The Baker Ranch Photo Album

When we first envisioned actually living out here, we were going to move a story and a half modular on the site. Basically, there were a couple of downfalls. The first was a fiduciary one, the second, was my all time not favorite thing...interior decorating. Sit with some floor plans in front of you and these 2x3 cards with flooring, cabinet, roofing, carpeting, ad infinitum, samples in front of you sometime and try to envision the finished product. This was before we found out the cost of such an endeavor, since there still was the matter of clearing trees, drilling a well, a septic system, a basement (when all of the contractors were afraid of hitting rock before they were finished)... Oh, almost forgot the 300 foot driveway and the 13 truckloads of rock for the base on that...

Looking back on the concept now, and knowing what I know about time, costs and the level of speed at which things actually never happened, this was our best bet. (Namely, the boys would probably still be sharing a bedroom on the first floor with an entire second floor being still unclaimed after 2 years...sometimes, knowing your limitations is a good thing.) So, the search was on for a "manufactured home" (politically correct term these days...) After searching nearly 6 months, and looking at about 200 houses, this is the one we chose. I think everyone can tell, we were tired of being cramped in a 14 x 70 "trailer" by these pictures....

For the curious, or those looking to purchase, this home was built by a company called "Southern Lifestyles" which is headquartered in Addison, Alabama. The only thing that these folks skimped on, compared to other manufacturers we looked at, was putting carpeting in the bathrooms instead of vinyl flooring...either that, or a woman who never lived with three men came up with the concept.... They had vinyl on hand, because they put it in the utility room...washers and dryers don't have "mishaps" as often as...well, you get the hint....*grin*

The back of the house before the addition of a mudroom...when you have mud, there has to be a separate room to contain it in. Probably the muddiest part of the whole house is the area to get to this room, even after 2 years of attempting the grass growing thing.
Actually, I think Dad was bored with the moving thing. This room went up before we got to live in the house... The story of how the room was finished on the inside and the hanging of the siding on it is in the section with the "other stories."
Although it doesn't look like much here, without the siding on it, this is probably one of the handiest rooms of the house...it has housed puppies, rabbits,and even baby chickens before the chicken house was built. Yeah, I did say this was a "ranch" right?
Travis posing in the diningroom. This is a view from the family room door through to the kitchen.
The boys standing in the corner of the livingroom. After 2 years, the living room still remains the least occupied room of the house. Told you we were tired of being cramped up. Maybe one day there will actually be some furniture in here, but for now, it remains "the computer room."
Travis posing in the family room next to the fireplace...yeah, they were excited about moving in!
The family room fixtures...the fireplace came in handy when we got snowed in over New Years this year...little did I realize how thankful I would be for this one...amazing what you start thinking of when snowbound for a week in an all electric house (besides the fact that a back up generator really needs to be moved a bit higher on the list of priority items...)
My kitchen as viewed from the livingroom...burned a lot of meals on this stove already (not really...well, ok, not consistantly, will you buy that? hahahahaha)
This is the kitchen from the edge of the dining room. Now, if I could only find that countertop again...every house has a catch all spot, this is ours. If it's not on this counter, it's "lost forever" (wait...or was that if it does hit this counter?)
The view from the diningroom into the family room.