Living room

 Here is our living room furniture.

Here's the room, but ours has a white fireplace... again with the cocoa colored walls.  We'll be ordering another one of our brown couches... full size but not a sleeper.  We'll flank one in front of the windows and the other where that couch is to the left.  The tv will be located on the wall opposite the windows.  I also have a really cool vintage record player that I plan on using as a sofa table behind the couch on the left.  The wicker chairs will find a new home on the front porch.  The end tables (Once we muster up the time/funds/energy to finish the basement, the brown couches will go downstairs, and we'll look into a sectional.) and trunk/coffee table will stay.

 The original plan was to buy a low lying tv stand and flank it with two tall book cases, but I think I kind of like this route instead:

No clue how I'm going to use for window treatment or area rug.  I suppose I still have some time. ;)

Master bedroom

Ah... the master bedroom.  Our furniture is large, and I love it.  You should have seen the man power, and how long it took us to get the armoire downstairs... again... our furniture is large... and brutally heavy.  I can't see me changing the bedding... unless I absolutely fell in love with a duvet cover somewhere (then we could use this one in the spare room Bryan!).  The new room will have the same cocoa colored walls as the rest of the house (except for the girls' rooms and their bathroom), but we're seriously lacking some art.

In the old house we have a couple of our wedding photos on the wall, but I think I'd rather just pick one great one and do this.

 SERIOUSLY... how sweet would that be?????  I also thought this was really cute as well and would be SUPER easy to make.

 Our headboard is way to tall to pull something like this off, but I know I could find a spot for it... it's a done deal!

Dining room...

So, if you remember, this is our dining room furniture... furniture that used to be oak stained.  It was lovely, but it needed a pick me up.  I wish we had taken the time to really learn how to paint wood furniture before attempting it.  Yes, Bryan, you were PROBABLY right. :)  But what's done is done.  Something needs to be done to the top of the table though because it's still so tacky... drives me nuts.  I'm thinking I may have to just suck it up and spray paint the top. :-/  (It is VERY bizarre for me to look at pictures of the old house!  It seems like forever ago that that was ours.  I all of the sudden miss it. :(  Bigger and better things Rachel... bigger and better things.)

 

This is pretty close to the wall color I think we want throughout the house.  I wanted a neutral that wasn't 50 shades of beige/khaki but one that would flow throughout as it's $250 per color change... SERIOUSLY?!  It's going to be a while until I'll have time to get a roller in my hand, so our color has to be able to flow.  I'd like to also do some wainscoting in the dining room... doesn't have to be as fancy as the one below... although that style is beautiful.

 Also, would it be totally crazy to do this to the bottom of our table???  Bryan may die a slow death just yet. :)

So long... Farewell...

We're out... done... finished... no longer residents of 311 Cedar Hill Drive.  We closed yesterday, and it was bittersweet.  I didn't cry.  I have A LOT to look forward to in the coming months, and I can't help but be excited... I think that's why I didn't cry.  I was sad though.  Someone else will be living in my home... and I hope they enjoy it as much as we did.  Here are a couple of fun pictures for your viewing pleasure.

May 2005... 7 years ago... a family of 2.5.  Two newly weds buy their very first grown up home.

                                    

 June 2012... 7 years later... a family of 5 (yes, the dog is still alive but has found a new home with the grand-parentals as he's not very child friendly.)  Two not so newly weds sell their very first grown up home in hopes of building their very first grown up dream home whose goal is to contain their growing brood of overly emotional little ladies.

311, we will miss you!

Clearing out

We're slowly clearing out.  My dad and Kate came into town this past weekend, and they were SUCH A GREAT help.  I can't tell you how many loads of stuff we took over to the rental.  The plan is to hopefully get the rest of it moved this coming weekend.  My mom will be in town to help, and then Bryan's parents will be coming with their truck.  We have a few big things left, but all that's left are all the little random things and food.  Here is the progress we've made so far...

 

 Here's where things get humorous.  We haven't had any time to keep up with the weed situation.  If we were still on the market, you better believe we'd MAKE time to keep it looking stellar.  Frankly pulling weeds that belong to someone else is not on my radar.  Mr. and Mrs. Leng will be very busy. :)

 

We're almost done with Operation Move #1!

Less than a month...

 Less than a month until we close.  Thank god we sold before this baby got here because this is how we are currently living...

 FILTHY I tell you.  All because of this little thing...

 We have yet to sign our lease for our rental but are set to begin moving in on the 15th.  I've been packing my little heart out, but Baby Berkley tends to only give me a couple of hours in the morning.  Still a ways to go for sure.

As far as the build... we've made our changes to the blueprints, had the land inspected for the placement of the house, and the septic people did some testing as well.  Bryan has been working on cutting some small trees down.  The plan is to break ground some time in June. 

But before that happens... Operation Move No. 1.

Moving Right Along

It was difficult, but we found a rental property!  HUZZAH!  The people we'll be working with, from what we can tell thus far, are AMAZING.  We're working with them on a month to month lease... AMAZING.  The owner said he and his wife just built a house and they understood how crazy and unpredictable building can be.  Apparently he's the type of person who believes if he's nice to people and does what he can to help them out... it'll come back to him.  Unfortunately there aren't enough people like him left in the world I'm afraid.  For working with us, Bryan will be doing some odds and ends around their property... resealing the driveway, stripping and re-staining their deck... power washing siding.  Easy peasy stuff that will help them sell.  I think it's going to work out well, as long as we don't end up on People's Court. :)  We can start moving our things May 15th.

This past Tuesday we had our home inspection.  All in all it went really well... THANK GOODNESS.  The unfortunate thing is all of the repairs are fairly minor... things Bryan could do himself... like I dunno... POUR A DAMN BOTTLE OF DRAINO IN THE BATHTUB AND CALL IT A DAY.  Intriguingly enough we have to have a licensed contractor fix these silly things.  We're working with our agent, and with the common sense that the buyers hopefully have in helping to save money.  We'll see how it goes.  Our agent suggested finding a contractor that would subcontract the work out to Bryan, inspect it, and then sign off.  We'll see. 

I went ahead this evening and dismantled the baby's nursery, and pulled everything off the walls in the remainder of the house.  I thought I would be sad... after all... I did start bawling cleaning the kitchen right before the photographer came to take pictures.  I'm sure I'll be beyond sad when we're pulling out of the driveway for the last time, but for now I feel REALLY GOOD.  Bigger and better things are waiting for us... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

FOR SALE

So, it's been a while! I left you with us finishing a few projects and interviewing realtors. The young pup vs. the older more experienced duo. Now normally we would have chosen the young pup. He wanted to list our house $5,000 less than the duo, but he was energetic, vivacious... hand wrote thank you notes to us and sent them in the mail! GREAT RAPPORT. BUT he wanted to work for 6%... in the eyes of Senor Accountant... the 5% the duo was working for won the prize. Each realtor promised the same things... professional photos, virtual tours, blah blah blah blah, so we knew when it came down to it, no matter who we chose, WE needed to make sure we were doing our part and showing the house well. The duo wanted to get the house on the market ASAP. If I remember correctly we made our decision the Wednesday before Easter, chose to list at exactly the midpoint of both realtor's prices, made a plan to have photos taken the following Monday, and listing it that Wednesday.

My sweet little house with the big bad sign in the front.And here's the actual Tour (<-- click) with all the remaining photos... I want to post them all here, but seriously... I don't have the time... or the energy for all of that.

You guys... there was a sign in my yard at 1130 am last Wednesday morning, we had a showing at 200 pm, and had an offer by bedtime that night! WTF?! We haggled back and forth and finally had signed sealed delivered contract late Friday night. The house was shown twice to the buyer and once to one other family. HOLY SHENANIGANS. We ended up settling at a great price... EXACTLY what we said we'd be thrilled with. If the inspection goes well, we'll be closing June 8th.

Friday, while the buyers were looking at the house, we met with our builders. We have a land inspection this Friday... and will get plans... finances... permits... blah blah blah rolling asap with a plan to break ground in June. You guys... the plan is to be in our BRAND NEW DREAM HOME BY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Next step... finding a rental, which is remarkably difficult in a college town. Everywhere requires a year long lease... oy. Let the hunting begin!

My dirty little secret

We (Bryan) replaced the carpet on the stairs last Sunday. I don't have a before pic handy but just know... it needed to be replaced like BEFORE we moved in. ;)Both the front porch and backyard got cleaned up nicely...
The driveway got a makeover.
This is how Saturday morning began... a view of our dirty little secret. When you choose to have 2 kids in 2 years, quit your teaching job, and become a stay at home mom... all of the belongings in two bedrooms and a classroom get put into the already occupied man cave garage. This room used to have such swagger. Pool table, bar, dart board, big screen tv, and enough bar paraphernalia/signs to fit right in downtown. and now... say hello to our hoarder's paradise.Our new bff... the storage unit.After spending the day going through everything loose in our garage and getting it packed up, this is what the unit now looks like:And some work still needs to be done in the garage... but HOT DAMN... we're good. :)We've also been in contact with two different realtors... shopping around. We have two listing numbers... both very comparable, so we're thrilled. We've sent out our follow up questions and then will make our final decision. The hope it to be listed shortly after Easter. There are a few more small projects on the list, photos needing to be taken... but we're feeling great! :)