For those of you (probably none of you) who have been waiting to see pictures or updates, excuse the delay, these past three weeks have been nuts, finally this week I feel like I can begin to sit back and relax.
Closing day was insane. Like most first time home buyers we were a bit frantic. We even left our certified check for closing costs at the apartment and had to drive all the way back to Raleigh to give to the attorney. But we signed a bajillion papers and got our keys and started moving in immediately.
Moving day [week(s)] was exciting & exhausting. We still are not 100% settled. Lots of little things hiding out in boxes and bins in our guest room and office. I constantly am fighting the urge to just let them hang out there forever.
The house was really filthy when we moved in. The previous owner was not exactly the cleaning type. They also owned two giant lab mixes and we found [are still finding] black dog hair everywhere. I literally vacuumed the floors, the walls, and the ceilings. The windows were disgusting. Everything needed a really good scrub. We're so thankful we had both of our moms and Savannah to help us get everything good and clean.
David, his dad, and his brother and a few of our guy friends helped move the majority of everything from the apartment to the house. While my dad painted our bedroom from a crazy purple to a soothing gray. All in all that first day we got a whole lot done. The next few days we continued moving, unpacking, cleaning.
The Tuesday after we closed we did some major yard work with the help of David's parents and brother [thank God for our awesome families]. There was this awful-rotted-out-dead-gross dogwood tree in the very front of our house-- we said adios. The bushes on the side of the house were so overgrown you could not see out two of our windows. We had to trim them all the way back to little bushy nubs.
The worst part of it all you cannot capture in pictures or words-- getting everything out and cleaning out the old apartment. We had to paint. We threw away LOTs of stuff. It was awful. Thank goodness that part is over and we never have to worry about doing that for a long long long time.
We're so thankful to be here. We've loved every second of it. Bowzer has really enjoyed every moment he spends in the backyard. He thinks of it as his racetrack where he can run as fast as he can for as long as he can. Having a dishwasher, washer/dryer, and A/C has literally been life changing. Not walking up and down three flights of stairs totally changes our view on the outside world and we spend so much more time outside soaking up Vitamin D. All of it is just amazing. I feel like our life has become a million times easier and I am so thankful for that.
Enough rambling. Here are some before and after pictures for you goons. All these pictures were taken with my iphone-- I can't find the cord to camera in all the craziness :/! Excuse some of the more blurry pictures. Before we started moving anything in I did a really fast whirlwind of pictures with my phone which will be all the before pictures you see.
Welcome home! This is our front yard minus the dogwood tree and monstrous bushes. I wish I had the before picture-- but its on my real camera and I can't find the cord :(
Here is our bathroom. We only have one bathroom in the house-- which is fine by us for now. It was painted this color when we moved in. We may eventually paint another color, I'm not sure. We definitely plan on painting the cabinets all the way to left and replacing the really outdated light fixture and curtain rod.
This is our kitchen. It looks even darker in this picture than in real life. Since this we have removed all the blinds in the kitchen to pour as much natural lighting into this room as we can. We have big plans for this room. New floors. Paint the cabinets. Potentially new counters? Open shelving for top row of shelves above dishwasher. Our plan is to actually leave the wood paneling on the wall. Some people may think we're crazy but its beautiful. It was really expensive wood paneling back in its day and we think its beautiful and unique. We hope to lighten up the space enough with other updates that painting the walls won't be necessary. Super excited to watch this space change.
The bedroom. Pre-Morgans. Pre-taste? I'm not sure how she slept in there. I really don't understand.
The bedroom after Dad painted. Sooooooooo much better. Not the best picture but you get the idea. My dad also built that bed and I painted that dresser about 5 years ago.
Another view of the bedroom. Notice the ceiling fan-- a new addition. Absolutely necessary because somehow this is the hottest room in the house.
The Living Room pre move in. We got those floors shining.
View from the front door. TV is in corner to right of window.
Another view of living room. Behind chair to left is entryway to kitchen. Behind chair to right is entryway to hallway (it makes an L shape) that leads to bedrooms and office. The hallway meets back up to the kitchen as well. We adore our new furniture. Its awesome for Bowzer and soooo comfy.
Looking from chair out to front door. Bowzer's favorite spot to watch for neighbors and critters.
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The guest room, apparently I don't have a before picture. Our parents each gave us twin beds that were taking up space in their attics. We've already used them quite a bit-- which is nice.
The view of the side of the house where the bushes were totally overgrown. It doesn't look super awesome here but trust me it will look a million times better than it did. The next steps for the house outside is a good power washing, paint the shutters, and paint the door!
I hope you like our house. We're so excited to be able to share with you. Sorry this post was all over the place-- so much to share. In the future hopefully these posts will be much more concentrated on specific projects rather than a glimpse into my scattered brain. Thanks for all the support-- we love you all.
