during the day in the winter. Unless it's stormy out, we're warm and toasty until the sun goes down, and then we light the woodstove. There's also electric baseboard heat in all the rooms, but we never use it.


Now we go through this smaller archway to Lauren's room and the little bath/laundry room.


Lauren loves anything "Tiffany's", so we took a catalog to the paint store and had them match the color of the famous blue gift box. It's really pretty.


This tiny bathroom is the color of pumpkin pie. It has a toilet, shower, stacked washer/drier, and the cutest little sink you ever saw. Another door leads through here to the studio, but first...


...let's go through the office, which has another kiva fireplace, skylights, and plenty of room for the "brains" of my business (the computer), as well as Rick's desk and the Shipping Department.


And then we have our bedroom. It's the calmest room in the house, cozy, and relaxing. The window looks out to the front of the house and the little latilla roofed porch.


Fortunately, neither of us cares much about having a lot of clothes, or we wouldn't be able to share this closet.


Right next to the bedroom is the very pink bathroom. It's like being inside a watermelon. It has nice tile in the shower, a window that opens to the porch, and a lovely new tile floor.



And now we'll go back through the office and the little bathroom, to the studio. I have half of it, and Rick uses the other half for his tools and "shop" space. This is all heated with another woodstove. Once we take the chill off, the torch and kiln keep it pretty toasty out here. The big French doors give me a wonderful view of the world while I work.




And that's it. Not a huge house, but it's been just right for us. I know there's someone out there who will love it just as much as we have. And now, a few more pictures I took in the summer. It's a different world when the snow is gone and the trees are green. Both are lovely. It's good to have the change of seasons!







The house will show up in the MLS listings on Monday. The asking price is $354,700. If I find a buyer myself, we save a smidge off the commission. If you're interested, drop me a note and I'll hook you up with our agent. She's really nice. I'm counting on a pleasant, speedy deal for all concerned. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

~~~
P.S.
I guess I should mention the general location of the house. It's at the south end of town, in the area called Ranchos by some, and Talpa by others. It depends on if you ask the post office or the phone company! It's near the famous St. Francis Church, which has been painted and photographed by everyone from Ansel Adams to Georgia O'Keefe to me!

We're also close to the more expensive "Weimer" neighborhood, the hospital, and Ranchos Elementary School. From this end of town it's a much shorter drive to UNM Taos, the golf course, and Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The north end of town is lovely too, and closer to the mountains, but less convenient if you go to any of these south-of-Taos places often. The drive from north to south can take over 30 minutes.

Any other questions, please ask! I'll do my best to fill you in.