Outdoors with Children in Fair Lakes, VA

Fair Lakes, VA is a great place to raise children. Our neighborhood is adjacent to Fair Lakes Shopping Center. The location of our townhouse is super convenient. It is close to 24 hour Wal-Mart, the doctor's office and The Emergency room. Our townhouse is located in a school district with excellent public schools. It is 3 minutes away from a day care center and so much more.

 

We love the outdoors and even though we spend a lot of time in our 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom townhouse (now for sale), we go and play outside.

Green's of Fair Lakes playground



We spend a fair share on the playground, basketball and tennis courts in our neighborhood. They are always clean and well maintained. It is fun to meet with the other little friends and parents.

the neighborhood playground



 the neighborhood tennis court

 the neighborhood basket court

 



We like to walk and ride bicycle. We go around the lakes. Fair Lakes, VA is very green, quiet and beautiful. There are many people walking as well. It is nice to get to know the other regular walkers, runners, dog owners and greet and chit chat with them.

 

 

Another favorite activity in our family is reading. We have many favorite books. An all time favorite is Tough Boris by Mem Fox. It is so funny to see tiny toddler repeat dozens of times "tough, tough". We often go the nearby Barnes and Nobles, Fair Lakes, VA. It is fun to let her choose a book, to find one that she recognizes or simply to listen somebody else read a book.

 

 

We like to do picnics. We pack a blanket, water and snacks and go to the nearby  Meadowlark Gardens or Wolf Trap. This has proven to be an quick easy and fun filled activity.

 



 

 

 

Frying Pan park is a frequent place for us to visit especially since it is less than 10 minutes away from our townhouse. We like the carousel, looking at lambs, peacocks, cows and horses, and even taking a hay ride.

 

 

Not to miss the Fairfax County annual fair. It is held at the Government center which is five minutes away. It is "a must" for children of all ages. Last year our daughter got to ride a pony. How about that!?

 

 

 

Oak Marr Rec center is a 10 minutes away and we love it for the mini golf and the indoor swimming pool. Yes, we love swimming and winter hasn't stopped us from practicing.

 



 

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please come back. We will be posting more information for our home, neighborhood and Fair Lakes community.

 

Happy House-hunting!

P & G

 

p.s. If interested in our home, please contact Matt Revell at 703-909-4544.

 















Raising a Child in a Fair Lakes Townhouse

Fair Lakes, VA is a small and safe neighborhood. It has proven a great place to raise children:

• day care center is 3 minutes away;
• excellent schools: Greenbriar West Elementary; Rocky Run Middle; Fairfax High;
• doctor’s office is 5 minutes away;
• INOVA Fair Oaks Emergency room is 5 minutes away;
• 24 hour Wal-Mart in the shopping center adjacent to our neighborhood (2AM run to Infant Tylenol takes 2 minutes);
• Toy’r’Us in our shopping center.

Front of our townhouse

Our 4 bedroom 3.5 bathrooms townhouse (now for sale) has proven amazing for raising our daughter. It is spacious, with a large deck off the kitchen and a beautiful patio in a landscaped fenced backyard. We have designated different areas in the house for different activities for her. 

13113 Willow Stream Lane - For Sale

Children’s room

Our townhouse has 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. On the upper level, we have the master room with an adjacent bathroom and two guestrooms with a separate bathroom. One of these guestrooms was turned into a baby room/nursery. The guestroom is spacious, with a nice size closet, vaulted ceiling, facing south. It is painted in a soft off white color with a hint of cream. We added a custom wooden blinds and rods (rods bought at Country Curtains store in Fairfax Corner).

The two things we like the most about the baby room is that (1) it is close to the master and we can keep a close eye to our child, and (2) it is not facing another home since our townhouse is an end unit and it is overlooking open space. In the nursery we have privacy.





In the kitchen

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. Our daughter is less than two years old and already grabs kitchen towels and starts scrubbing the stainless steel French door refrigerator. When we bake bread or pizza, she screams “douey, douey”. She demands we give her a small ball of the dough. She works on it, puts it in the pan and bakes it for the birds. This all is hysterical, but not surprising- she see us cooking and cleaning all the time. She does what she sees.

Baking pizza

Eating home made pizza

Living and Family rooms

How on earth we collected so many toys?! We don’t remember having ¼ of the toys when we were kids. Now we have to have them – bouncer, swing, saucer, baby gym, musical toys and more. The whole house got filled quickly. Fortunately we have a big house. There is room for a lot - some in the family room in the lower level, some in the living room, some in the breakfast room, some in the nursery, some in the master’s room and a lot more in the storage room in the lower level. Now our home is for sale and most every toy has been removed from the house premises. Interestingly our child seems not to notice that all “her” possessions are gone. And she is happy and busy as usual.

Tea time in the Living room



  

our living room around Christmas - can you find busy baby



Backyard and Deck

We believe that playing outside is good for children and are fortunate to live in a home that has a large deck and large patio. When the weather is nice (lately not so often), we step outside on the deck and let our daughter play. She shrieks “buuds, buuds” when she hears and sees birds singing. She collects a fallen leaf or two. It is amazing to see her imagination in action.





In the summer we spent our weekends under the deck. We have installed a large concrete patio. It is shadowy and cozy, perfect for playing outside in the hot and humid Virginia's summer. Our child likes to splash in a small swimming pool. She loves gardening. What she sees us do, she is quickly to repeat.

In our backyard -concrete patio

In our backyard -landscape

Lower room guestroom

When our daughter was born, one of the grandmother’s came to stay with us and help with our new baby. Having a guestroom and a newly renovated full bathroom on the lower level of our townhouse was great. She had her own floor while we had ours. She was able to get up as early and stay as late as she wanted without being noticed. Everybody had their own space and privacy.



Thank you for visiting our blog. Please come back. We will be posting more information for our home, neighborhood and Fair Lakes community.

Happy House-hunting!

P & G

p.s. If interested in our home, please contact Matt Revell at 703-909-4544.

Northern Virginia Suburban backyard turned into a Garden Paradise

Fair Lakes townhouse backyard turned into a Garden Paradise

 

We (at least one half of the "we") had always dreamed about having a garden. The dream came true when we turned the empty muddy townhouse backyard in Fair Lakes, VA into a suburban garden paradise.

 

true love for gardens

 

We take a lot of pride in our backyard. It is beautiful, functional and romantic. We have spent many slow summer days back there. Early in the morning we might water the plants, pick some fresh herbs, lavender and flowers. Later in the day we will relax in the shadowy cozy patio, let our baby splash some water.

Every element in our backyard has been carefully thought out to create an outdoor space for our family to gather and enjoy, to provide privacy and beauty for our eyes to enjoy.

• Fenced
• Landscaped
• Green screen
• Concrete patio
• Perennial garden
• Herb garden
• Wooden retaining wall
• Side gravel path

 

the very beginning - Our Plan

 

 

·         Green screen

 

We added a row of Skip laurels for privacy. Skip laurels are evergreen full shrubs that reach up to 10ft in height. Those are easy to care and grow fast. Very soon our shrubs will be fully grown, will provide privacy from neighbors and will block the view from the nearby street.

  

·         Perennial garden

We love flowers. We chose to plant hydrangeas, day lilies and lavender to add some color and attract birds and butterflies to our yard. Hydrangeas and day lilies provide endless color during the summer. Hostas were planted in the shadowy bed on the side of the house as well as in the bed by the neighbors’ fence under the deck.

 

 

The lavender was brought from the Willow Pond lavender farm in Fairfield, PA. We were assured that the plants would outstand the low winter temperatures in Northern Virginia. Yes, they did. They bring much joy to look at them outside and enjoy their strong fragrance indoors. The whole house gets filled quickly with their distinctive aroma. A tip: the more often you cut the blooming flowers, the faster and fuller the lavender plants will be.

 



 

picking lavender at Willow Pond Farm, PA

 

 

·         Wooden retaining wall

The wooden retaining wall was built to create an architectural interest and a bed for our herb garden.

 

·         Herb garden

Herbs have been brought from local farms and flower festivals (Leesburg/ VA arboretum/DC Arboretum flower festivals and others). We have chosen herbs that are different in color and texture besides delicious in taste. We often run downstairs for a few leaves of marjoram, thyme, basil, chives, parsley, and cilantro to use in cooking.

 

 

 

·         Gravel path

We had installed a gravel path on the side of the house. It adds to and completes the Colonial style of our townhome. It is also functional as it connects the lower level of the house to the street. It can be particularly useful for people who can’t go up the stairs. Imagine if grandma and grandpa come to visit: then they can be welcomed to the spacious lower level bedroom, newly renovated full bathroom, and large family room. They won’t have to climb a single step, and on top of that they will have their own floor (bed, bath, and TV) – completely private. Well, there is always the possibility that if we make them too comfortable they might never leave. Especially since they will even have a garden to care for! Yes, the lower level is a Grandparent’s Dream!

• Shells

The beach shells in our yard have a purpose. That's right. They prevent weeds from growing and keep the gas meter area nice and tidy. We have collected those from the Carolina’s beaches while vacationing there.

 

collecting beach shells during our summer vacation 

 

 

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please come back. We will be posting more information for our home for sale, neighborhood and Fair Lakes community.

 

Happy House-hunting and Gardening!

P & G

 

p.s. If interested in buying our home, please contact Matt Revell at 703-909-4544.

 

A Beautiful Home for Sale in Fair Lakes, VA

A Beautiful Home for Sale



If you are reading this blog that means that you and your family are searching for a new home. Well, we decided to start this blog in an attempt to share with you many details about our home for sale, our community and neighborhood. Hopefully you will find some valuable information here that will help you in your house hunt and even might end it by choosing our HOME.


Our townhouse is a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom spacious open plan END unit. It is updated to the smallest detail inside and out. It is located in the sought after Fair Lakes, VA 22033.



In this very first blog we would like to provide some information about the rooms and levels.

 

MAIN LEVEL:
On the main level we have a separate foyer, living, dining, breakfast rooms, kitchen, half bath and a very large deck.

 

Foyer 

light filled, high ceiling, updated light fixture, separate space

Living room

spacious, light filled, large bay window, hardwood floor, soft cream wall color



Dining Room



Breakfast Room

adjacent to kitchen, overlooking trees, private, spacious



Open floor plan, high ceilings, soft wall color, hardwood floors

 

 

 

Kitchen/Breakfast room:

 

We spend most of our time in the kitchen/ breakfast room area. This space is full of light coming from a large bay window with custom made wooden  blinds. We have updated all appliances to stainless steel. We take most pride in the gas range/oven and the French door refrigerator. Both of those are top of the line and make looking at them and cooking so much more enjoyable. Additionally there are no curious neighbors checking on what’s for dinner since our home is an end unit and is not facing another house – this is quite the luxury when one is looking to move into a townhouse row.

·         privacy

·         top of the line stainless steel appliances

·        spacious breakfast room area – adjacent to kitchen

·         large bay window

·         breakfast bar

·         custom wooden shades

 

Deck:

In the summer we spend most evenings on our deck. The tall fully established trees on the side of the house completely block the view from the nearby road. Grilling is a breeze since we had a gas pipe brought up from the main gas line up to the deck where it connects to the BBQ grill. This makes grilling worry free – we never run out of gas and we grill a lot. What's more is that next door neighbors don’t have decks so that only adds to our privacy.

·         privacy

·         established trees completely block the view of the nearby road

·         very large

·         gas from central gas line brought to deck for BBQ grill

·         recently stained

 

private, facing open space

 

grill is connected to main gas line through a dedicated pipe

 

fully established trees BLOCK the view of the street

 

 

UPPER LEVEL

On this level we have the master bath room with a walk in closet and adjacent bathroom, two guest rooms and a separate bathroom.

 

Master bed/bath:

The master bedroom is where we find some quiet from busy lives and happy screaming children. It is spacious, vaulted ceilings, large window, custom wooden blinds, rods, walk in closet, adjacent bathroom, tile, double vanity, soaking tub, shower cabin, painted in soft off white color.

 

 

 

 

Guest bedrooms: TWO

Having three guest rooms is a luxury we all deserve. We have children, large families some of them living far and vising us sometimes for months. We just "must" have the space to accommodate everybody and be happy.

·         spacious closets

·         vaulted ceilings

·         custom wooden and bamboo blinds

 

 

 

LOWER LEVEL

We have the family room, guest room, full renovated bathroom, laundry room, mechanic room, two additional storage rooms. Walk out, street level.

Family room: this is the most spacious room in the house. It opens towards the fenced landscaped backyard. Gas fireplace, custom wooden blinds, soft off white colors.

renovated bathroom

 

Guest bedroom and Full Bathroom:

We love this additional guest room. It had served us many times. It is quite a luxury to have our guests on a separate level with their own bathroom and TV. It is convenient, adds privacy for everybody. They can stay until midnight and watch TV while we have to go to bed early as we will be going to work on the next day. There is no worry about noise, midnight steps and turning lights on. Not at all!!! We sleep on the upper level and they sleep on the lower level. We meet happily on the main level (between the two). This has been great especially when our extended family from overseas visits us for a long periods at a time.

 

full window, closet 

 

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please come back. We will be posting more information about our home, landscaped backyard, as well as the community and Fair Lakes neighborhood.

Happy House-hunting!

P & G

 

p.s. If interested in our home, please contact Matt Revell at 703-909-4544.