Well, this was not at all planned, but this summer we moved to a new house! I always keep an eye on houses for sale in our city, but up until now there hadn’t been any that really tempted us to move. Our previous house was one I bought before my husband and I started dating and when we got married, we decided not to move since it was a perfectly nice house and close to work. However, at the end of June my sister-in-law insisted we had to see a house in her neighborhood that was about to be listed and we absolutely fell in love with it!
I’ll probably write another post on moving during a pandemic, but right now let’s get to the good stuff–a tour of the new house! These are some pictures I snapped with my iPhone before we moved in, but they give a pretty good idea of what’s going on 🙂 We’ve since moved all of our stuff in and are completely unpacked, but let’s start at the beginning shall we? I’m going to go room by room so you can see where we started and what we have planned. So settle back and welcome to our new house!
Front Yard
This is a picture from closing day. Our front yard is small but mighty with a tiny patch of (now greener) grass, a beautiful sycamore tree, and some flower beds. The house is stucco with Spanish style trim common in this area.
I’m planning to plant dense, colorful flowers in the flower beds. We’d also like to change the trim color to white to match the trim on the back of the house.
Main Living Area
Through the front double doors is our main living area. I love the beams on the ceiling and all of the natural light. The brick accent wall makes it feel really unique. The fireplace was updated to this modern electric one and it’s so fun to change the flame colors and be able to use it year-round.
We are moving the chandelier over the dining area soon and replacing it with a more modern one. I also purchased some curtains for the windows on the brick wall.
Kitchen
The kitchen was one of the biggest selling points. I’d been wanting to remodel our other kitchen and had chosen all of the cabinets, countertops, hardware, etc. When we walked into this one, it was exactly what I’d planned–down to the cabinet knobs! We love to cook and bake, so we’re in this kitchen all the time. Another plus is that it’s in its own room off of the dining room. We learned from the last house that being able to see dirty dishes from every angle of the house is not fun (goodbye completely open concept).
This kitchen is brand new so there aren’t many projects in here! I need to raise the light a little and install a blind behind the sink, but that’s about it. There is a pantry that needs a little help, so that will be my main project in this room.
Library
I loved having a library in our last house, so it was important to have one in this house too. The room past the main living area makes the perfect spot to read, with giant windows and great natural light.
There’s already a built-in bookcase, but I’d like to add a wall of built-ins along the wall without windows. I’m also going to swap out the light fixture in here. Long-term I think it would be fun to have two small loveseats facing each other with a coffee table between them. Or maybe a round table in the corner to work on puzzles. I already have too many ideas for this space 🙂
Master Bedroom
Ironically in this new house the master bedroom is the exact opposite of our old bedroom. This is the one room that doesn’t get tons of natural light whereas in our first house it was the room with the most light. The door opens onto a patio with a pergola which is a perfect spot to have coffee and enjoy the scenery.
I’m not a huge fan of the wood ceiling, so we’ll see what happens with that. The ceiling around the wood is gold, so I’m painting that white soon. The wall color is also too dark without natural light, so I’ll change that as well.
Master Bathroom
Besides the kitchen, this was another selling point for us. Our last master bathroom was super small. It had double sinks but almost no counter space so I was always knocking stuff into the sink. So annoying. I’ll be the first to admit that this bathroom is over the top fancy, but it’s incredible. Plenty of space, a double shower, heated floors, and gorgeous trim work everywhere. Also note the koi wallpaper which really just adds a pop of fun!
We’ve already done a few projects in here which I’ll share soon 🙂 Functionally, we’re having a exhaust fan added soon. Code here is that a fan isn’t needed if there’s a window, but the window doesn’t help with the steam and it’ll be too cold to open it in the winter anyway.
Office
We’re using one of the spare bedrooms as an office. It’s a very small room, but we have grand plans for it! Right now my husband and I have desks on opposite walls and it’s been working out well. He’s a great officemate!
Almost everything in this room is getting a makeover soon. We’re installing wood floors to match the rest of the house in a few weeks and then have tons of plans for this space. I’ll share more about it soon!
Guest Bedroom
The final bedroom is our guest room. Right now it’s set up as a traditional guest room, but we may go for more of a multifunctional room in the future. My favorite feature is the white and gold wallpaper on the ceiling.
This room is in great shape, so we’re leaving it be for the moment. I’m not a fan of bright wall colors, but we’re keeping the teal right now until we decide how we want to use the room in the future.
Guest Bathroom
Okay, this room is very polarizing. I am not a fan. Other people think it’s like a fancy hotel. At the very least, it’s not very functional, since the towel racks are on the back of the door and can’t be reached from the shower and the overhead light casts patterns everywhere that make getting ready in the morning difficult. On the plus side, the tile is beautiful and the skylight lets in great natural light.
This is another room that’s getting an intense makeover. I don’t have a timeline for when that’s happening, but a new vanity, mirror, light, and wallpaper are all in the works. Stay tuned!
Laundry Room
We went from a laundry closet in the last house to an even smaller laundry room in this house. But this area is so incredibly functional that I have zero complaints! The cabinets store an unbelievable amount of stuff. An entire pack of Costco toilet paper and a pack of Costco Kleenex fit in that small cabinet over the washer/dryer. Umm, what? There’s also a pull-out table between the washer and dryer for folding clothes.
In this room I’ll be switching out the light above the cabinets to something more modern. There’s a skylight in here, so I rarely use that light but I still want it to look pretty 🙂 On the other side of the room is a small utility closet so I’ll also be working on making that more functional.
Backyard
My absolute favorite thing about this house is the backyard. There are three sitting areas, a built-in outdoor kitchen, a giant fireplace, raised garden beds, and tons of trees. Having a lot of trees is rare where we live and listening to the leaves rustling in the breeze is just about the best thing ever. While there is less gardening space than our previous yard (see this post for our last garden), the plants seem to do better here so I think we’ll have a good crop next year.
Yards are a never-ending project, so our focus here is on taking care of the trees and continuing to improve our gardening skills. I also want to add more flowers around the yard and maybe hang some string lights. (Also, how do I not have more pictures of the yard?? I guess I’m too busy enjoying it to remember to take pictures!)
Three Months In
We’ve been in our new house a little over three months and so far it’s been amazing. I love the natural light in the house and the greenery in the backyard. It’s also nice to have a house that my husband and I choose together that truly feels like OURS. We’ve made some wonderful friends in the neighborhood and being close to family is a blessing during these days when staying at home is the new norm.
Now that the chaos of moving is behind us, I’m planning to get back to blogging regularly. I’ll be sharing new projects, but I’ll also be sharing more pictures of our house on Instagram and Facebook, so be sure to follow along there as well if you want some sneak peeks!
Love it
Thanks Liz!