Winter Wonderland
It’s still picturesque out here at Casa Petersik exactly one day after waking up to 8 inches of snow. And because this is the first snow accumulation that we’ve had in three years of living here, we couldn’t resist one more post about the gorgeous white decor that Mother Nature dumped on our home.
Now that the sun is out, our photos are prettier. But they really don’t do it justice. Winter wonderland is the perfect description. Here’s another shot of our backyard looking charming as ever:
And a never before seen view of the back of our house taken right from where that snow covered arch is in the picture above:
There I am marching down the stairs with my red gloves in hand. This was taken before a fun little walk around the neighborhood. Our house is kind of like a mullet. As in, business in the front, party in the back. The front is so traditional and ranchy. And the back is so crisp and modern looking thanks to the sunroom addition. It’s funny because most of our neighbors don’t even know we have an addition since it was added to the back of the house and it’s totally hidden from the street.
Here’s a little snow dog (a “Snow Burger” to be specific) that I made:
John created one with his back to me. It’s funny that mine ended up sitting and his was standing:
And here’s our favorite house in the neighborhood covered with snow. We call it “the bed and breakfast” because it’s fantastically cozy and inviting and even has a tennis court and a pool in the back. Ooh-la-la!
We always say that we’re going to die in our house, but if this baby came up for sale we might just change our tune…
What about you guys? Any snow related hijinks to share? Are there any houses in your neighborhood that you’re dying to own? Do you plan on staying in your house for a while or do you consider your home to be a short term solution? Do tell.
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I love your snowdogs! Cute, cute, cute.
Wow! …Just WOW!
John and Sherry! I have been “lurking” on your site for about a month, but LOVED the story about the white rhino statue. My husband and I are renovating our home and I was SO glad to stumble across your site!
Anyway, I’m not trying to advertise my blog, but I’m about to post an entry to link back to yours about the white rhino. I found another white statue at Target (one of my favorite places) today and couldn’t think of a place to put it, but I definitely snapped a picture for blogging purposes. Check it out if you’d like!
Thanks for having this site. I’ve linked you on my blog :)
Best,
Lindsey
Sherry – Where do the windows below your sun room go? Is this a new room that has yet to make an appearance on your blog? It looks something like a walk-out basement. Ooooo, I’m so curious… ;)
Good eye Heather! It is in fact an unfinished basement. It only has outside access- that’s the door that you see on the right which you can get to by walking down a few brick steps behind that brick wall and there’s a small window that you can see on the left).
It’s dark and it’s a bit damp… but we have big dreams for the space! It actually made an appearance on the blog a looong time ago in this scary post. And we’re happy to report that it’s totally cleared out and waiting to get a coat or two of cinder block sealing paint to deal with the moisture seepage issue. Then we’ll start the transformation. Fun, fun, fun!
xo,
Sherry
There are some nice houses in our neighborhood but if I was to move again it would probably be somewhere other than this specific neighborhood/area. I love where we live (and we just moved here last Sept) so there are no plans to move anytime in the near future. My guess is that we’ll stay here until we have another little one (if we do), at that point we’ll pretty much outgrow this house.
Hey Sherry and John! I thought it was interesting that you mentioned a house in your neighborhood that you love. My husband and I love our house and our neighborhood so much. But, there is a house in our neighborhood that I adore. It’s an older home recently renovated (my favorite kind). I’m like you, I don’t want to move, but if this particular house came up for sale, it would be a dream. BTW, love the Burger sculptures!
Well, thank goodness you had electricity so you could keep on blogging wonderful posts and sharing pictures of your winter wonderland. It would not do for YHL to go “off grid” for even a day!!
As for our current plan to improve “this old house” I have a mantra of 5 “Cs”: comfort, convenience, closets, character and cost.
your house looks so cozy! the snow statues of burger are way too cute! it looks like you and your hubby have so much fun together! =)
Love the look of your sunroom from the back of your lot. What a lovely addition. No matter what other house we may purchase, it would be hard to part with our old farmhouse. We met with an architect tonight about an addition to the original structure that will include a new master bedroom, bathroom, closets and a walk-in laundry room. As much as I love snow, it’s bad news at my house when the temperature drops below freezing because we have to drain the water lines to my washing machine or they will freeze. That’s just a little too primitive for our lifestyle – so huge improvements are in the blueprint!!
Hey Denise,
It’s funny that you mentioned “primitive” water-draining exercises that the sub-freezing temps force upon you because we actually had our own little issue amidst the snowstorm. We somehow ran out of oil heat right in the middle of the storm on Sunday night. And of course they couldn’t make a delivery until this afternoon due to the road conditions so we had no heat for the past two+ days. Thank goodness we have a gas fireplace that we could burn pretty much 24/7 to keep the house above freezing so the pipes wouldn’t burst.
Of course we had to sleep on an air mattress in the den so we could stay warm overnight, but it was kind of fun when it was all said and done-like camping in the TV room. Nothing we’d want to have to do on a regular basis, mind you, but an adventure none the less. Good luck with your addition adventure!
xo,
Sherry
That second photo is lovely.
My husband and I bought our ranch-style house in October 06 and before seeing the pics of your ranch I thought ours was the cutest! We always have 2 or 3 projects going on – I am sure you know all about it – but we LOVE it…. We are now redoing our counters and backsplash. And I am trying my hardest to whiten the grout in my 50′s green bathroom that I am trying to work with :)
Anyway our ranch is only a 2 bedroom so although we love it so much we are always searching for an oversized ranch – and there is a beautiful one on our street 3 houses up…. I looooove it! *sigh*
Enjoy the snow! I live in Connecticut so we have seen it sooo much this year that I can’t wait for spring!
We live, I think, somewhere pretty close to you guys and we really love our neighborhood. Our house (which is our first) is really small but the lot is big, so I would be happy to stay forever and just build on. However, I have crushes on several houses nearby in Westover Hills. (I also have swoony feelings for a couple of the ridiculous houses near U of R, but that’s never going to happen.)
Wasn’t it great having a surprise late-winter snow storm? My husband and I just made it back home to Maryland from Richmond (we were there for a wedding) before it got too bad. I’ll have to try the snow dog next time around!
No snow-related fun here. It was almost 80 in Austin today. We miss snow. But only a little bit. :) Love the winter wonderland pics.
This is our first house and we love it but I definitely see wanting more space in the future. We were walking the dog in the neighborhood recently and found a new construction house open and of course we had to do a little tour. It wasn’t done but there were several touches that I wished we had! Some craftsman style moldings, gorgeous granite counter tops with a round breakfast bar, slate tile in wet areas and hardwoods everywhere else…. Lovely. There was also one down the street that just sold that is a lot like ours but with four bedrooms and a study all on one level. That would be nice…
Those dog sculptures are so cute. I’m glad you are getting a chance to enjoy the snow. I live in New England and it has been a very snowy winter. Can’t wait for the spring.
I love the Snow Burgers!
I absolutely love where I live, but it’s a one-bedroom condo, so I’ll definitely need to upgrade to a place with more space in the future. It’s great for now because it’s a fantastic location in a cute neighborhood in the middle of the city and I have fun neighbors.
I’ve definitely spotted a handful of English-style cottages that I wouldn’t mind moving into!
We bought our first home back in July. We knew it wasn’t always realistic to think this way, but we hoped our first home could be our forever home. We just didn’t want to buy and put time and love into it and then have to move when it got too small. So we waited and waited until timing and finances were right so that we coud buy the home of our dreams, in the town we wanted and I don’t plan on going anywhere. It’s a good thing we like the charm of older, smaller homes and don’t want the expansiveness of a newer home we couldn’t yet afford – we think our modest but beautiful-to-us home will be perfect for us forever.
I can’t say that I have any alergy related advice to give, but I do have a great pic of my house in the snow. I am in Charlotte and we got about 5 inches! We just bought our house about 3 months ago and I love it but I think it is just a temporary home for the next few years. I don’t plan on living this far away from the beach forever! Scroll down a bit to see the house!!
There are not any houses in my neighborhood that I would like to buy. My house suits my families needs at this time. I don’t see a move anytime in the future. This house has a good floor plan. And very few things I would change about it overall.
I don’t envy the snow. My family moved to Florida from Memphis to get away from the cold weather.
Love the snow dogs! What does Burger think of all the snow? We got a foot of snow this time last year and our dog absolutely loved it (though she’s quite a bit bigger than little Burger).
We’ll only be in our house a couple more years probably. Once kids come on the scene we’ll need some more room, plus I would love a bigger yard and garden (as would the dog). We have a cute little bungalow right now; I would love to move up to a larger bungalow or one of the gorgeous tudors in the nearby neighborhoods.
Hey Sarah,
Burger HATES the snow. And thanks to much colder than normal temps here, it’s still just as deep as it was on Sunday night when it fell. We had to clear a little path to even get him to go outside at all. Talk about high maintenance! Although in all fairness it is up to his neck…
xo,
Sherry
This almost makes me miss living in a place where it snows… almost.
whoa. I have a gravatar. Where did that come from?
Being from Florida, I don’t get to see such beauty here! I would love to have all that snow in my backyard! Although, I don’t think I would be able to resist running all through it! Maybe even making a snow angel or two :)
Closing our house was such a pain in the tushie that I told DH that we are never buying another house again. Then when we moved in, moving day was so hectic and stressful (though our movers were GREAT) that I told DH that we are going to die in this house, we are never moving again. We do plan to be here a long time, though I don’t know if it will be THAT long. :) There are other places in the world we would both like to live.
hey guys,
what about your wedding arch – are you taking it with you? :)
Hey Sana,
That has yet to be decided. We’re not sure if it’s sturdy enough to be transported, but we’re wondering if we’ll end up taking it and even if it falls apart we can build a lattice to grow a flowering vine up or something against the house( (in case it’s too wobbly to be free standing). We’ll keep you posted!
xo,
s