Our Last House Guest?

Yesterday, a friend came over for dinner. She'd never been to our house before and was taken aback by its size. She may well be the last guest we entertain here in the Rented Mansion In The Desert.

The reason for that is that The Wife and I put in an offer to buy a house of our own, less than two miles away. After some negotiation, the seller and we agreed on the price and terms. Escrow is open and should close by the end of the month. Our new house will be half the size of the Rented Mansion In The Desert, has hard flooring surfaces throughout the living space, pleasing landscaping with mature trees, a combined air conditioner and swamp cooler climate control system, and granite tile countertops in the adequate if not luxurious kitchen.

Its defining architectural characteristic is a rather unusual structure running about eight feet high underneath a vaulted ceiling in the front portion of the house. When I first saw it, I said, "What's up with that floating soffit?" and thus the nickname "Soffit House" was born. (It's not really a "floating soffit;" I think properly it would be called an archway, but since it doesn't have a classic arch shape, I didn't use that term.)