A More Permanent Abode

For those of you who may not yet have heard, we have decided to call Iowa City home. For now. We made this decision for a number of reasons, which go beyond the purview of this entry or blog. The situation being what is was, this decision seemed to make the most sense for us, and we're excited for all of the changes that are in store, even if our location isn't changing.

Suffice it to say, while Iowa City is certainly no Seattle in terms of visual stimulation and outdoor recreational activities at hand, it is a great place to call home and to start raising a family. We're glad that we'll have family and friends close at hand to help us rear 'Flip', as we've been told by others that this will be a big plus to help us maintain our sanity. We hope they are right

One of the perks of deciding to settle in a town where you pretty much know everything both geographically, as well as esthetically, is that you have a pretty good notion of where you'd like to live. Additionally for us, we had the added advantage of knowing who we wanted to design and build our home. This added knowledge was borne out of attending Iowa City's home parades of summers past, when we would attempt escaping the heat and humidity of the season by entering the comfort of an air-conditioned, newly-minted home. It was during these "Parades" that we found a local home builder/designer that seemed to build all of the homes that really impressed us.

We always said to each other that we would be interested in either re-habing an old four-square/craftsman home (there are plenty in Iowa City), or just build a new one, incorporating the same details of these older homes that we appreciated so much. Well, enter a few years later ... we decide to stay in Iowa City, a baby in tow, an $8,000 federal home-buyers tax credit, and we realize that we're probably (actually, definitely) not going to have the time or energy to re-hab an old turn of the century home. Enter option #2 ... building anew.

The second question to answer was, where? Tired of the need to drive ~15 minutes to work (yes, we realize that we're complaining about driving 15 minutes, but hey, when you live in Iowa City, you come to expect it taking only ~5-10 minutes to get just about anywhere in town) from North Liberty, we definitely knew we wanted to live as close in to Iowa City and The University as possible. However, anytime you start to look at homes really close in to campus/work, it usually means paying a premium in cost, or sacrificing peace of mind to live among students. Ideally we wanted to be able to take advantage of what recreation was available in Iowa City (i.e. City Park), be close to the Co-Op and Library, as well as be close enough to bike to work (mostly Chris on this one, his 20 year-old car can't last forever...or can it?).

Luckily for us, there is a small pocket of Iowa City that is far enough away from the typical annoyances when you live close to campus (students, game-day traffic, cost, etc.), yet close enough that it only takes ~7-8 minutes to bike in. It's located on a peninsula bounded by the Iowa River, and a stone's throw away from City Park, The University's campus, I-80, downtown, and on and on. Even luckier, the builder/designer had a few lots available in this area. Score for us! This made us very excited for a number of reasons:

1) see above regarding desire to build a home
2) we'd be within running/walking/biking distance to City Park, great for kids and spending family time
3) we'd be even closer to a new public Dog Park (handy for that future yellow lab that Emily has been dreaming about for so long) situated adjacent to the Iowa River, and just across a footbridge that crosses over the Iowa River Power Company (handy for grabbing a summer brew)
4) a nice sledding hill within walking distance (kids love to sled after all), or a great view of late summer/early autumn sunsets
5) no need to worry about flooding (we're at the top of the peninsula, out of the flood zone)
6) 2 minutes to I-80 to escape Iowa City every now and then

So for the past few weeks, we've been working to settle on a lot (we've completed this part, more on this in later posts) and a home design. While there may still be minor changes as the process moves forward, what follows are some images that come fairly close to what the final result will look like, when its finished this summer. As of right now there will be ~2,300 sq. ft. finished on the main and upper level, with a walk-out lower level that upon being finished in a few years, would add another ~1,000-1,200 sq. ft., plenty of space for friends and relatives to come and get acquainted with Flip.

We'll keep you posted as things continue to develop :o)