Moving Day!

On the day we finally get the keys to our first house, I have been reflecting and thanking God for our blessings. It has been a long haul: I started the process with our realtor/broker back in July 2012. We planned out a savings schedule to get us to the downpayment required, we cleaned up our credit, paid off loans, filled out lots (and lots) of paperwork and took many trips to the Office Depot (because we don't have a printer or scanner). I can guarantee you that I never believed I'd be a homeowner in California. And now I am. It's blowing my mind!

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My parents bought their house in 1972. It's a quick mile from the house we just bought. That makes me so happy, knowing I'll be so close. We have some nice memories in our apartment but I will be glad to move on, knowing our money is going towards something now.

I found these old images online of the house.


Old kitchen


New kitchen


Old front bathroom


New front bathroom


Old master bathroom


New master bathroom

While the redo might not be entirely my style, it's quality work and vastly impoved over the original! Don't you just love that old lavender bathroom cabinet?! Yikes!

Danny & I had originally thought we'd end up with a fixer-upper but the more we thought about it the less appealing that sounded. It would mean living in a remodel and also having to come up with the cash to do the fixing, too. Buying a house that already has the work done makes sense to us. We'd looked at many remodeled homes in our search and this one, though the smallest in square footage, was the best of the bunch, with high quality construction and materials that satisfied my construction-minded husband.

What I'll miss about our apartment: Our very kind and generous neighbors. A separate laundry room right off the kitchen. Air conditioning (Not that we used it but a few times ever, but it's nice to have and the new house doesn't have it). The ability to call the manager for clogged toilets and broken dishwashers. The neighborhood kids for my little ones to play with.

What I'll love about our new house: A garage (Enough said, that is going to be such a blessing!). A dedicated space for shoes & backpacks in the garage instead of next to the front door. Not having to go up and down stairs (I'm a one-story gal at heart). Adding character to our house with our own style. A yard. The ability to grow flowers or veggies. The newly remodeled kitchen and all the drawers and cabinets. Being able to walk. The library, a park, baseball fields and the lakes are all within a mile's radius which gives us a lot more options for evening walks after dinner.

What I'm not so sure about with the new house: It's on a busy street, so I'm nervous about pulling out of the driveway, the possible noise level and the fact that the kid's bedrooms are at the front of the house. Looking forward to getting a fence up as soon as possible. Parking on the street. I love to entertain and hope that our guests don't have to walk a mile to get a parking spot. The bedroom situation with The Boy and Baby D, who are going to be sharing a space from now on. We will see how that works out!

So my husband will be moving some boxes over tonight. I am going to put Post-It notes on the walls where I want furniture to be placed. This evening I'll be packing up the kitchen, computer and all of our clothes. Tomorrow Danny and his uncle will be doing all the hard work of moving heavy stuff while I get the kids out of the house for the day (why did moving day have to fall on Easter weekend?!). We'll give the apartment a quick cleaning on Sunday.

And then of course, unpacking! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them with updates...as soon as I get the computer up and running!

Blessings to everyone for a Happy Easter!

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