Happy 10 Year Annivesary Home!

Happy New Year! Some BIG changes are coming in 2015 (more on that in a later post)... However this is how we spent the first day of 2015.

Our home celebrates it's ten year anniversary (since we moved in) on January 3rd. We had a five year plan when we moved in and I guess we just doubled that.

All in all our 130 year old home isn't a bad home. It's certainly not brand new, but I have always been raised with this motto, "You make the best with what you have."

It's been 10 years since any paint has hit the walls on our first floor. Painting is well, well overdue...especially with two kids and the rest of furry family making memories on these walls.

Last week we tackled the living room and wow...AMAZING transformation with just a single coat of paint and hours or tedious trim painting. The room looks at least 2 sizes larger. We took down our blinds (that never really fit our 9ft windows to begin with) and our drapes. The room went from a greenish color (technically called Holly Hock) to a beige/tan color (called Chalkware).  We decided not to put any window covering back up to allow as much light into the room and keep the space feeling so open. I have an awesome design by Poppy Tree for frames for the main wall of the living space so I can get a pop of color since we have gone to more neutral (blah) but brighter color.

As much as I wasn't convinced that Chalkware was the right color for the living room, the adjoining formal dining room was primed and painted the same color today. It  took a few days to for the color to grow on me . I am certainly a color person. We loved the choices of colors we put on the walls 10 years ago. And in all to be fair, they aren't bad colors---just not colors ideal for this home. Even with having 9 ft windows out home lacks natural light making rooms feel darker and smaller. Also from a photographer's stand point, the more light the better! We plan to hang the blinds when finished, but we will likely do away with the drapes to keep it even lighter.

I have never been so excited about painting! Even with the 5....no wait 6 blisters that I am sporting from the rollers. No pain no gain right?

I am so excited I decided to let Harrison help me paint. To be honest...I had a lot of hesitation. I mean seriously this paint is permanent and he likes to overuse paint in art projects so I had rejected his multiple "I want to help paint," requests when we painted the living room.

Today I had a change in thoughts and put myself in the shoes of a 5 year old. What is more awesome than helping do something? This age is full of learning, full of chances, full of exploration.... So I let my guard down and let him help me prime the dining room.

BEST DECISION.

This kid rocked at painting. He took his time, apologized when he took a little too much paint or dribbled a bit of it on the floor and what's even more awesome---he painted for 3 hours. He was so exited to have helped paint the ENTIRE room. And I lost track how many times he said, "See Mommy, I told you I could do a good job...Look how good I am doing." I don't know why I ever doubted him---he is just awesome.

Thanks buddy for being my painting partner and making the first day of 2015 an awesome one.

 

Decisions to be made.

Lots of stuff going on these days. Some days/most days I would trade having to make adult decisions and be three year again. Three is an awesome age. My biggest worry to be, "What did I do with my blanket puppy dog?" And..."Are there monsters under my bed." I remember being in a hurry to grow up.

House selling has been stressful to put it short and not so sweet. Our Realtors haven't been helpful. I am wondering if they are waiting around for us to sell our own home and then they can their percentage of the sale. I'm sure if you are on Facebook, you have seen my posts. Right now, we are waiting it out for another 2 months. If our house hasn't sold by September 30th, we will be taking our home off from being listed. For the last 8+ months it feels like we aren't really living, more of waiting.

It seems since we have made the decision to pull the listing if it hasn't sold, it feels like there is an end to this not living business. I think I have come to a reality we maybe in our home for another year or so and I am OK with that. Last night we picked up paint samples for the kitchen at Menard's and I found a back splash I loved. Doug put a cat door in laundry room door and we have a contractor coming Wednesday to discuss some possible options for construction an addition/garage to the home. We may or may not choose to make additional large improvements in the home, but for the first time in months it feels like we are living again.

This makes me happy.

 

I heart these photos.

Oh goodness. Words can not describe how much I LOVE every single one of these photos.

This was supposed to be a goodbye session in our home, last memory making moments in our first home as a family. Even though we still call this our home for now, these photos will always remind us of the home we have spent our first 8 years of marriage in and the home where we adopted our first---Whitney dog and where we brought home our two boys from the hospital and adopted Violet puppy---adding to our wild and crazy family of 4, plus 2.

Thank you Catharine Bliss (Bliss Photography) for capturing these moments! You capture our family beautifully!

 

For Sale

Its been a busy week and its not over yet!

I've spent the week cleaning, organizing and touching up paint. You could eat off of every floor in our house. Its never been this clean and organized.

We decided to list our house for sale. The sign went up on Wednesday. As I watched the sign being put up a moment of sadness sunk in. We have lived here for almost 8 years. There are a lot of memories in this home, a lot of firsts. Its not a bad house, we are just out growing it. It was never of a matter of if it was always a matter of when we would list it.

We did a lot of house hunting last year, but after finding out we were expecting Miles we put on a hold on searching as we were uncertain with his arrival especially after our 11 week scare in the ER and Harrison's 29 week arrival. We didn't want to be in a transition between houses and have a baby in the NICU, the timing wasn't right. As much as we didn't want to halt our search, we knew it was best based on the situation, though we had found a house we fell in love with. I told Doug, "if it's still there in a year, it's meant to be."

Well it's meant to be...almost. We placed a contingent offer on Tuesday and with very little negotiation, the offer was accepted. We have until January 31st to sell our house or we will have to try to extend our offer with the owners. The very bottom line? We have to sell our house, and sell it fast. We have our first open house Sunday.

I am not trying to get my hopes up. Only 147 houses sold in Winona last year. However, it's hard not to be excited.

I would be very happy to say in January this would be our new house...

The house needs some work...but it's move in ready for now other than some paint and new appliances the rest of the updates will be done later on. It will be part of making this our home. The home is a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom and just over 3,000 square feet. Its about 1,000 feet more of space than we currently have. There is plenty of room for us to stretch out in. The sun room is amazing and hopefully with make a future studio for photography.


As we prepared for listing, I decided to walk through our current home and photograph the rooms....kind of a lasting memory of what clean looks like. And if we do find a buyer, these were serve as a memory as our first home as a family.


Enjoy a tour of our home.

Front of House

 Side of house

 Kitchen

 Down Stairs Bathroom

 

Formal Dining Room

Living Room

 

Master Bedroom

Harrison's Room

 Miles Room

Stair Case

 Up Stairs Bathroom

 Sun Room

I neglected to take photos of the last bedroom used more of a storage space than a bedroom. It's known as the photo prop room. It's organized, just not pretty enough to share.


We put a lot of  money, work and sweat into our home. I hope our future home buyer takes care of our home.


Now, we wait.