About three months ago, John and I took the dive and bought our first home! I meant to make a post about it long ago but I (as I think most people do) underestimated how much time new homeownership and that adjustment takes. After a far too long search (I swear we saw a few dozen homes, between showings, open houses, and model homes) we were exhausted and near the end of our rope. We had made offers on another home we loved, and lost it, and tried to make offers on other homes that were then snatched out from under us. Maybe I’ll make a full post about the search process in the future. Finally, we found our home on March 14, made an offer that was accepted the next day, and then everything hit the fan with the COVID-19 pandemic on the 16th. Our interest rate spiked massively and we were worried that we would lose yet another house we loved–but God came through (as He does), as this was His plan for us.
We are so grateful to finally have a home! Everything was getting so cramped in our little one-bedroom apartment, and we had reached a point where we were just moving our excess stuff from room to room, depending on which space we needed to use at the time. (Not having to compete for parking spots is also a blessing.) Escrow closed on April 20, and we spent the next month and a half moving in. This last month we’ve finally settled in enough to start doing renovations! The house has great bones, but was built ing 1996 (the year we were born!) and not updated since then.
So far, we’ve repainted the lime green laundry room, retiled it, got new machines, and created a makeshift pantry. A post on that whole process is to follow. Currently, the plan is to build a laundry basket shelf on the right side of the machines, a counter on top, and a cabinet pantry on the left side. We have one long 12′ by 6′ room that serves as the walk-through from the house to the garage, an exit to the outdoors, the laundry room, and the pantry. There was a tiny closet in the corner by the back door that was used as the pantry by the previous homeowners, but we cut a hole in the door, installed a cat door, and put the litterbox on the bottom level. The upper shelves are being used to store cleaning supplies, pet supplies, and other things that won’t be sullied by the smell of the litter box.
Our current project is the guest bathroom. One of the previous owners was handicapped, so they had cut the back off the guest bedroom closet. We’re in the midst of putting the wall back in, changing out the 90’s vanity for a new one (that actually has storage space!) and updating the bathroom in general. We’ve got a lot to do in the bathroom and the house in general, but it’s coming along!