Most know that some people discouraged us from buying that house, saying it was too much work and it would strain our relationship. Instead, Mike and I found the opposite, our relationship was strengthened by the teamwork and communication skills we acquired undertaking such large and small projects. We also learned that we really love making spaces our own. I love the design and planning, while Mike is willing (I’m not going to go as far as saying he loves it, ha!) to put the work in to make it better than he found it. He does love buying new tools needed for a specific job, and learning the skills needed! The success we found from our first house is what motivates us with our new home.
I’ll start with some of the listing photos. We used a broker to sell our house, and while it’s not completely “by owner”, you pay a flat rate of a couple hundred dollars to have them list the house and you do all the work after that. I took all the photos and let me tell you, photographing an entire house while living there with a baby is no joke! Each time we focused on a room, the surrounding rooms became dumping grounds for all the “actual people live here” items. It was similar to the way I photograph for the blog, but I tried to pair down on the “stuff” and let the rooms breath a little to show off the space.
I never did show the guest room converted to the office, mostly because it was never really completed, but I cleaned all the actual crafting out to make it a clean as possible.
We listed on a Thursday afternoon and by Friday we had 2 over-asking offers! We had planned on an Open House that Sunday, but ended up canceling after accepting an offer.
Since we already had purchased our new house, we moved out within a week or two and before the new owner’s took possession, I walked through and took some photos of the empty house (unfortunatly, I was coming back from a dr. appt and only had my iPhone). What some would think would be a sad moment wasn’t really for me. I’ve talked about it a lot with Mike but I don’t miss our house. I know! I miss living in a completed space, of course! But, this house was a great chapter in our lives and I’ll look back with really great memories, but I look forward to creating new memories in our new home.
There were great moments in our lives that happened here. We got engaged and married while living here. We hosted dozens of parties. Mike started homebrewing. Of course, we brought our son home in this house, but he was there for such a short time, it doesn’t feel like he was that much of a part of it. This house was exactly what we needed for that time in our life. But, we went in knowing it was only our starter home and we would be moving on to a bigger space with more land. I’ll miss the neighbors and the proximity to certain things, but we’re more than happy to give this baby over to another young couple starting their lives (sidenote: the new owner’s are a young engaged couple so I can say with experience that this house will be perfect for them!).
Like I said, I will miss all the experiences and memories made here, but I’m looking forward to the new ones we’ll be making!
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