The front door. The doors
use a fancy new electronic locking mechanism, which is hopefully
not going to break...
The development has clear rules that
prevent owners from changing the exterior of the unit. This is important
to maintaining the value, since alot of older developments here
look horrible since each owner has made all sorts of customizations... |
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We entered through the garage. We're
planning to convert it into a home office, since even if we have
a car we'll park it outside.
Note the central vacuum system on the
far wall. The home's entire cable TV, phone and initernet cabling
is also all together in the access panel on the right. A nice touch.
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This is looking at the inside of the
front door. To the left is a small open area, which we're planning
to wall off so it's a small study. |
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I then turned around 180 degrees
from the previous photo. This shot shows the entryway hall, that
leads into the living/dining room.
A bathroom is on the left. The stair
case is nicely compact and in the center of the house. |
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The living and dining room area is
quite large, and double high. These huge windows are really high
quality. It was freezing cold that day, and there were no drafts.
The porch doors had a nice "thunk" to them. The floors
are all a dark wood.
The only thing I don't like is that
you can see the neighbors. But we can install a tall fence, and
also tall trees.The yard is really huge for Beijing, and would be
great if we had little kids. We probably won't use it, but it certainly
adds to the value of the house. |
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I took this picture with my back
to the double-high windows. There is a nice little balcony over
the living room, which we might extend a bit and then enclose with
a glass partition to turn it into a study.
You can also see the kitchen to the
left. We're planning to add doors so that it can be closed off when
we entertain. We might also expand the kitchen a bit by moving the
wall. |
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This is another view of the kitchen.
The appliances are really nice, including a gorgeous big LG refrigerator.
I'm not thrilled with the cabinet facings
and handles, but that's easy and cheap to change. |
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This is another view of the staircase,
taken from inside the dining room. We're planning to change the
banisters and spindles to a more contemporary style.
Note that the heating is all forced
air. The unit has its own heating and cooling system, with separate
thermostats for each living area. This is unusual for China. |
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This is a view of the downstairs
bathroom. I'm not crazy about the tile color, but the installation
quality is good, as are the fixtures.
We might change the tile, depending
on the pricing. |
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Here's the view from the upstairs balcony.
They did a nice job putting in a curve, which adds a nice sense of
style. Highly unusual for China. |
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This is the view down the upstairs
hallway. First door on the left is the guest suite (with its own
bathroom and walk-in closet).
Next door on the left is kid room 1,
opposite is kid room 2.
The first door on the right is the
kid bathroom. |
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This is the view into the bedroom
of the guest room suite. The wall outlets are nicely placed with
regard to furnishings.
In China, wall outlets usually seem
to be placed randomly. |
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The bathroom in the guest suite. Same
tile work. Nice fixtures. Much roomier than it looks. |
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The walk-in closet area for the guest
suite. It's large enough to also be a study room. |
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The kids bathroom, which is nicely
designed in two sections: outside sink area, and interior toilet
and shower.
The shower area is also easy to clean
(a feature that's consistent in every bathroom). |
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Kid room 1 (the one on the same side
as the guest suite). Interesting ceiling detail, and pretty roomy.
Nice natural light. |
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Kid room 2, which was very hard to photograph.
Might be time to get a real wide-angle lens... |
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This is the view out of the upstairs
hall, looking across the street. There is a little balcony, which
is pretty much wasted space (though it is a nice style detail on the
exterior). |
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This the view as you walk into the master
suite, which occupies the entire 3rd floor of the house. To the right
are some nice Velux skylights. Sharon is walking into the spacious
walk-in closet ahead. The walls are covered with an expensive (and
ugly) fabric wall paper, which is coming down! |
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This is the view of the master suite.
It opens onto a balcony with a southern exposure. Nice vaulted ceiling
makes it feel really spacious and dramatic. The walk-in closet (not
visible) is immediately to my right. |
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This is the inside of the walk-in closet.
It is nestled up inside the roof line, and will be easy to turn into
a space with tons of storage. |
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The master bathroom. I'm definitely
going to change the decor (yuck!), but it's really spacious and has
a nice southern exposure with great light. |
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The girls are headed down the stairs
from the first level into the basement. Note the nice area (with sconce
wiring) for some kind of art display. |
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This is the family/media
room in the basement. It's already been decorated in a slightly-funky
way. I like the lighting placement, and the wall and ceiling detail.
It will be easy to change the colors, add storage, and then wire the
whole thing to make a great home movie theater. |
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The basement also includes an entire
"ayi" (or maid) apartment. It has OK storage, its own
full bath, and a spacious bedroom. Most maid's quarters are half
this size.
The light well is a very nice touch
-- as a result the bathroom and the bedroom both get a lot of natural
light. |
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This is the maid's bedroom. If we don't
have a maid, this could easily be another nice bedroom or study, especially
given the natural light. |
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This final shot is the maid's bathroom.
The light well can also be easily used for long-term storage, or perhaps
even turned into a separate entrance. |
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