While I'm laid up due to a kidney infection, I've already watched an embarrassing amount of Scandal on Netflix. In an effort to bring some variety to my day, I thought I'd take break from Pope & Associates, and blog about our move into a new home!
As a condensed soup version of our home buying experience, we purchased our first home in 2007 prior to the jaw-dropping real estate fall out. We watched our home value drop, drop, and drop. And then drop some more. We found ourselves with a mortgage exceeding the market value of our home by $100,000. We thought about walking away from the home, but in the end - our moral values wouldn't let us walk away from our financial commitment. We were eventually able to refinance our home through a government program in 2012. Between 2010-2013, our home's value started to climb back up. In September 2013, we placed our home on the market and it sold for asking price within two weeks. We were actually walking away with a profit! Now where were we going to live? We had looked at building a new home. We looked at pre-existing homes. Finally, we had the opportunity to buy a friend's home in the school district we were trying to get into. We went back and forth on this decision... Is it weird to buy from friends? Will our friends be insulted by any changes we make in the home? Is this the home we want, or is it just a convenience? We finally decided this was the home we wanted. The floor plan is great. The school district can't be beat. There is only one neighbor with a park across the street. We know the pride of ownership our friends had in this home. Moving day was the weekend before Thanksgiving. Goodbye, Devon Court. Hello, Elm Street.
We've spent some time making cosmetic changes to the home, including paint and lighting. We also put in new appliances (except the fridge). I'm sure there will be more changes down the road.... But for now, we are enjoying the home as is!
So - if you haven't been here to visit yet, here's a tour of our new home!
Walking in the front door, it's a hallway with a straight shot view to the backyard. One day, I'll find the right foyer table for this space...
To the right of the front door, is a "den" and "formal dining room." In our home, it's a playroom and office. As the girls grow older and they have less "toys," we'll eventually move the office to the playroom side and use the other side of the room as a den.
Walking down the hallway past the playroom/office, the kitchen and eat-in area are to your right. This eat-in area is the reason we decided we don't need a formal dining room....it's large enough to sit 8 people (11 with stools at the island)!
Instead of looking right to the kitchen, if you turned left, you'd find a walk-through laundry room (which is also the entrance to the garage). On the other side of the laundry room is the guest room (more on that later). It's also where we feed our pets, store the trash can and recycling bin, as well as where Katie does her dirty business....just in case you were dying to know!
Instead of looking to the right at our eat-in area, if you turned to the left, you'll find the pantry. Note: this has absolutely NO organization, which drives me crazy. That's my next big project!
Just past the eat-in area, is our living room. The entertainment center was already built-in; however, we modified it to fit our TV. I'm also on the hunt for an oversized leather chair and ottoman that matches our sofas...
In between the pantry and the living room is a hallway leading back to the bedrooms (Honey says "Hi!"):
If you take a left at the end of the hallway, a coat closet is to your left. A door to the walk-through laundry room is just past that. The linen closet is straight ahead, and the guest bedroom is on the right.
Standing between the laundry room and the guest room, the girls' rooms are to the left, bathroom to the right, and the Master bedroom at the end.
The girls'/guest bathroom:
Morgan's room:
Kylee's room:
Right outside the Master Bedroom is a little niche that we see every time we leave our bedroom:
Finally, the Master...which needs the most help decorating-wise. There are also curtain rods and curtains in the corner that need to go up. There are pictures that still need to be hung up. Oh and a laundry basket of 12 month sized clothes that I just need to donate/sell, but I keep putting it off.
Outside in the backyard, which can be accessed through the living room or Master Bath, is the pool and spa, patio, side yard, and a shed:
So there's our home! Welcome home, Taylor Family. Welcome home.
