Mike’s Real Estate Show

  I wanted to make sure you all can go to www.52balmalane.com and preview the lovely new listing I feature there. This home just got new carpeting and the Sellers are doing everything “right” in the way of preparing the home for marketing. One of the items I asked Mrs. Petersen to do is write a letter to the prospective new homeowner. I was so impressed by this letter that I decided to publish it here unedited. It is emotional but splendid in it narrative. I know Mrs. Petersen will be embarrassed at drawing attention to this letter but we have it available to convey the care and love this home has recieved over the years. Here it is:

Dear Prospective New Homeowner,
          Selling our home has been a long and difficult decision.  We built our home, have made good friends in the neighborhood, raised our 2 children and love it here.

          We bought our property in September 1985 and began designing our “dream home”.  One major decision we made was to set the house a bit back on the lot so that we would have a view and wouldn’t look at a neighbor’s house.  And to site the house at an angle to deflect the breezes that come through the Petaluma Gap of the Costal foothills.  (This has made our deck usable, whereas our neighbors’ decks face into the wind.)  So, construction began in earnest in March of 1987.  It was an exciting time – we lived in an old 1953 40’ long travel trailer situated just where the lawn edges the pathway in front of the privet hedge in the back yard!  We did a lot of the work ourselves: installed the cabinets, did the tile work, stained, varnished & installed all of the trim, put up the siding, painted – then collapsed!!
          It is hard to pick any one part of our house that we love the best.  We really love it all!  Our open floor plan and all of natural light would probably top the list.  You never need to turn a light on during the day with all of the light from the transom windows and deck skylights.  And having an open living area is great for everything from sitting and watching the fire in the glass-door Lopi woodstove, to watching the kids play while you are in the kitchen, to entertaining with ease.  We have had small dinners with friends, larger gatherings with both of our families and 50 people here for a party!  All types of entertainment work in our home.  And our large covered deck (12’ x 35’) is perfect for having more entertaining space or a BBQ year-‘round.  The deck was built with this in mind – we installed a hood over the stainless steel barbeque and a roof vent to draw cooking smoke off the deck.  The deck is a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine at the end of the day.  The pastoral views are so peaceful.  The steps and ramp leading to the backyard encourage you to get out there for a game of croquet!
          Our kitchen has always been a gathering spot.  And when we remodeled it in 2003 it only got better!  We love the warm colors; the long counter on the island that makes a perfect buffet.  The customized cupboards (a mixer cupboard, appliance garage and wicker pull-out baskets are just a few) from KraftMaid are hickory and the Dynasty cabinets from Omega are stained a rich red.  The butcher block counter and the black Richlite counters round out our gourmet kitchen.  The 2 ovens make cookie-baking a breeze - one even opens from the side rather than opening down so you don’t lean or reach over a hot door!  Our Jenn-Air downdraft ceramic top range was easy to get used to.  And we use the adjacent pot-filler all of the time.  Our Swanstone sink with integrated drainboard is just as great as we knew it would be!  The Mannington laminate flooring in Australian Cypress runs into the dining room and the home office.
Our office is not just an office.  Although it has 2 phone lines, a large file cabinet and a computer work area (we have high-speed cable internet too) in the desk area that lines one wall, there are shelves for cookbooks and cupboards for office and pantry items.  An area closest to the garage door is where we have our freezer.  A wine bar, complete with a wine rack and large cupboard for glasses, sits next to our soda refrigerator and wine cooler.  A glass door with an etched pantry design can be pulled closed for privacy or decorating impact.
          We designed our master bedroom to be roomy enough for a sitting area.  Little did we know that in raising a family there is very little chance for parents to escape!  The bay window and large French door bring the morning sun.  We remodeled the master bathroom in 2000.  It is complete with 2 large closets with floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors and a 4-foot wide, ceiling-height wardrobe.  All of our clothes are able to be in our bathroom, making getting ready in the morning easier.  Our Swanstone barrier-free shower has a raised shower head and a second adjustable hand-held shower head for versatility, a fold-down seat and grab bars along with the Kohler shower door.  The vanity is Kraftmaid hickory cabinets topped with a Swanstone integrated sink and an off-set Kohler single-lever faucet.  Just outside the bedroom doors in the hall is the laundry room.
Our vegetable garden was not our first landscape venture.  Before we built our home we put in the well and planted the photinias and eucalyptus along the road.  There was just bare land here when we bought the lot.  We had the raised beds in the garden from the beginning, bringing in topsoil and compost to begin.  It seemed so silly to buy dirt when we owned an acre!  We have grown strawberries, potatoes, beans & peas, squash, pumpkins & corn.  We also have asparagus (that we let go wild for the last few years), raspberries, wild blackberries by the road, apples, peaches, pears and a pomegranate tree.  Growing more than food, we also have roses, butterfly bushes, jasmine and a large archway into the garden covered with wisteria.  Our front yard, bordered by an escalonia hedge and redwood trees, is complete with roses, ferns, a beautiful red rhododendron, wild garlic and various other perennials.  We are visited by goldfinches, bluebirds, towhees, bush tits, hummingbirds, black phoebes, and woodpeckers throughout the year.  A crape myrtle, butterfly bush, hydrangeas and lavender give us color all summer.  The ramp that curves around to our covered front porch branches out near the small pond and fountain to a sitting area complete with chimenea.
Around the side of our house is an entirely different work area that has seen a lot of use.  We have a 24’ x 40’ shop building.  Tall enough to drive an RV into, it also has a 12’ x 12’ room inside that we’ve used for storage and as a workshop.  This supplements the work area that we have in our attached 3-car garage, where we converted the 1-car section into a large work area, complete with tool bench and lots of shelving.  We round out our storage capacity with two large shelving areas in the part of the garage closest to the house and a loft that is perfect for storing our Christmas decorations!
Wow!  Talking this through for you has been an experience in itself.  We will clearly miss our home, but trust that it’s new owners will experience the fun, the challenge, the pride, and the comfort of this home as much as we have.  We wish you many years of happiness in your new home.
Sincerely,
The Petersen Family