Thursday, August 28, 2014

(New) Home Sweet Home!

What an exciting spring/summer it's been for our family!  We started the season with wedding number one and then wedding number two shortly after.  We visited family in Virginia and South Carolina in the process.  But, the biggest, most exciting thing to happen?  We bought a new house!!

Our old house was great, SO many great memories there.  It was our first home together.  Jason proposed to me there, we brought our kids home there (Oliver included!), they took their first steps, said their first words in that house.  We've had great times with friends and created great memories, but it was time to move on.  We needed more space, and, most importantly, more bathrooms!  The one thing we were having a hard time deciding on was whether we wanted to be in a neighborhood or have a little acreage.  Somehow, we managed both!  Our new house is not only in a fantastic family (and dog!) oriented neighborhood, but we also have 2.5 acres!

From the first time we saw the house until it became ours felt like forever.  But, it couldn't have been any smoother and we're so incredibly happy in our new home!  And, as an added bonus, the very first person who was shown our old house made us a full cash offer!  How easy was that!?!?

We do plan on doing some renovations inside the house, but first we're focusing on cleaning up the yard and getting our (HUGE!!!!) garden ready.  We are so excited for next spring/summer.  

I will definitely be sharing before/during/after photos as we progress.  It's such an exciting time for us!!  Here are a few photos of the house from the day we moved in. 

First up, the main floor:

Here are some photos of the living room/dining area and kitchen.  I LOVE having the kitchen open into the living room!


 

Full bath off of the kitchen:


Hallway from the dining area to the front door:


Half bath in the hallway:



Master bedroom:



Downstairs:

Playroom:


The Michigan State room/Jason's office:


Laundry room:


Upstairs:

The kids'/guest bathroom:


Redmond's room:


Ashlyn's room:



Guest room:


Now, one of our favorite parts of our new home - the backyard!  Here are a few of our favorite features:

The garden.....time to dust off the ol' weeding gloves...


The kids have a nice swing set over a huge sandbox.  They love it!


The deck.  It's awesome.  Totally awesome.  It's even ready for a hot tub!


Storage shed with a play house on top - complete with a balcony!
 

And just a few random shots....this yard has so.much.potential.  We have big plans for you, yard!

 

Oh, and maybe the coolest thing of all?  The fish pond.  The fish pond.  Full of small orange and yellow fish.  So cool


We could not be happier and more content with our purchase.  Everyday I am so thankful for this wonderful life, this wonderful home and my amazing family.  I really think we picked the perfect spot to raise our kids and spend our lives!
 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Moving on Up!

Its been quite the eventful Spring/Summer for our family this year.  We started house hunting in the early spring and began working on our house to get it ready to hit the market.  In between house hunting we had trips to Virginia and South Carolina for wedding number one and then we flew to California for wedding number two.  We weren't being very successful with our house hunting.  We found one that I loved, but they were asking way too much.  We put a bid on it, but there was no way the seller was going to drop the price as much as it needed to be.

Then, I was scrolling through Facebook one day and found a house for sale by owner.  It was in the neighborhood we really liked so we decided to call and take a look at it.  So, two days before we were going to leave for Cali we went to check it out.  Jason loved it and I liked it (I was still really stuck on the other house that I loved.  Nothing else could compare).  The owner told us that since they were dealing with a relocation company they had to list the house through a realtor.  He wasn't sure when it would happen; we just hoped it would wait until we got back from our trip.

When we got back from California, it still hadn't been listed.  Phew!  Our realtor was already on alert to let us know ASAP once it was listed so we could put an offer on it.  It took another week, but we got our offer in and it was accepted!  The hunt was finally over!  

It was a looooong month of paperwork (dealing with a large relocation company was a huge annoyance), but we finally signed all the paperwork, handed over a check and bought our new home!  We officially moved in on July 13th....one month ago today.  It didn't take long for it to feel like home :)


Home Sweet Home.