Here's the pic from the guest driveway. As you can see, the first floor is about six feet below grade on this side of the house. The house is built on a hill, so the back is actually level with the ground. It's all steel frame with a steel roof. It's pretty well hidden, but there are solar panels on the top. According to the owner, the hot water bill is close to zero for much of the year.
The back end of the house. As you can see, it's on grade here. The deck on top of the garage opens to the second floor. Shelly relishes the thought of sipping lattes on the back deck in the morning.
The view from the back deck. It should look nicer when the trees green up. The yard actually ends where you see the grass end, then it's a Corps of Engineers forest preserve for about a half-mile, then you hit Lake Grapevine.
The view of the 'back yard' (actually on the side) from the deck. Looks like I've got my own greenhouse, and I have no earthly idea what to do with it :)
Another view of the back yard. Since the greenhouse is in much better repair than this big shed, and I really don't need that much shed-space (neither did the owner, as it's empty). I'm considering taking down the shed and converting the greenhouse into a shed. The added bonus of that would be that I'll end up with a nice big level spot to put up a jungle gym for Maggie.
All that green grass is winter rye, so it won't look nearly as green in a few months. There's Saint Augustine out there, but it's gotta kick in.
The living room, taken from the kitchen. The tall windows you see are the same ones you saw in the first picture, which is why there's a six foot wall of ivy in front of the window. It's a smallish living room, but since Maggie's gonna end up with her own playroom, it shouldn't be too much of a space crisis.
Another view of the front door. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but I'm aiming about 45 degrees downward. There's a rock staircase just to the right of the picture, which is how you get to the front door. It'll likely end up being one of those front doors that's rarely used, as the garage and entrance to the office is in the rear.
A picture along the south wall of the house, showing the greenhouse and shed again. According to the owner, the original builder was a tree-hugger, which is why there's so much natural landscaping and trees and such.
And finally here's a picture of the front of the house towards the street. The house is set about 190 feet back from the road. The driveway actually has a loop off to the right of the picture, which is why there appears to be a nasty dogleg curve in the driveway.
