A Quick Tour of Our Home

Arbor Grove is a housing development on the northeast side of town. When they started building it, it was just outside of town, but that was about 11 years ago, and town has caught up with and passed it since then. It didn’t matter too much, though. Arbor Grove was built next to a city-owned ‘flood plain’ (actually a creek and about 100 yards of trees on either side) to the north, and a major street to the east and south, which left only the west for expansion, or to expand into us.

The original developer went bankrupt before completing even 25% of the project. I think he used all his available cash to buy the land, then took a loan on the land to finance the original building, with plans to sell the early houses to build more. A particularly wet winter and spring in ‘99 delayed his plans long enough to force him into bankruptcy. Because I had a ‘vested financial interest’ in the development (the unfinished construction around me hurt my property values), I had reason to approach the court, and offered a deal to buy the land and complete the construction, with my business partner - Tom Hunter, Ryan’s father, who owned a contractor business.

When we received the courts approval, we drew up new plans for the development. Arbor Grove is now a six square block unit. I went with less, but larger houses Each block has between four and six houses on it, depending on whether they’re starter homes, family homes, or deluxe homes. I also looked at my family, which, at that time, included Steve, Mikell, Aaron, Tommy, and Bobby, plus regular visits or actual visitation with Corey, Chris, Caleb, Barry, and the twins. Plus, I had given Jason permission to parole to my address when he was released. I needed a bigger house, so I drew up the basic plans for what I have now. Steve helped, and I think that’s where he got his interest in architecture. Heaven knows he drove the architect half crazy with questions when we were going over everything.

Since I did own all the property, I was greedy. The properties along the back of the development, along the creek, all have larger, longer yards. I took a double lot at the back corner of the development. Since I was making plenty of money from the venture, I also went crazy and built everything I thought I could possibly need, and extra. I’ve made mistakes before, but that one was a whopper - mainly because I never believed I'd be raising 14 kids.

Our current home, where we’ve been since it was completed in early 2001, has a master suite (the bedroom’s okay, but the bathroom is to die for), which is on the east side of the house, next to my library.

The library has a separate storage room for comics, with built-in shelves designed to hold long comic boxes. The library is not just for books and comics, but where I keep my DVDs and CDs. The kids are allowed in that part of the library, but only with permission.

The next room is my office, which is separate from the library. The office is set up for me to handle business, but also to meet with visitors. I have two desks, one for the computer and one for paperwork. The computer desk has a hutch, giving me a place to store software and reference books.

There is a set of stairs in the hallway leading to my bedroom. We actually have two upstairs, which are seperated by the living room. The side over my part of the house holds two guests rooms, which are directly over my bedroom. Each of them has room for the standard bedroom stuff, plus a small sitting area. Each of them also has it's own bathroom.

Towards the front of that side of the upstairs from the guest room is my private area. It’s a sitting area where I can read in private or entertain a friend. It’s where I used to have my bar and humidor, until I decided that smoking and drinking probably were bad examples for the kids. I still have the bar, and I do still have a couple of bottles back there, but they’re carefully stored away, and I did get rid of all my cigars (giving them away, not one at a time, thank you). It's also used to be a place for me to hold my role-playing games, though I don't often get to have those anymore. I let Ryan run his games there now (did I mention there's a lock on the liquor cabinet?)

Next to that is the family room, which is mostly set up for the kids to either study or build decks or CMG (collectible-miniature games) armies. It's supposed to be a quiet room. There are two computers, both internet capable, but they have strict parental controls on them. Mostly it's desks, tables and chairs, a couple of bookcases full of reference material, and three cabinets for storing family gaming material.

Back downstairs, the living room is the center of the home. It’s basically ‘in front of’ (to the north of) the family room, my office, and the front door. It’s vaulted, a full two-stories, with a plexiglass skyroof. There are actually two seating groups in the living room. One is for watching TV and the other for conversation. It doesn't take much effort to move the two of them into one group, for holidays and such. The conversation group is back from the front door and in front of the fire place.

The west side of the house is the kids. If you walk in and take the first turn to the left, you are in the younger boys’ area. That turn (it’s an arch, not a door) opens into a common area - the play room. There are four bedrooms off the playroom - currently Van and Brice, the twins, Barry and Noah, and Ryan and Misha. Each two rooms shares a bathroom, which has been enough so far. When everyone gets old enough to want to start showering in the morning before school, I don’t know what we’ll do.

I don't think I need to tell you about the boy's individual rooms. For one thing, we change them on a semi-regular basis. Let me just say that I designed the rooms to be bigger than normal. I was stuck in a fairly small bedroom and didn't have anyplace else to go, except outside or to a friend's house. I thought I'd given the boys too much room, but as crowded as it's getting, I guess it was a good thing. One thing I should mention is that we've made sure all the rooms have plenty of bed-space, which is why I end up having so many sleepovers (well, and because I'm one of the few that can tolerate that many boys at once).

Just before you enter the playroom, there is another arch to the right. This one leads into the dining room. The dining room is big enough to hold 14 people. There is a buffet to your left (from this direction) and a china cabinet to your right. Over the buffet is a Texas flag in a distressed wooden frame. On top of the china cabinet is a Lone Star symbol made from limestone from when they repaired the San Jacinto Monument. On the shorter walls, I have pictures from Remington and Adams. Also, either door to the dining room has old-style, wooden, swinging doors. I am very much in love with this room, and my mom claims she’s trying to figure out how to steal just that room from me.

Opposite the door next to the playroom is the door to the kitchen. The kitchen is huge. First, look up a few paragraphs and see what my family was like when I designed this home. Now, consider the fact that I have a mother and father, a step-mother and step-father, and an ex-step-mother, all of whom I love. (Okay, I’m lying about the step-father there, but it would hurt mom’s feelings if I left him out.) I now have 9 siblings (and I’m almost positive that the number is going to stay steady now, since we learned about my father’s 12 year old, illegitimate son - Noah). Of that number, there are 4 steps and the rest are halves. That part doesn’t bother me, though. I’m rather neutral towards one of the steps, because I didn’t really grow up with her, and I can barely tolerate one of the halves, but I dearly love the rest. From those siblings, I now have...ten (?) nieces and nephews. The total wasn’t so high when this house was built, but it was high enough, so I designed the kitchen so that I could have Thanksgiving and Christmas here. And we can.

From the kitchen, if you turn to the left, you’re pretty much at the end of the house. To the furthest north, you have the utility closet, which is also leads to the side door. This is where we do all our laundry, and it also serves as a mud room, when called for. If you go out by that door, immediately to your right is the garage. The garage is huge, and holds three cars, plus has room for my tools, my workshop (mostly woodwork), all the boys bikes, and storage for various other things. The garage doesn’t actually hold three cars anymore, since I started letting Bobby and his band practice out there - even now that they've moved, it keeps being taken over for other stuff. At least I've always had room to keep my convertible protected and leave them enough space, and it’s worth the peace. The next room south is the pantry, which is just what it sounds like, except that it also has a freezer. Then, closest to the dining room, are the stairs to the basement. Yes, I know that basements are about as common as hen’s teeth in Texas, but I really wanted one. We really haven’t had too much trouble with it. I made sure we had WAY above the recommended amount of drain pumps installed, and back-up pumps with it. The basement serves as two things: the game room and the theater. It’s huge, but the theater can seat over 30 adults, and the game room has a full-sized pool table, air hockey, foosball, bumper pool, several pinball and video games, and a juke box. These rooms were almost as much fun to decorate as the dining room. Also, the back corner of the basement provides me with almost all of my storage space for clothes that are waiting to become hand-me-downs.

Turning right from the kitchen brings you to the farthest north parts of the house - the breakfast nook, which should probably be considered part of the kitchen, and the sunroom. From there, you just come back to the living room, except for the stairs.

The upstairs is for the older boys, for two reasons. First, because it gives the younglings less reason to play on the staircase. Second, because I can put an alarm on the staircase, and tell if anyone is trying to sneak out. (And believe me, a couple of my older boys are still trying to figure out how I do it). The upstairs is almost identical to the younger boys rooms downstairs, except that the family room is a bit smaller than the play room, the boys rooms are a little larger, and there are five of them, since we didn’t have to fit in a dining room. Also, if you follow the hall around from the boys rooms, you come to what were supposed to be guest suites at the back of the house, over the kitchen. Each side of the upstairs is only a half-floor. Their's covers the west wing of the house, but doesn’t intrude on the living room vaulting, though it is railed, so you can see out into the living room from thier common room.

Going back to the sun room, which is almost straight on the other side of the living room from the front door, we have another small eating area. The real reason for this room is, I’d given up smoking by the time we moved in here, and didn’t want others (like Mom and Grandma) smoking in the new house. However, it also makes a great place for 5 or 6 people to eat on the really big holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. The sun room is plexiglass paneling so you can see outside to the backyard, though it has blinds, if you want to close it off. I furnished it basically like a patio, with wicker furniture, which I think adds to the outdoor feel. I don’t do well with plants, but I have a lot of them out there, and the maid service cares for them, so I’ve not managed to kill too many of them yet. There isn’t an actual doorway between the house and sun room. Rather, it’s an open walkway, but I had an ‘air-door’ installed, which helps to keep bugs, hot air, and smoke from coming into the main part of the house. On the far side of the sun room from the sitting area, is a Jacuzzi. It’s not as cold in Texas as in a lot of places, but it gets cold enough here sometimes, and enough of my kids play sports that I wanted them to be able to have a long soak whenever they needed one. Besides, one of those really is heaven, when it’s cold out and you’re tired and just want to relax. Between the two is the door to the outside.

As I said earlier, the back yards on this last row of houses are ginormous.. I actually divided mine into two separate yards. As you walk out the sunroom door, you see the garage to your left. Mostly it’s a blank wall on the first floor. At the far end of it, there are two doors. One of them is for a small storage area, that is mainly used for storing pool equipment and toys. The other is for a water closet/changing room. There is also the staircase that goes to the second floor, which is the apartment, that is was Chris's for four years, but is now PJ's.

Next to the garage, with only a walk-way between them, is the pool. It’s a pretty good sized pool, and slightly odd shaped. There is an ‘L-bend’ at the foot of the pool, which is walled off and shallow. It can be used just for sitting and relaxing, for smaller kids to play in, or it can be heated, and used as a hot tub. The pool itself has a slide and diving board.

On the east side of the lawn is the dog run. Though the yard is surrounded by a wood fence, there is a cyclone fence between the main part of the backyard and the side. That’s where Lady and Prince live. They have a very nice, handmade, double insulated dog house which seems to be great for all weather. They weren’t originally fenced off, but I thought it might be a good idea for several reasons. First, Lady is a golden retriever and Prince is a lab. That means they both love water. Keeping something between them and the pool seemed reasonable. Then, the two of them are both very enthusiastic about guests; and, some people don’t deal well with huge dogs suddenly jumping all over them - especially when the people in question is only 6 or 8 years old, and actually smaller than the dog. Finally, keeping them in one area of the yard makes ‘doggie duty’ easier for whomever’s chore it is that week. They do normally have free run of the main yard, whenever someone is back there, though.

My bedroom is on the east side of the house and it projects further into the backyard than the other sections. This was actually on purpose. The outer wall of my bathroom is where our outdoor kitchen is, which made the water and power supply much easier. Yes, we use gas or even charcoal when we barbecue or grill, but we have electricity to run a small refrigerator and any appliances we may need. The one thing I don’t like is, we ended up covering this entire area, which means the sun room doesn’t get a lot of sun. Of course, since it’s north facing and would mostly get sun during the summer, I guess that’s not too bad a thing. We also have plenty of seating and conversation area. Part of it is covered, part is open to the sun. (Actually, after I wrote the initial draft of this, I heard an add for one of those retractable power awnings, and we're having one of them installed there next week. That means we can have shade during the summer when it's hot, and have light during the rest of the year.)

I said the backyard was huge, but it’s not endless. There is some open grass, but not a lot. Just past the end of the pool, you come to a hedge. This area of the development slopes towards the creek, which means the backyard is lower than the house. When they dredged the pool, I had them even the yard into two levels, before they landscaped it. There is a rather sharp drop-off between the ‘near back’ and ‘far back’ yards. It’s about a two foot drop, it’s where the dog-run ends, and it is marked by a hedge, that’s trained to about four feet (and yes, the hedge is where the boys pick the occasional switch). Of course, that’s six feet if you’re far back, which helps the kids behave a bit better, since they can’t be sure if anyone’s watching them. In about the center of the hedge, there’s a break with a short staircase and an arch, which is covered with roses. (That was for my mom).

The far back yard is meant for kids to play, and for grown-ups to watch. We have a huge oak in the northwest corner of the yard, that I kept them from taking down when they built the development. (Actually, we planned carefully to save as many of the trees here as we could). That tree holds a tree house and is the base for a fort. The two have a ladder connecting them. There is also a good-sized swing set with a ladder and teeter-totter. On the far east side of the yard is a wooden storage building. Yes, I have used it for spanking before, though not with my kids; but, it’s primarily a place for storing outdoor stuff during the winter. Between the two is another big tree, which has several chairs and a small table beneath it. Just past the hedge, in an area that’s not shaded, there’s a gazebo. It was originally meant to be my grandma’s, but she passed before the house was finished. It’s big enough to hold a porch swing and a couple of big, cushioned chairs, and still have room for little ones on the floor between them. It’s surrounded by rose bushes, and painted white. My mom and the other, older ladies love sitting out there in the spring and fall, and it’s been the site of many tea parties for my nieces, over the last few years.

The last part of the house is what I call the side yard. As I said before, the garage forms an ‘L’ with the actual house. If you are in front of the house, the garage would be to the left. If you’re standing, facing the garage, like you were about to park a car, then the house is to your right. To your left is a half-sized basketball court. The field that we didn’t use for the development is still my property, and we converted the part of it that’s next to the house into a nice lawn for playing and practicing baseball and soccer; though it has been used for other purposes over the years (like a dirt bike trail). Across from the house, we had to make more parking spots, as the age and number of my kids grew. Because we do have pretty bad thunderstorms here, sometimes with hail, we put up a covering, but no walls. It does the job, and looks nice enough that the neighbors don’t complain - thanks to trellises covered with honeysuckle.

The property to the west of the development wasn’t used. I think the original contractor meant to level it out and use it for more housing. There is a small, natural ridge there, and I decided to leave it. It does a good job of giving us a little separation from the next development over, which is a bit older than ours. It’s easy enough to walk there, but it keeps our traffic down a lot. Since there was some land on the other side of the ridge, I granted use of it to the city as a park, as long as they don’t try to develop it for any other purpose. Our kids don’t need it, but at this time, Mike, Ben, Mary, and their families all live ‘over the ridge from us’ along with a lot of the kids’ friends, so it was nice to be able to provide them with a place to play – besides my house, I mean.

Anyway, that’s the tour. Hope it gives you an idea of our layout.