Since we are leaving Saudi soon, I'm trying to go ahead and document as much as I can about our lives here. I know that the girls will be curious about what life was like for them in KSA, and I want them to be able to look back and see. We have lived in Murjan Village for four and a half years and it has truly become our home. Here is a look at our villa!
When you walk in the front door you are standing in the entry way. Off to the left is the kitchen, and off to the right are the staircase, the diaper changing area, and the half bath. Behind me is the living/dining/toy area.
The kitchen and laundry closet are directly opposite of the bathroom area. I have have spent countless hours in this room and it has become one of my favorite places in the house. :)
Directly behind the entry way, kitchen, and bath is the living dining area. This space is one huge rectangle that is completely open. We've divided it by the way we've placed the furniture. Here are a few shots from one corner of the room so you can see the whole thing.
The picture above was taken in the corner of the play area that is directly behind the kitchen. Here's another perspective looking out from the kitchen.
Next to the play area is the dining area. The table directly behind the entry way. This picture was taken from the entry way looking in.
The living area is on the other side of the table.
All of the bedrooms and another living area are upstairs. I've always thought our tiled stairs were really beautiful!
When you walk up the stairs the master bedroom/bathroom is directly to the left. Unfortunately, I somehow didn't manage to get pictures of our bedroom before the movers took our stuff. So, the after pack up pictures below contain some disturbing color schemes (the compound provided bedding), but it will at least give an idea of what our bedroom looked like. :)
Closets are not common in Europe or the Middle East. Things are instead stored in wardrobes that are fitted against the walls. Each of our bedrooms in the villa have an entire wall that consists of wardrobes. Unfortunately, the storage is not functional as a walk in closet would be, but you learn to adapt. The hardest thing for us to adjust to was the extremely limited hanging clothes space.
Here was Brent's hanging space. It was about two feet wide!
I got the larger hanging space, which was about double the space of Brent's.
Master bathroom.... Another odd thing about differences in houses here. Instead of having a shower curtain for the shower, they all have this little door that you can open and close. What is odd about it is that it doesn't cover the entire bathtub, so water always gets out!
On the right are the living area and then the girls' rooms. We don't use the upstairs living area too much, but have utilized it for an office area and storage.
Oddly enough we don't use the second bathroom at all! It only has a shower, so we always use the bathtub in our room to bathe the girls.
Here is Savannah's first bedroom too!
Those are the highlights of the inside of the house. We have a fabulous backyard and back patio, so a tour wouldn't be complete without a shot of it.
When we first moved here in 2009, our villa didn't feel like home. It was just a temporary place to stay until we were finished with our assignment in Saudi. My how things change! Four and a half years later, it truly does feel like home! We have so many memories here, and we lived so much life within these walls. This was the place where we brought Savannah home from the hospital after she was born. This was Olivia's first home. In eight years of marriage, this is the place we've lived the longest. As I type this, our villa no longer looks like the pictures I've posted. All of our stuff is gone and is on it's way to Houston. Even though our things aren't here, it still feels like home. We have had four and a half years of fantastic memories in C-12, and I think we will leave a little bit of our hearts behind when we say goodbye to it.
When you walk in the front door you are standing in the entry way. Off to the left is the kitchen, and off to the right are the staircase, the diaper changing area, and the half bath. Behind me is the living/dining/toy area.
There is a little nook right off the entry way that we turned into the diaper changing station, and it has worked beautifully!
Right after the nook you enter the sink/half bath area.
The kitchen and laundry closet are directly opposite of the bathroom area. I have have spent countless hours in this room and it has become one of my favorite places in the house. :)
Next to the play area is the dining area. The table directly behind the entry way. This picture was taken from the entry way looking in.
The living area is on the other side of the table.
All of the bedrooms and another living area are upstairs. I've always thought our tiled stairs were really beautiful!
When you walk up the stairs the master bedroom/bathroom is directly to the left. Unfortunately, I somehow didn't manage to get pictures of our bedroom before the movers took our stuff. So, the after pack up pictures below contain some disturbing color schemes (the compound provided bedding), but it will at least give an idea of what our bedroom looked like. :)
Closets are not common in Europe or the Middle East. Things are instead stored in wardrobes that are fitted against the walls. Each of our bedrooms in the villa have an entire wall that consists of wardrobes. Unfortunately, the storage is not functional as a walk in closet would be, but you learn to adapt. The hardest thing for us to adjust to was the extremely limited hanging clothes space.
Here was Brent's hanging space. It was about two feet wide!
I got the larger hanging space, which was about double the space of Brent's.
Master bathroom.... Another odd thing about differences in houses here. Instead of having a shower curtain for the shower, they all have this little door that you can open and close. What is odd about it is that it doesn't cover the entire bathtub, so water always gets out!
On the right are the living area and then the girls' rooms. We don't use the upstairs living area too much, but have utilized it for an office area and storage.
After the living area, there is a small hallway that leads to the second full bathroom and then the girl's rooms.
Oddly enough we don't use the second bathroom at all! It only has a shower, so we always use the bathtub in our room to bathe the girls.
Here is a look at Olivia's first bedroom.
Here is Savannah's first bedroom too!
Those are the highlights of the inside of the house. We have a fabulous backyard and back patio, so a tour wouldn't be complete without a shot of it.
When we first moved here in 2009, our villa didn't feel like home. It was just a temporary place to stay until we were finished with our assignment in Saudi. My how things change! Four and a half years later, it truly does feel like home! We have so many memories here, and we lived so much life within these walls. This was the place where we brought Savannah home from the hospital after she was born. This was Olivia's first home. In eight years of marriage, this is the place we've lived the longest. As I type this, our villa no longer looks like the pictures I've posted. All of our stuff is gone and is on it's way to Houston. Even though our things aren't here, it still feels like home. We have had four and a half years of fantastic memories in C-12, and I think we will leave a little bit of our hearts behind when we say goodbye to it.
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