Unpacking our Bags

moving in

 

We’ve been moved in for awhile now, but we can finally look back and decompress. Although, we still have a box or five that still need to be sorted.

Moving day was a crazy blur. We left the old house and did both closings the same morning. We handed over the keys and a few tears were shed, but we were really happy to learn a disabled military veteran would be buying the house. We were just excited to get an offer, but this was icing on the cake. He was most looking forward to the running trails and impressed by the neighborhood. We thought he’d be an excellent fit!

So, we were homeless for a few hours before going to our second signing.

Denny's Breakfast

We had some time to kill, so we hung out at Denny’s, America’s Diner. Joe had honestly never been there, and I thought he needed to experience a Grand Slam breakfast of champions on moving day.

Then came the paperwork. Oh so much paperwork. We tried our best to keep up.

Finally, we got our new set of keys and caravanned to the new house with truckloads of our stuff. Luckily, the previous owners are sweethearts and let us start bringing some furniture over a few days early. I know you’re not supposed to do that, but we met with them on several occasions and felt we could trust them. They even threw in a kayak and tractor trailer! They could not have been nicer. We both had this gut feeling that it was alright.

 

Cleaning

unpacking boxes

 

We got our cleaning gloves on right away. Definitely a few cobwebs and dust to brush off, but nothing we couldn’t handle! We had plenty of helping hands to tackle the kitchen, bathrooms and all the other nooks and crannies. I think 15-20 people ended up helping us on moving day. Thank you, friends!

 

unpacking a mess

 

Things looked like this for quite some time. A few of my plants died in transit, but I wasn’t too attached to begin with. I’m a terrible plant mom, I know.

 

unpacking crew

 

It’s great when you don’t even have to ask friends to come help on moving day 🙂 Just have beer.

 

moving in crew

 

We had a whole crew. The new neighbors even came over to greet us. And we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. So much for first impressions… “Hi, sorry, ummm, where’s my shoe? Where’s the bed? Nice to meet you! [Small talk, small talk. Blacked out for a minute]. Ok, bye. See you around then!”

But seriously, all our new neighbors are amazing and we could not be more fortunate!

Painting

Call us crazy, but one of the very first things we did upon moving in was repaint. Something about a fresh coat of paint on your walls makes a place feel like home. It’s such a drastic change that it instantly made it our own.

wood burning fireplace stone

 

 

We started with this accent wall behind the fireplace.

taping hallway for painting

 

And repainted most of the walls – changing them from yellow to the neutral beige we had from the old house. We bought a five gallon bucket and planned to reuse it if we had any left. We did! Until we find another color, this one does the job.

peekaboo window

We also took down the peekaboo window shutters and painted everything around it.

painting a fireplace accent wall

Joe’s dad had the idea to do an accent wall in the living room. We think it makes the space feel bigger.

 

painting and taping

 

Painting party!

 

how to paint an accent wall

 

We also had this red left from the old movie room. Since all the pillows and curtains matched, we decided to stick with it. And it’s kind of our unofficial house theme color.

 

accent wall color ideas

 

This was all over Mother’s Day weekend. Note the mother trooper to the left. This was such a rainy weekend, ugh. At least we had some bloody marys and turned up the tunes while painting!

 

accent wall pain

 

Starting to see the difference, eh?

 

accent wall fireplace

 

This red really gives it some depth.

 

accent wall ideas

 

I’m still not sure what to do with that odd little nook above the closet. Any ideas?

 

painting party

 

Goodnight moon. Time to let this dry for the night.

 

20150508_151828

I lied. Before cleaning, we popped a quick bottle of champagne and snapped a couple commemorative pictures.

What’s the first thing you’d do after moving?

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