Our New Place

Since we aren’t sure how long we will be in San Ramon, we decided to rent until we know what’s what. Jonathan had been to the area once before on a business trip, but the closest I had been was San Francisco. Needless to say, we knew very little about where to focus our home search. We had heard great things about the neighboring Danville area, and it definitely seemed up our alley. 

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Older, established neighborhoods with larger lots. Walkable downtown area. Access to an expansive trail system. However, when we got here and started our house hunt there was basically nothing available there. 

We kept an open mind and Jonathan went to check out houses with our realtor while I worked on getting Forest back on schedule with the 8 hour Scotland-California time difference. The plan was for Jonathan to go see the selection, narrow it down to two or three and then I’d go view the top contenders the next day. Well, after all day of looking at houses Jonathan came home to tell me that there was basically only one worthwhile house out of the whole lot. While that was disappointing, it made our choice a lot easier. 

Apparently the rental market is really hot here because a lot of people can’t afford the steep down payment on California’s outrageous real estate prices. The Tri-Valley area is especially astronomical! We live in one of the more affordable areas and still- OUCH! But the city of San Ramon and surrounding areas is undeniably a desirable place to live, so you get what you pay for, I guess. 

Say hello to our new house:

We are located in a new development within San Ramon. The biggest perk of our house is the size. It’s probably triple the square footage of what we had in Scotland. We have a three car garage (tandem), 4 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, and a formal dining room with sitting area. Y'all, we could play some serious mahjong up in here.

Kitchen. I know, I know- elevated surfaces. His dad put him there.

Living room, open to eat-in kicthen

Dining room/sitting area/mahjong tournament room

Master bathroom

Master bedroom. Big enough for all our furniture AND room to do P90x

 

Upstairs loft living area, aka Forest's play area

I feel like we kind of binged on space but after having a living room too small for a 3 seater sofa for the past 2 years, we wanted room to stretch our legs, especially with Forest's toddling days fast approaching. It’s been so nice to have ample floor space for Forest to roll and scoot around. Just in the past 2 weeks, he’s advanced so much in terms of mobility and I think that just comes from not being so confined. 

The biggest drawback is the backyard space. 

It’s big enough for us, Forest, and Samson, but Bailey will have to adjust. The good thing is that we are 2 blocks away from 2 different trails where we can run her so she won’t be lacking for exercise. 

The parks and trails in San Ramon are unbelievable. Everywhere you turn there is another one. Seriously, every quadrant in our neighborhood has its own playground and open green space. 

Within a 5 minute walk of our house we can reach 3 different parks.  While a large backyard would have been nice, it doesn’t feel as imperative with the community spaces available so nearby.   

The running trails are also a perk. It is so hilly in our area that I can barely run 4-5 miles because the terrain is constantly inclining or declining pretty drastically. 

I’ll write more about this separately, but I’ve been getting quite the work out in during my jogs. Bailey will really enjoy herself here.  We even have a dog park in the neighborhood adjacent to ours so that’s another big plus of our house location. 

Jonathan’s commute is just about 8 minutes as well so that’s a big bonus too. We are really enjoying our new pad so far and can’t wait to get our shipment (estimated around April 6) and get settled. We bought some new furniture from Restoration Hardware that was just delivered this week, so at least that is helping us to feel a bit more at home. Check out our *4* seater sofa! 

I’m so excited to have a couch I can nap on again! I’ll give you more details on all of our new furniture in a separate post. Until then…