Our Huge - I Mean Humble - Abode

The house we're renting - "The Tater Box", aka K-bar-T B&B - sits among horse farms in beautiful and historic Chester County, about 30 miles west of Philadelphia. The map below shows the area, with Downingtown (for reference for those who read our post on that town) on the far left and Philly on the right.

Our understanding is that the house was built in the mid-1960s by an aeronautical engineer as an exact replica of his grandparents house, which was apparently constructed in the 18th century. This declaration is made easier to believe after taking a close look at how tightly the doors fit into their frames, the perfect right angle made by each of the dozens of identical colonial-style hinges, the 14" wide planks used as flooring throughout the house.

The listing information from HotPads does a good job of describing the place. Here's the super-long link:
http://hotpads.com/search#lat=40.076766126602664&lon=-75.58143138885498&zoom=22&previewId=4e1qcr4qban3y&previewType=listing&listingTypes=rental,sublet,room,corporate&includeVaguePricing=false&loan=30,0.0525,0&resultsPerQuad=24

Below we've created a short photographic tour of the interior of the house so potential visitors can get an idea of where they'll be staying (see how cleverly I slipped that invitation in there?)

The house has four entry doors onto the ground floor (four - I have no idea why) but we typically enter through the kitchen, off the parking area. This kitchen is WAY too big (like most of these shots only partly of the room is captured in the picture) but Tina's done a great job of making it as functional as possible.

That's Bailey, our German Short-haired Pointer, hanging out near the door (to the left of the fridge) in hopes she'll get to go outside.

The dining room is next.

Turning left and up a short flight of stairs (left side of the photo below) puts you in the foyer.

Across the foyer is the parlor - I mean, living room. The window wells show off how thick the walls are.

Up another short flight (visible in the foyer picture) is the master bedroom.

Across the hall is my favorite room, my office. Love having a library. Makes me feel intelligent to be surrounded by words.

Up another short flight of stairs is the main hallway, which leads to the guest room. Karma's wondering what the heck I'm up to.

At the end of that hall is another bedroom we've converted into a massive closet. While the house itself doesn't lack for square footage, the closet space is miserly.

Up ANOTHER flight of stairs is the top-most room in the house, Tina's office, which is tucked into a great attic space with its own bathroom.

Below all of this is a finished basement, and below THAT a workshop / storage space.

We're not fans of having to clean, heat, and pay rent for a house that's nearly 3X larger than what we had in Boise. Truth be told, we settled on it because of its proximity to Vanguard's campus (about 6 miles) and because the owners we OK with our animal menagerie. Although we're unsure how long we'll stay in such an out-sized house rest assured that so long we we're here guests are always welcome.