A surprise for all of us --- WE'RE MOVING!?

Thursday, July 29, 2021

 I know. I KNOW. I KNOWWWWWWWW. 



We *JUST* finished our house. Like, literally just checked off the last project on my to do list (new kitchen counters) less than 2 months ago. I KNOW. 


Let me tell you what happened.... 


You guys know I'm a Realtor. I see houses and show houses all the time. RARELY, rarely, rarely have I ever seen a house that I've been like "oooo, I want this house." 


But this house. 


Since I am an incessant planner and a daydreamer, (#pisceslife) we had talked about if we felt like our current home would be our forever home, and both of us agreed there are some things we LOVE about our home that we'd never want to change, and there are some things that we reaaaaally want to change that we truly couldn't. More privacy from our neighbors, for example. We adore our cul-de-sac, but the two homes directly next to us both look over fishbowl style into our backyard, and it has always bothered us. They are wonderful people, but I don't need to see into your kitchen/bedroom/front door every time I go outside. We also would love to have more trees. And a screen porch. And laundry inside. And a dedicated work space for me that isn't in our living room. Really, we just need a bit more space. But our house is so wonderful and we love it, and we've worked SO hard on it, and we planned to be here for another 2 years *at least.* 


But this house. 


I saw it come on the market on a Tuesday, and sent it to Spenser just for eye candy purposes. Occasionally I'll drag him to come see homes with me just for fun, and we daydream about what we'd do differently or what we like/don't like, and we had looked at a few recently. Never had we seen a house that made us say "should we buy this!?" 


But this house. 


Some of the things that really stuck out to us were: 


1) The kitchen had recently been renovated and was truly jaw dropping. The owners put their heart and soul into renovating a dream kitchen, and it was unlike anything we've ever seen in our area (which tends to lean towards 2000s builder-grade-blah). We knew that a kitchen like that could not be easily replicated. I mean!!!! Look!!!!




2) On top of the kitchen, there were *two* large spaces that would be perfect offices for each of us, as we are both working from home for... forever(?) and genuinely do need a bit more space from each other to work in peace. 


3) It has a screen porch. Homes without screen porches should be illegal in NC where the mosquitos and noseeums will eat you alive in .2 seconds flat. A screen porch surrounded by trees was so dreamy to us, we immediately pictured sitting out there in a thunderstorm and listening to the rain cascade down the leaves. Swoon. 


4) It is SURROUNDED by trees. Hardwood trees. SO MANY TREES. This is a dream situation for us and we would live inside of the woods if we could. And you cannot replicate that without decade of time and great planning. This is a really special lot that backs to two neighborhood easements and is so private and quiet. 






5) It also has a separate guest bathroom -- something that has become more important as we try to encourage family to come visit more often to help with Heidi. HI MOM! Having a more secluded guest space will give everyone their privacy and be comfortable for visiting. 



We sat in the kitchen for probably 30 minutes in that first showing saying "should we buy this? no that's crazy. But should we?? Nooooo. SHOULD WE??" After coming back 3 more times, we decided that we really loved this home, and had *that feeling* that this was our next space, and that it would be the perfect forever home (hopefully) for our family. It checked off ALL of our boxes, and fulfilled dream wish lists we never in a million years thought we'd get checked off. We decided to go all in, and make the best offer we could, and much to our surprise, they accepted! 


Cue ALL of the emotions/anxiety/excitement! We had a lot of work to do to get our house ready to sell, but as Spenser said "we've been prepping to sell this home for 3 years!" 

We ended up having a private showing for a buyer from Nest Realty, they made us a wonderful offer we were so grateful for, and we accepted! We close on our homes in a little less than a month and will be moving by the end of August. 

None of this was part of our original plan, but life has a funny way of telling you "TURN HERE!" when the path is about to change. Now that the shock of the situation has worn off, we are really looking forward to moving, getting settled into our new space, and getting to put our personal touch on things. 

Our home on Greystone has been my baby for three years, and I truly put all of my heart and energy into bringing it to life. But now that Heidi is here, our priorities have really shifted and one of my FAVORITE things about the new house is that there aren't any huge projects to do! The HVAC, windows, roof, drainage, and interior are all in such great condition, there's really nothing immediate for us to do. Down the road, there are some cosmetic updates I can do to the bathrooms, but everything is in pristine condition and we are in no rush to make any changes.

I have loved documenting our renovations and family updates in this blog, so though my pace has slowed down since Heidi came along, I'm hoping to continue this hobby in our new house, as well! 

Onwards! 

Our finished kitchen

Friday, July 9, 2021

 Remember back when I was 800 years pregnant and the nesting hormones told me to paint my kitchen? 


You all thought I was crazy (I probably was) but looking back I am so glad I did it. As hard as it was painting anything at 37 weeks pregnant, it has been way harder to do *anything* home related with our little bug in tow. She's a curious and busy little bee and wants to be in on all the action, so getting anything done around her is a challenge and has to be relegated to nap time. And if she even catches word that you're planning on doing something during nap time... game over! No naps that day haha. 


Earlier this summer we did the final touches on our 3 years in the making kitchen renovation, and I am so excited to share the photos with you! We did all of this DIY (except the floors and counters) and I am really proud of what it looks like now. 


To be fair, we started with really great bones. The cabinets were not my style, but they were brand new and in really good condition. We had a flat back of drywall to tile against, and a nice floor plan with lots of storage to work with. Cosmetic updates were really all it needed! 


The biggest change was wayyyy back in 2018 when we turned the downstairs coat closet into a pantry, and that has served us so well and was absolutely worth doing! 







This is what it looked like after we painted the cabinets before Heidi was born last June. I have a whole post about that process, here. 


For my birthday this March, I asked Spenser to tile a backsplash for me as my present. He took a weekend to get it done and did an AMAZING job. The previous owner of our home had used some extra acrylic shower surround as a backsplash and had covered all of the outlets up with it, so it was really not functional nor was it really that attractive. We really wanted to put in a true backsplash, so when Spenser volunteered I jumped! I am so lucky to have such a handy and helpful husband! He actually really enjoyed the process too (mostly) so it was a win win. We were in the throws of new baby life, so I didn't write down much about this process to share with you guys, but happy to answer any questions about DIY tiling any time! 


Here is what the kitchen looked like after he installed the backsplash. We did a white subway tile with a grey grout. If we were to do it again, we would have done a smaller grout line, but we really are happy with how it turned out! 



Still, the kitchen felt unfinished to us. We sat on it for another four months, but this June, we decided we wanted to replace the counter tops. By this point, we had started considering the idea of moving in the next 18months to 2 years, and knew it would a) help with resale and b) be something we would genuinely enjoy for as long as we lived in this home! I contacted my go-to counter top guy, and he installed beautiful carrera quartz counter tops for us for a steal! For any locals I am more than happy to share his contact info. He is so well priced and can install anything! 


As soon as the new counters were in, we fell in love! The bright white counters finally got rid of the sandy yellow color that reflected off of everything in the kitchen from the formerly yellow counters. We replaced 4 bathrooms and a kitchen of that ugly yellow color and I have no regrets. 




This kitchen has come such a long way without any changes to the layout, and we are so proud of what it looks like now! That said, I'd like to never have to do another kitchen renovation again, please! 













Happy Birthday, Heidi Rose!

Friday, July 2, 2021

 Happy Birthday, Heidigirl.


   


One whole year. I can hardly believe it, it truly went so fast.

When you were born, you didn’t look anything like I had pictured in my head. You were so loved, but so shockingly unfamiliar. It became apparent to me in our first hours together that you were your own person - not some extension of me. A whole stranger I was going to need to get to know.

When I think back on what life was like in my first year of being a mama— your mama— the magical firsts like first smile, first word, first crawl, first time seeing snow! The Beach! These are all things I had dreamed of for you and me. But this year also was so challenging. The first eight months of your life a pandemic raged. We stayed home. We didn’t see any family. We had so little support. There were times when we pushed your stroller off the sidewalk as people passed because we didn’t know if a stranger breathing on you might make you sick. It was a hard year to learn how to be a mother.

Things have gotten easier, and I hope you feel that too. We see family. Faces. Smiles. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that people smile with their eyes. Because even though you saw so many masks, you always knew when someone was smiling at you. It made me happy to see you so unaffected in that way.

You and me and dad lived in a little bubble for the last year. We cuddle napped every nap for 7 months. You refused to take bottles so the only person who has ever fed you is me, snuggled up close.

You are my girl. My light. My heart. I live to help you live, and that is my joy upon joys. The honor of my life. A year ago I didn’t know who I was going to meet when they pulled you from my belly. Over the last year I’ve gotten to know the most beautiful, incredible baby, who filled my heart with a happiness I’ve never known.

And today, I get to meet my toddler for the first time! Wake up baby girl, it’s time to eat a donut! 🍩 ❤️

Happy birthday, Heidi Rose! I love you.
Mom











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