House Pictures

 We still have not started the true decorating in our home.  However, here are some pictures to give everyone a general idea of what our home looks like.

We are actually in a condo, I guess you could say. The building has 3 separate homes, and ours is the one on the right end.  The middle unit is currently empty, which is nice because sometimes Lissie likes to yell at the top of her lungs.

I'm also including some up-to-date pictures of our neighborhood, as I know at least one house (the one that was bright red and yellow before) has been painted a little more neutrally. :)

Here you can get a pretty good idea of color schemes chosen for homes around here. I actually feel very grateful that our place is the nice, mellow cream color that it is on the outside.

 

 Here is what people here call the "service room", because usually the hired maid uses this room the most.  You can see our washer/drier, nifty machine that it is, and next to it is a very deep sink which can also be used to wash clothes if there were no machine.  Across from the sink, not in the picture, is a storage closet that goes under the stairs with TONS of shelves.  We hope to make it our food storage closet, but for now Lissie thinks it is a great play place!

 We are still trying to decide what to do with this half of the kitchen.  There are hook-ups to put another TV and DVD player on that shelf in the corner, but that would require another TV and DVD player.  And that still leaves the really open paneling area and glass counter top, about 8 inches wide, that we don't know how to use.  We tried putting our iMac there, but it got zero internet signal and wasn't the most comfortable set-up, particularly leg-room-wise.  One thing we absolutely love though is the cupboard space!!

 This is our garage, of course, complete with tiled floor (as are most garages in Brazilian homes I have seen).  The lovely black car is our "new" Honda Civic hand-me-down car from Tiago's father.  I am not sure about the year and all, but I do know that it has all the extras to make it comfy - leather interior, electric windows and locks, tinted window, etc.  We get to buy this car from his dad, as he decided he wanted to buy a new BMW.  Hey, it works for us. :)

 I do not know who picked this 'lovely' piece of lighting for our living room, but I've decided it needs a different home.  Like a junk yard.  Once we can afford to replace it with something we like, that is.

The next two pictures are both of our guest bedroom.  (The bed is so exquisite that it can only be seen by those who are pure in heart... or something like that.)  Again, I just love all of the shelving and cupboard space!!

And now, the pictures below are our bedroom.  I realize that I posted a picture with the bed in another blog entry, but didn't show the rest.  So here it is.  The cupboards and shelves go all the way around two sides of the room, with (again) TV hook-ups that we probably won't use.  I think that our house would be a perfect place for little kids to play "Hide and Seek", as the closets and cupboards in every room give so many great hiding places!  Tiago is just thrilled to have a place to hang his clothes, finally. :)

 Our extra upstairs bathroom (probably Lissie's, when she gets older and actually uses it... :))

 

Lissie's bedroom, full of pretty pink furniture. :)  On the other side, there is a built-in desk and more TV hook-ups.  Her room has lots of closets and shelves as well, and a little "reading nook" in one corner.  (Bottom picture)

We are enjoying having space to spread out, and are continuing to accumulate stuff to fill it up!  The next addition to our home which we are very excited about, will be our new sofa.  We have been very blessed and are extremely grateful to our family here in Brazil who have taken such good care of us!!