A Closing Day Post on Opening Day

We are in! We got our keys last Thursday morning. It was so dark, it felt like evening and yet we were walking on sunshine. We were so happy to be getting the keys to our new house and start the projects we had been planning.

After meeting our realtor at the house for a final walk through, along with Rob's mom who was going to watch our boy for the day, we took an obligatory "first" picture at the new house and off to the closing we went. It was fairly simple and straightforward. We got to meet the people who were selling us the house and they were lovely. They told us about the neighborhood and how fun halloween is and our excitement grew! At the end of the meeting we parted ways with them and our wonderful realtor and headed over to the new house, cars full of supplies and work clothes at the ready!

When we got to the house we were trying to decide where to start. Rob decided to start by taking pictures of the whole house while it was empty to really get a true "before" image. When he was in the kitchen we started to fool around with the appliances. Microwave, refrigerator and oven appeared to be brand new, with stickers still inside the fridge! The cooktop looked used and dated so we knew we would replace it eventually but hoped we could use it as is for a while. Well, we tried all the burners and only one actually works. We were bummed cause it's a fairly costly item to replace but for that moment we pushed it to the back of our minds and hoped it would be our only hiccup. Dishwasher: we saw there was some leftover soap from a previous load so we decided to run it to clear that out. It wouldn't start. Actually, it did "start" but it made a horrible noise and no water was running. We pulled the dishwasher out (not fun or easy because the floor had only been laid up to the appliance, not underneath. A word of warning for future DIYers: this makes removing appliances very difficult!), made sure the connections were solid and the water was on and still nothing. Great, now we need two appliances right off the bat.

We headed out to lunch pretty feeling pretty "blah" that we had to spend this kind of money right away (on things we thought worked) and sat down at Panera ready to research prices and options. We landed on Home Depot. They aren't usually our first choice for big purchases but with a coupon we had and a sale they had running we were able to get a nice gas Whirlpool cooktop (pictured below) for a great price and it will be delivered on the 12th! yay! For now we cook with one burner! 

For some reason, we chose not to get a dishwasher while we were there and boy are we glad we didn't. Turns out, the water valve handle wasn't actually turning the valve. A plumber only charged us $45 for the inspection and the "fix" and it's literally like new! We're thrilled, to say the least, not to have to spend that money! 

The rest of our closing day went pretty smoothly! Rob worked on taking the kitchen cupboards apart (more on that later) while I edged in and painted our little guy's room. We got a visit from Rob's parents and our buddy and the dogs got to play in their new yard.

We also met some of our neighbors and have realized quickly that the world is pretty small! "Howdy Neighbors!" Some of them also have chickens which is super awesome and we've already been given half a dozen yummy fresh eggs and had one of them visit our front yard!

before we begin

Well we closed - YAY!! - and we've had a garage sale (yes already haha) and it has been quite the whirlwind getting projects done and semi-settling into the new house. We are really loving the layout and all the potential this place has for us and our eventual family (Lord willing!!).

Before we begin posting pictures and tales of the projects we are doing around the new house, we want everyone to be able to see the house before we made any changes. These photos are from our inspection date and do include a little bit of the previous tenants furniture so bear with that please! 

Let's begin the tour! 

Our cute little home in Royal Oak, MI. 

This is the view when you walk in the front door, there is a wall directly to the left!

Another view of the living room from the archway in the previous picture. 

Through the swinging butler's door into the kitchen. 

From the other side of the kitchen - not a whole lot of cupboard space but we do have a basement to store extra things! 

 Cute pedestal sink in the bathroom with a great little vanity mirror.

We lucked out with the bathroom decor - it has newer tile, new marble floors and the colors aren't horrendous!

Bedroom #1 / Our Dining Room (after project 1)

Bedroom #2 / Spare Room for guests

Master Bedroom upstairs with walk-in closet (beyond arch on the other side of the bed)

There are a lot of built ins in the Master Bedroom! 

View from our Kitchen window - Oswin's new playground! 

Thanks for taking the tour everyone, we can't wait to share what we have in store and all the projects that we have already started / finished / are in the middle of! 

Until next time,

Lindsey 

our cherry on top

Today you find us turning the corner into the final stretch of the "growing up" process. Our first mortgage, which you could call the "cherry on top" of our impending adulthood doesn't lend to the light sweetness that a cherry usually would, but instead we are experiencing a full on sugar high. We are a tad overwhelmed at the reality of becoming homeowners but more so we are beyond thrilled that we have been given this opportunity. As two (early) twenty-somethings we feel abundantly blessed to be taking this leap, no matter how much our sugar induced headaches might be splitting our brains.

It's pretty amazing how prayers are answered, even when they aren't your own (in this case my (Lindsey's) Dad). After two years of renting apartments we were looking into renting a house. Something closer to work for Rob, central for me, with a backyard for Oswin and always with central air. Size didn't matter too much, we just wanted our stuff to fit and after living in two apartments it's not like we had accumulated all that much. After looking at a couple houses and being disappointed that we had missed out on the rental opportunity, my dad called with the advice to "just look into buying, just see what you can actually do." Neither of us thought that buying was even a possibility, but with some advice and prayer and our awesome mortgage guy, Adam, we were able to get preapproved! We looked at nearly 20 homes and we "kissed a lot of frogs" as my dad would say (he's always good for some sound advice). Some of these houses had more problems than the last but there were a few good eggs in there. We were interested in three, two of which didn't work out from the start. We put in one offer on a Sunday and it was accepted on a Monday. Ultimately, it was a smooth experience but Rob would be the first person to tell you that I had my moments of disbelief that we wouldn't ever find anything (two weeks was all it took, folks).

Rob and I decided to document our first home experience. We know it won't all be pretty and we also know that some things will be better than we can now imagine, but we are taking it one day at a time and writing down the little things so we don't forget.

Little by little we will gather some before and after pictures, we will show you how we changed the house, where we found things that we love, give you some DIY ideas (I"DIY"AS as I like to call them), and share moments that we think should be unforgettable.

We close on the 12th - one more week - we'll have more to come soon.

Join us on our journey and please, oh please contact us and comment with questions! We would love to hear your stories too!