Some Big News!
Today we’re closing on a house!
Literally the day after I wrote this post about our living situation, Bart went to see a house that we’d looked at online more than a month earlier and dismissed as not interesting (it had pretty much the worst pictures a listing could have that made the house look much more rundown than it really was and also made it impossible to know almost anything about the layout, size, or condition of the house).
He called me after he’d gone through and said, “I actually really love this house.”
I was in the car at the time and so I looked up at the address and drove by it. The minute I pulled up in front of it, I thought, “This is the house for us.”
I’d never had a feeling like that about a house. Both of our previous two home purchases felt like solid choices, but not like the house was just speaking to me.
The next day we both walked through it and the following day we put in an offer which they accepted.
Since we’d moved to Utah, we’d gone through many houses and although there were a few that we came close to making offers on after we walked away from the first house, none of them ever felt right.
This one, though, felt like the house for us from the moment we walked through the front door and I haven’t had a moment’s regret about it since we put in our offer.
It’s an old house, built in the late 1950s, and it’s never been remodeled (which we see as a plus because MANY houses we’ve gone through have had remodels done 10-20 years ago which the owners see as recent and want to get their money out of, even though they’re now starting to look quite dated or aren’t what we’d want).
Originally, our plan was to keep living at Bart’s parents house for several more months while we remodeled the kitchen, moved the staircase, added a master bathroom and replaced all the flooring in the house (right now, it’s a hodgepodge of carpet and linoleum – I’d guess there are at least 7 different floorings in the house at the moment).
But as our closing date approached, we realized we weren’t ready to pull the trigger on all these big projects without living in the house first and seeing how it actually works for our family. Plus, we felt like living here, waiting for these big projects to be done, would make us really antsy and rushed to get things done quickly instead of right.
Our new plan is to move in this weekend and then start work on one project at a time after the first of the year (although guaranteed I won’t be able to wait that long to paint at least a room or two). When we’re ready to do the kitchen, stay at Bart’s parents house while that’s torn up.
After our Arizona house, which had lots of cosmetic changes but no really big changes, I’m very excited about doing some big remodeling projects and I can’t wait to see our vision come to life.
This house certainly has some odd things about it (once we’ve moved in, I’ll show them to you over on InstaStories), but there’s something about it that Bart and I just love and it feels like the right place for our family.
It has a very large yard, a screened-in back porch, quite a bit of good natural lighting, a fireplace (hellllllo Christmas stockings), and a big basement playroom (complete with awesome wood paneling straight from the 70s).
It’s about three-quarters the size of our Arizona house, but the space is really used well and I think we’ll love living there. I’m especially excited about the outdoor space, which, naturally, I have big plans for. After we gut the whole kitchen and the other indoor projects. . .
I’m also over the moon about being able to bring out all my Christmas things, even if our Christmas tree will be sitting on rose-colored carpet.
And while I’ll be very glad to have our own space again, I’m surprisingly sad to leave Bart’s parents house – it’s been such a gift to have so much daily interaction with them, from dinners together to casual conversations over dishes and breakfast.
Fortunately, this new house is very close by, so we’ll still see lots of them until they leave next year. And the girls will still be at the same school, which was very important to us.
And after all of our stuff being in storage since the summer, it’s going to feel like Christmas came early to unpack all of our belongings.
Congratulations on the new house. Wishing you and your family much happiness in your new home!
Congrats! I’m so excited for you and your family! I know how disorienting it can be before you get settled, so I pray that things go quickly and smoothly for you!
Congratulations!! That is how we felt for our house in Orem. After seeing dozens and feeling like they weren’t *quite* right, we walked in and felt really strongly that this was our house. We put an offer in that day, and it was accepted two days later. Crazy how fast these decisions can go once you’ve found it.
Just in time for the holidays! So exciting!
Congrats, how exciting! I’m excited as a blog reader as well to start seeing home posts again, I have missed them! I think you’re smart to move in and see how a home works for your family before you do all of the remodeling. Your home is similar to ours, built in 1959 with an enclosed sunroom. In ours, almost everything was original but in great shape since a single lady lived here alone for 40 years, so we got to remodel how we wanted while living here (and got a great deal since it was an estate sale). Good luck moving in!!
Congratulations!!!!! That is EXACTLY what we are looking for in our next house (when the time comes to look): super outdated so we have good reason to make things exactly how we want them. I say that now, I will probably feel much differently if that’s what we end up with and then are knee deep in renovations. Hahahaha. I’m very excited to see your visions come to life too! Yay!!
Congratulations!
Congratulations! I can’t wait to follow along with your remodeling.
Congratulations! I hope the move goes smoothly.
Congratulations! I can’t wait to see how you make the space your own!
Congrats!! I can’t wait to see what you do with the place!
Granted we are renting, but when we walked through our place, we knew and asked where to sign before we left. And I’m not sure it’s completely your style, but if the downstairs was painted white, that paneling would make some great vertical shiplap.
The house hunt can be so exhausting, but that finish line is sweeeet! Congratulations on your new place and all the fun projects ahead of you.
Congratulations!! That is so exciting. On a side note, I so appreciate when you share about your home ownership experiences. We’re preparing to buy our first house, and so any tips (like about the outdated remodels), are really helpful!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear it’s helpful! And good luck with your purchase!
Congratulations ?? how wonderful to find your home!
Exciting news! We are going to be pulling our stuff out of storage too at Christmas time after being packed away since July. I’m laughing at wrapping up all my kids boxes and putting them under the tree !!
Congrats on the new house! Years ago, when we were living in Australia we bought a late 1950s house that had never been renovated. Like you, we were also only the second owners. Everything was super outdated and nothing matched but we were keen to live in it first and see what worked best for our family before starting any work. Some things we did straight away (like pulling out the 50 year old carpet – yuck!) and painting the nursery, but the bigger jobs, like ripping down walls, replacing the entire kitchen and installing ducted air conditioning took a few years before we could start. In fact, we didn’t even get a year with our new (and crazy expensive) kitchen before we packed up and moved to the US. Oh well. While our place was incredibly outdated, I really felt like that gave us more opportunity to renovate it to our liking. We saw so many houses that had been renovated to sell, but none were quite to my liking, or to the quality level that I would’ve chosen. I couldn’t justify renovating a house that had just been renovated, but knowing that the cupboards, oven and flooring had been there for over 50 years made me feel much better about ripping them out. We did keep a few of the original quirks though, my favorite being the kitchen wallpaper which was designed to look like a stone wall covered in ivy. It was pretty ugly, but I made sure to keep it hidden behind the new wall of cupboards we installed. I love the idea of another owner doing renovations 20 or 30 years down the track and discovering that 50s gem hidden behind the 2010 cupboards!
Everyday Reading>>>>Fixer Upper, I love it. It would be so fun to see your journey. We have plans to update our less than 20 year old house, so yours must have so much potential. Everything happens for a reason. I am happy for you to have found something that is right for your family.
We are so excited to be here!
we bought a house built in 1954 and it is rock solid! we had so much fun bringing it back to life. The only downsize was the original windows. There were 59 that we had to replace.
Oh my heavens! FIFTY NINE??
I love this house!
Congratulations!
Congratulations!!
wonderful news. excited to see how you transform the home