Monday, March 18, 2013

Our New House (BEFORE Decorating)

For the past 10 days, I have been opening and sorting through enormous, never-ending piles of brown boxes: all day, every day, and usually late into the night. 

(I did have an MRI done last week, and I attended a birthday party and a baby shower over the weekend, but those were the only times that I have ventured out of the house since we moved here.)  

Today, I decided to take a little break from all of the unpacking, organizing, and decorating, to share some pictures and to post a quick update. It feels good to finally sit down at my computer for more than five minutes.

I will not be sharing any official pictures of the inside of our house until it is fully decorated, which will probably be a few weeks months from now, but here are some pictures of the process that has led us up to where we are today:    

Visiting the Model Homes


When Barry and I moved into our apartment together in 2008 (before we were engaged) we originally planned on staying there for only a year or two. We wanted to move somewhere larger as soon as we had a baby. Of course, life never turns out like you plan it. My mom's cancer diagnosis and my cancer diagnosis set us back a few years, both financially and emotionally. We began house-hunting as soon as my treatment was over, and my mom even got to come with us a few times. (It makes me so happy that she got to be a part of this process with us!)

We found a beautiful house with plenty of space (pictured above) that we seriously considered, but we ended up deciding that it was too far out and rural for what we wanted. As I'm sure you know, finding a house that is roomy, close to the city (DC area), and affordable, is very difficult. It is crazy to think that in most other places in the country, you can buy a huge house for the same price as a small condo here.

To make the process even more difficult, we knew that, ideally, we wanted a new house rather than an older one that would need repairs and renovations. After visiting countless model homes for over a year and a half, we finally found a place where we wanted to live! 

Our new house is: 4-bedroom, 3.5 bath, townhouse, near the water, still close enough to the city, and minutes away from plenty of venues/activities for Ryan. The one drawback is our tiny yard, but I think that it will be completely fine for our 6 lb yorkie, Lucky. The house itself feels huge to us after living in a crowded little apartment for so long.

We absolutely love it and we feel so very blessed to have reached this point in our lives!

Choosing the Details


Barry and I had a blast this past fall, when we got to pick out the materials and designs for the floors, cabinets, countertops, bathrooms, etc. (This was only a small sample of a whole warehouse full of options.) When we first signed the contract for our house in October, the house itself was nothing more than a pile of gravel and two small frames/walls.

Outside of House


Each month, we took pictures of our house as it was being built. It is amazing how hard the construction workers must work to turn absolutely nothing into something. I am so happy with how it turned out!
First Floor


Second Floor


Third Floor


I love having "his and her" master closets. I can't wait to make these super organized and arrange all of our clothes to be color-coded.

Furniture Shopping


We were very excited to pick out some new furniture pieces for our new place. Ryan was such a good helper when we went shopping. (See him hiding in the corner?)

Settlement Day


After going to my hair appointment for highlights, Ryan drew me a picture of "a car and some hearts" on his doodle pro, and then we all went to the office to sign the official papers. Yay!!!

First-time Homeowners!


Packing Up



Moving Day


Getting Settled In 



I like how this picture represents how tired we all were. Ryan fell asleep, mid-sentence, sitting up on the couch on one of our first nights here.

Barry and I will continue living out of boxes and sleeping on a blow-up mattress until our bedroom furniture arrives in a few weeks. I can't wait to finally get a decent nights sleep... one of these days!

At least Ryan has been quite comfortable in his big boy bed with bed rails and toddler steps. He likes it much better than the pack n play that he has slept in for the past two years.

As of yesterday, our backyard fence is finally built and Lucky's doggy door is installed. So, I will be picking him up from Aunt S's house tonight. She has been kind enough to let Lucky stay with her the past few days. I hope that he likes his new home too!


Okay, I will disappear for a little while again... the boxes are calling my name.


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