Wednesday, April 23, 2014

First Weekend at New House

My husband escaped from work on Thursday, and we high-tailed it down to our new home in SW Washington.

I can't even begin to tell you how much we love it.

When we bought it, we knew it was nice. It had good bones, a little, erm.. retro.. in some (most) areas, but that it was clean and well loved.

We weren't prepared to love it as much as we do. The space is magnificent.

And no, that isn't just from a small-house dweller moving to a larger home standpoint- we're going from 680sq/ft to 2116, so there's bound to be some shock involved, but really- the house is full of light- at any given point during the day there is some sort of sunlight streaming into the windows.

And the storage. We're going to have to really work hard to fill this home up. And by work, I mean it- I plan on building as much as I can for this home.

The views from the windows are breathtaking. You can see Oregon on a clear morning. The fruit trees were in bloom, and our two acres of pasture is lush and green.

There are lilac trees- just on the verge of blooming- rose bushes, hydrangeas, rhododendrons- it's a beautiful piece of land.

I guess most of the shock comes from putting in the offer before seeing this home- then spending a paltry hour in it while the inspection was occurring. We didn't have a chance to really soak in the property or the house in that time.

Enough with the sentiments, you want to see what we did, right?

Well, a nuclear yellow room was toned down with a gallon of 'Lamp Room Gray' paint.


The 'Lamp Room Gray' turned out a bit bluer than I anticipated- we have the shade in our current house and it's lovely, but it could be the contrast between the wood trim. That'll all change, including the curtains. 

Oh, remember the stars and bald eagle wallpaper that was on the wall in the kitchen?  


Well...


It's gone.

And by 'gone' I mean that the face was peeled off- next weekend I'm attacking the glue layer that has been left behind. 

I did save some of the paper- it's really quite epic and I couldn't bear to throw it out. Stars & Stripes forever, yo, but not in my kitchen! (I think having a Rosie the Riveter themed workshop would be amazing, no? And the stars and stripes motif would be pretty cute in there!)

So my life has been packing, planning, drooling at paint swatches, ordering laminate samples- basically awesome. Or at least awesome for me. I'm having a blast.

Oh, you'll get a huge kick out of this. Want to see the luxurious master bedroom?


Yup, sleeping on the floor on a twin-sized memory foam. It's oddly comfortable for being on the floor. We're too cheap to buy a 'real bed' until we move down permanently, so that's our luxurious sleeping arrangement until then.

Anyway, that's the new house update. 

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Closing on a New House!

See this 1976 delight?

It's located in a town of 2300 people, somewhere along the Columbia river.


And it's our new house.

Pending on 4/14/14.  All the papers have been signed, we're just waiting until the current residents (who have lived there for 27 years) move out.

My heart hurts for them. It's obvious that they loved their home, as it is incredibly well maintained. It's a house of love- it has such a wonderful vibe to it that it felt like home the second we stepped foot in it.

2.5 acres. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, a dedicated laundry room... AND 576 SQ/FT OF GARAGE.

That, my friends, is 100 sq/ft less than the size of our current house. All garage. Actually, cancel that. It's not a garage, people. It's a shop. It's MY workshop. Trespassers will be forced to help move lumber and sharpen hand tools. 

OMG, I can smell the sawdust. THE THINGS I COULD BUILD.

I can't even tell you how excited I am. 

And bonus? We'll be 4 houses down from family! FOUR.

Additional photos of the technicolor delight can be found here.

Investors, purchase stock in paint, because holy moly, we're going to be buying truckloads.