I had an opportunity to go back to our new house yesterday to take pictures and video everything.
It was awesome to go back through the house and see even more than I did the first time. Plus, the first time we went through the house we had Simone with us, which made it difficult to concentrate.

Everything can tend to run a muck when a toddler is running to and fro being her darling self.

We won’t be moving in till around mid to late July, so the pictures and video really help me to visualize and plan what we are going to do with the interior.

Oh yes, we have plans for our new dwelling, and dare I say it won’t look anything like it does now.

When I first viewed the house, I thought the whole place was paneling, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that only a few walls in some of the bedrooms, the living room, hallway leading down to the basement, and the whole basement need to be redone.

The basement is a 400 sq ft room that is supposed to be a family room with a wet bar. We’re planning on taking all the paneling off down there, pulling up the carpet and treating the cement walls and floor with a product called RadonSeal.

We ordered it last year when we thought we were going to seal up the concrete in the house we are currently living in. After purchasing it, however, we weren’t able to pull up the bathroom tile and kitchen floor to apply the RadonSeal, so we just held onto it. It was a good thing we did! After the RadonSeal is applied, Dom will be going over the concrete walls with the Aliz plaster. When that is finished, we’ll be getting carpet laid. I was conflicted for a while about carpeting due to the fact that Simone is allergic to latex, but upon doing some research, I found out that carpet manufacturers have recently replaced natural latex rubber adhesives with a synthetic adhesive.

Going a step further, I found a company that sells carpet made from recycled soda bottles. How cool is that? The company is called Green Floors…I’ll be ordering some samples soon.

The photo on the left is of the entrance to the house. We have no intention of actually using the front door since it is inconvenient.

Another lovely feature of the exterior is all the SECURITY BARS. Can you tell I don’t like them? When I first moved to NM, I met a very nice woman who helped us out with clothing and some household items. She has lived in NM her whole life, so I asked her “What’s up with all the bars on everyone’s windows?”

Even though I was smiling when I asked the question, I was asking with a hint of panic, wondering what I got my family into by moving out here.

She explained that many years ago the bars were a security feature for obvious reasons, but as Albuquerque developed, and more homes were built, the security bars became more of “just something that people do.” She said there are definitely neighborhoods that are in need of security bars, but for the most part, they aren’t necessary.

I see security bars on houses even in some of the nicest neighborhoods, and I guess it just looks so odd to me. Needless to say, the bars will be coming off the windows on the front of the house and planter boxes will be installed instead. On one side of the house will be Simone’s room, and I’ll be keeping the security bars up…not to keep people from getting in, but to keep her from getting out!

There is one place in the back of the house that will be perfect for our kitchen garden and aquaponics. Its located through a tall iron gate just beyond the back courtyard.

It will be comprised of many raised keyhole beds with a composting basket in the center of each of them. We’re still unsure whether we’ll be creating the raised beds out of earthbags or going with metal mesh, rebar and ferro-cement.

Also where the kitchen garden will be is a workshop not shown in the photo. The workshop is the size of a single garage with an extended roof, and even though there is a second well that is in that section, the workshop roof will be used for water catchment and fed into the kitchen garden.

Here is a picture of the other side of the kitchen garden area:

The extended roof portion of the workshop will become the greenhouse/aquaponics area. It will be extended out most likely with a clear fiberglass material or recycled windows. On the other side of that structure is an penned area for horses. We haven’t decided yet what we’ll be doing with the other side since we’d like to wait and observe the land for about a year.

Here is slide and video that I put together: