This house became ours officially 84 days ago. We had fallen in love with it about 32 days before that, after seeing photos on our relator's listing site. The house was stunningly beautiful while empty with it's open floor plan, wood ceilings and Benjamin Moore Athena paint on all the walls. I was so convinced this place was exactly right for us and could hardly believe it when I got the keys and walked around taking photos for that first tour.
Two days after we closed, our furniture arrived. All the stuff we'd owned at our townhouse was brought in and dropped into place. My heart sunk a tiny bit as I realized the magic that existed while the space was empty was a bit dulled with all this furniture (much of it still left over from Paul's bachelor days!) that didn't work. What I loved in the townhouse wasn't going to click here.
Which totally makes sense. This house has a completely different layout and vibe plus a surprising number of "challenge" areas that needed to be thoughtfully pulled together. I spent the last 82 days ruminating on these challenges, pinning images that represented the "vision" in my head, drawing up plans for stuff my dad could build and combining websites and craigslist for the right furniture at the right price.
I was ruthless with what had to go. And incredibly picky about what was allowed in. I was also limited quite a bit, considering I was alone (so not able to go visit random finds on craigslist) and pregnant (not able to move anything heavy). But I think that was a blessing in disguise. I had to really take my time and plan, then pack crazy big and small projects, deliveries and pick-ups (I sold a bunch of our own stuff on craigslist) into the five weekends when I was blessed to have help from our visiting families.
My goal for the house was to get it from level one (the bones of the space) to level two (the first layer of rad furniture, plants and art) before June when the baby arrived and Paul was scheduled to come home and see our house for the first time in real life. (Level three - the tweaking and the enhancing and the fulling living in will come later.) I knew it needed to get to that same magic spot it had started at so when I was focusing on just being with our little one, I was surrounded by either things I loved or empty space with room to dream up new plans.
And I am so excited and thrilled that after this weekend, I am there. We're good. As I told Paul, "I have feathered our nest." It's not perfect. The office is going to need help once Paul's home and I figure out what work will look like for me + baby. The bedroom still needs a new dresser and ideally an external sliding door to close off the bath. I have some huge photo printing projects planned. Nearly every room needs more lamp light (thank goodness we're heading into summer!). And there are empty spaces still in the main area (which I will share more about later in the week) that would so benefit from some DIY furniture projects (cool ones!). But we're there. I mean, we're here. We're home.
It's a good feeling. It's been a wild 84 days. A challenging 84 days. A wonderful 84 days. Insane thank you's are in order to both of our families. And to Paul, for responding with interest to what must have been 500 emails of screenshots, craigslist finds and product links. Love you, babe. Cannot wait to have you home. It will not feel completely whole until you walk through the door.
p.s. look for main space room tours and details soon! (with less blown out photos, I promise.) also... if you're bored or missed it here's our home buying story.
