Setting Up a Home in Turkey

It's been awhile since I last wrote so I thought I'd let you see what I accomplished on my vacation.  You may recall that my husband and I purchased a home in a city on the southern coast of Turkey.   We visited this last month to set everything up and have the home ready for our family next time we visit.  I'm also linking up today with Amy for her fabulous Five on Friday.  Please check out this link to some great blogs if you have the time.

Grab a cup of coffee, tea or your favorite beverage and come inside for the home tour if you wish.  Everyone is welcome.

I'd have to say the kitchen is probably one of my favorite areas as I love to cook and bake.  It's really set up quite efficient.  Although one night I went to use the oven (which was brand new and still had the packing in it) and as soon as it started to heat, the breaker would trip and all electricity in the home would go off.  The Siemens repairman came the next day and he replaced both oven elements.  Luckily, it works great but it cost 325 TL (approx. $115.00).

The dining room adjoins the kitchen.  I love the table we chose as it reminds of a French country farmhouse table.   I'm still missing one dining room chair.

The kitchen and dining room are one large room.  You can see the living room area.

Here's a photo of the main floor guest room.  I brought the comforter from home. I folded it and put it in one of those space bags that takes out the air and put it in my suitcase.  Although there are some beautiful bed coverings I am finding in the Turkish shops here.

This is my favorite view outside the living room window.  It looks onto the mountains and you can see the clouds roll over the top of the mountain along with the delicious smell of wood smoke from the area.

This is my husband's favorite view looking out of the sliding doors.  The hill to the left of the pictures is where the ruins of the castle are located.

The home is two stories.  You enter on the main floor which has the kitchen, dining, living room, bathroom and guest room.  These are the stairs leading to the second floor.

On the second floor is located the master bedroom.  As you can see, it's a work in progress.  To the right are sliding doors to a rooftop terrace.

This is the opposite side of the master bedroom. This little triangular window looks out onto the mountain view.

This is my little grandson' s room...

And here's his little bed with his "Istanbul" carpet.

It's been fun putting the home together.  My son ordered all the furniture for us from Ikea in Turkey.  I have been to Ikea many times but never have I purchased furniture from them (oops, except a couch for my family room).  It really turned out quite well since the furniture in the local stores can be quite modern for my taste.

If I had my choice I would have ordered this style of Turkish furniture....

Or, this couch which I saw in a furniture store where we purchased a washing machine.

The process of buying and setting up this home has been pretty stress free:

1.  We purchased the unit directly from the developer.

2.  There's a management company that takes care of the running of the complex; the majority of the owners are foreigners like us.

3.  Turkey has some wonderful big box type stores which has made is very easy to buy miscellaneous accessories for our home.  Think of a smaller Home Depot  or Costco or Ace Hardware. It's fun to go to these stores and see them filed with Scandinavians and Germans looking for items for their homes.

4.  Turkey manufactures a lot of the goods they sell.  We bought a vacuum, end tables, small kitchen appliances and beautiful Turkish porcelain dishes all made in Turkey.  And, it's very nice quality, too.

5.  The Turkish people are so kind to us. And, they are always willing to communicate with us in English since our language skills are limited. We really need to learn Turkish!

I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into our new adventure.  We're hoping to make lots of memories in our Turkish home.  Thanks for stopping by today. It's always a pleasure to hear from you.

My best to you,

Pat