Our Polish House

The many pictures of our home that were sent to us did not express how large our house would be. We have a townhouse. Most townhouses in the US can be on the small side. On the outside, it does not this house does not look like much. But, once we opened the fortress that was our door (a steel door with large (really large) old keys that led to a regular door with regular keys)…it was something else. For those of you who have read or seen Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire, it is similar to when they arrived at the campsite for the Quidditch World Cup and entered what looked like a regular tent only to find a huge suite awaiting them. That was what it was like!

The bottom level consists of a furnished basement complete with a sunken fireplace, living room furniture and an area that can be used for another bedroom or a playroom. It has a half bath. This is Thing 1's favorite room because the sunken fireplace has a bench that surrounds it and he thinks it is a “campfire.” He would like to roast marshmallows and sit around the fire to sing songs. We have to find marshmallows soon….On the bottom level is a door that leads to the garage, another door to a laundry room/furnace area, and yet another door for storage. There is even an extra freezer in the basement.

As you go up the stairs, past the entrance, you come to the 1st level which is the main living area consisting of the kitchen, dining room, living room, den and a full bath with a shower. The pictures of the kitchen made it look small at first, but it is actually quite large and has more cabinet space than I originally thought. The dining room is furnished with a dining room table, server table, china cabinet, and a wine cabinet.

The living room has your usual living room furniture, a TV with VCR and DVD player. There is a door that leads to a large deck that then leads to some stairs into a fenced in backyard. They even have wood under the deck for the fireplace. The dogs love the yard. We have never had a fenced in yard so this is great to let them run around in without them wandering off. The den is equipped with office furniture, computer, and bookcase.

As you go up the stairs to the 2nd level, you proceed to the bedrooms, and master bath The rooms are quite large. There is a walk in closet separate from the bedrooms. Each room has a wardrobe. Thing 1 thinks this is cool and also a bit scary since he saw the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe and seems to think that Narnia is in his closet too. Thing 1's room has a twin bed, dresser, armoire and desk with bookcases. Thing 2's has a twin bed, night table temporary crib, dresser, armoire and a nice comfy chair that is great for bedtime bottles. Our room has 2 wardrobes, a dresser, armoire, and two nightstands. All the bedrooms have ceiling fans and the master bedroom has air conditioning. The rest of the house does not, but it really doesn’t need it since it stays quite nice inside with the fans alone and open windows when necessary. Each room has a balcony.

The master bath is huge. It has a shower, tub, his and her sinks, and lots of cabinets for linens and other personal items. The floors are heated so when you step out of the shower you don’t encounter a cold floor in the winter. In fact, there are hardwood floors throughout the house that are heated. There is area carpeting under the furniture. All the rooms have curtains. While I am not a fan of curtains because of Thing 1 and my asthma/allergies, and the color and style of the curtains is not what I would prefer, they do have a bright side. The kids can’t tell when the sun is up (they usually wake up with the sunrise) and because of this they have both been sleeping in. It has been great.

The 2nd level has a spiral staircase that leads to the 3rd level which consists of a small attic and another full bath. This small attic is a loft that overlooks Thing 1's room. He loves it because it is a decent size play area where he can finally leave out his many playsets that did not fit in our home before. There is a large park with a huge playground around the block from our house.

Most Polish housing have bars because while crimes against people are virtually non existent, there is crime against property and burglaries do happen. When I tell you that the house is a fortress, I mean that. There is an alarm system, steel doors to all main entryways in addition to your usual door and bars on the windows. If someone really wanted to break in, they are going to really have to work at it. You should have seen the keys that came to the door - the big old keys like the ones used to jail prisoners in the old days. I actually have keyholes I peek through.

Some interesting differences we noted right away had to do with the light switches and doors. The light switch is on the outside of the bathroom and other common areas, rather than inside, yet they are located inside for the bedrooms. When you think about it, that makes more sense than having them inside a room. Further, some doors open out while others open in. That was not as bad as the light switches. I have spent the last few days confused reaching for a light switch inside the bathroom.

Toilets are also different. For one, they have flush control so that you don't use up as much water. They also seem to not have much water in them as a rule. Only when you flush does the bowl fill up.

Overall, we are happy with our house. The only thing I would change is the drab couches we were given. We shipped our bedroom furniture (not pictured here), but did not ship our living room/dining room furniture. Now I wish we had!