I’m back!

I’m back!

My last blog post was over a year ago.  Whoa.  A lot has changed in the last year since that post!  We had another baby, sold our house, moved in with my mom, bought another house, and are currently in the middle of renovations before moving in a few weeks from now.  Just a few changes.  No big deal.  I can handle it.  I didn’t say I could handle it gracefully, but I’m handling it!

I’ve got a lot I want to write about, but for now I’m just going to answer a few questions I’ve been getting lately:

1. Why did you sell your house?!  It was so beautiful!   

I couldn’t agree with you more…it was so beautiful to me!  We bought this house as a fixer upper knowing that SOMEDAY we’d want to sell it for a profit (hopefully) and continue down our road of being completely debt free, mortgage and all, sooner than the standard 30 year mortgage. When we bought the house in 2011 it was at the pit of the market crash.  We got a ridiculous deal on it, but never did I dream that our area would skyrocket just a few years later and we’d be able to sell our house for more than double our purchase price.  We invested about $75k into the house over the 3.5 years we were there and I learned  A LOT about design through trial and error. When we bought the house I didn’t even realize how much I loved the process of renovations.  Well, to be honest, it’s not the DIY renovations I love…it’s the coming up with a great design and paying someone to do it that’s the most fun to me!  But, in order to really make a big buck, some DIY is a must if you can do it.  So, there it is.  We sold our house to make a buck.  A lot of bucks.  I hope the next family cherishes the house as much as we did!  And we’ll certainly miss our street—we had some pretty great neighbors!

2.  Is your new house a fixer upper too?

Yes and no.  To me, yes, it is a fixer upper.  But it’s not what our previous house was with dated wallpaper, disgusting carpets, and just a run down interior in general.  This house was built in 1991 and has been taken care of very well.  Although the kitchen and master bath are dated, they are fully functional and clean.  CLEAN–that makes all the difference!  We bought the house from a sweet old couple who were moving down to Florida to live on the beach.  They took really good care of the house, so the only reason it’s a fixer upper to me is because I simply have a different design taste than what was there.  The market is obviously not what it was in 2011, so this house wasn’t nearly as good of a deal as our other one, but we still managed to snag it at only $78/sqft and believe after renovations we could sell it for $100/sqft whenever that time comes.  I say 5-10 years, but my husband says 3!  No way.  Moving is way too much of a pain!  I’ll never say never, but I sure hope we are there a little longer than 3 years!

3.  What does the new house look like?  Are you going to post before/after pictures?  Are you going to write about the renovations?

New House

Here she is, our new home.  It’s a 4 bed/3 bath ranch with a partially finished attic (that’s where the 4th bed and 3rd bath are).  We’ll live mostly on the main floor and use the upstairs for a guest bedroom and an office space for Alex.   I’m not in love with the exterior, but it’s fine and I wouldn’t get any financial return from doing anything to it in the area we live.  We’ll do some landscaping at some point to add curb appeal, but other than that it’ll probably stay as-is.  Oh..well, I may paint the trim and windows and front door at some point.  And the screened door will be removed from in front of the front door.  But that’s it I think.

I will be posting more before and after pictures and some progress pictures along the way.  The best way to see what’s going on is to follow me on Instagram for some sneak peeks as the days and weeks go by.  I really, truly enjoy writing and documenting renovations, so I hope that I will make it back here semi-frequently to write about everything, but then again this is my first post in over a year…so call me fickle and non-committal and don’t hold your breath.  How’s that for a crappy answer?

4. What exactly are you doing to the house?

With the equity from our last house we are doing the big stuff before we move in.  I am incredibly grateful that we can do that because there’s no way I’m tackling renovations with a year and a half old wild toddler and a 2 month old baby.  That means that the kitchen and master bath are getting full renovations, and we’re getting new hardwoods in the main living areas (while unfortunately keeping ugly carpet in the bedrooms for now until we can save up to replace it).  We’re also transforming the sunroom, which has a bunch of storm windows, into a screened porch.  I can’t believe we get another screened porch!!! That was my greatest sadness leaving our old house because I loved mornings and evenings on the porch without worrying about bugs ever since we got some pest control done around the property. I guess we’ll have to do the same with our new home.

 

Well, that’s it for now because I have a tiny human crying for some attention.  I HOPE to be back soon with interior pictures and details of what’s going on right now inside the house.

 

 

 


6 responses to “I’m back!”

  1. Glad to see you are back. I haven’t posted on my blog in forever either. Sadly, I haven’t been up to as much as you. Can’t wait to see more of the new house.

  2. Yay… glad to hear about the updates and yes, I love the Instagram pictures so keep them coming! 🙂 We miss you guys! PS – we FINALLY caved and put a screen porch in. We’ll, it’s 75% done and will get finished this week. I can’t wait to finally enjoy the backyard. Now if I could just do something about the coyotes that are in full force back here. 🙁

  3. I’m so glad your back! I follow you on instagram and my huband and i are in the middle of a fixer upper too. Love your style and congrats on the baby!

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