House Tour, Part 2

Here's the second part of my house tour. This picture is facing our front door. I feel I have to explain that I realize my decorating style has gone a step or two beyond "minimalist" and into a style that can only be described as stark. It's not exactly what I'd choose, given ideal circumstances. When we moved here we decided to keep what we brought to a minimum, not knowing how much it would cost to ship and whether my husband's company would cover the expense both ways. If I could do everything over, I'd bring a few more things with us, including a few pictures and decorative items.

Is this kitchen about as far away as possible from your imaginings of what an English kitchen would look like? It features an Ikea dishwasher, stovetop, double oven and refrigerator. I don't think I'd ever go quite this modern myself. I will have to say though, that I don't think it could do better at maximizing storage for the amount of space it has. The oven wall is about half traditional cabinets and half pull-out cabinets. I've actually never had a kitchen with so much storage space.

Our eating area, between the kitchen and office space. Ignore the laundry basket I didn't put away in the background.

 Our well-used computer space.

This is the same space, looking towards a small bathroom, small laundry closet (both newish and not worth picturing) and upper balcony.

Our office area is under the skylight and bay window from the spare room.

Our living room. The doors usually can slide all the way open, which is really nice in the summer. I tried opening them for the first time since early fall for this picture and got the door stuck open in the half-open position you see in the photo. I hope the property manager comes soon, because it is a little chilly with it open in January. Back in the summertime the door easily slid open and closed.

A view from the other direction. 

We have a little brick shed in the back of our garden.

This is the view from my front door on this gray morning.

Many of the homes on my street feature one of these. Do you know what it is? A boot scraper.

They also often have one of these rings. Handy for tying up your horse - or bike.

And there it is. I hope you've enjoyed the tour, even if it probably wasn't what you were expecting.