I am homeless

I am homeless and in disbelief.  It was so surreal to meet the buyer at the closing and hand over our keys, then realize that my home is not my home anymore.  I am so incredibly sad.  I made sure it was as perfect as possible...patching all nail and screw holes, repainting the patches, repainting the trim where it was dirty. 

The day before the closing flew by.  The movers broke our front screen door (of course!) so the buyers will have to deal with that repair - paid for by the moving company.  What a mess.  At least everything else looked good.

    

Ashford was very disoriented with all the empty rooms.  I felt so bad that he probably won't remember this place.  I hope my pictures do it justice one day when he's curious. 

He was especially confused by the lack of toys in his room!  I love this photo.

I also love this room! 

I was feeling very rushed and frantic the afternoon before, knowing that it was my last chance to take a family photo in the house before it wasn't ours anymore.  My tripod was MIA, so I had to improvise with setting the camera on the fireplace mantel and using my flash instead of taking a photo outside like I wanted to.  Ugh, it is better than nothing I guess.

Dorky photography side note: while I love that my speedlight flash makes impossible photos possible, it also completely changes the look of the scene. For instance, this is what the living room actually looked like at this very moment....way different!

My mom came by and we were just aimlessly wandering around thinking "Is this real life?"  She took care of Ashford while Shaun and I were getting a couple things done...

And she took a photo of us out on the deck.  I'm really done with this gray, cold weather.    

I'm anxious.  I feel like I need some positive feedback from the buyers on the house, which is silly.  Obviously they love it, or they wouldn't have bought it.  I guess I care too much about what people think!  Or maybe it will just take some time for me to let it go.  On our new home front, things are not going well. 

We had the inspection, and the entire roof needs replacing NOW due to several rows of shingles missing and daylight visible from the attic.  I found out from an insurance company that there was a claim on the home last year that was paid out for 12k...presumably for a new roof.  Here is one of several 'bad roof' photos from the inspection.  Yikes!

The owners took the insurance money and let the house go into foreclosure.  Now, we are asking the bank to replace the roof because we don't think we can even get homeowners insurance without a new roof at closing.  Drama!  Safe to say we probably won't be closing on time, which means more time living in my parent's basement.  Glamorous.  I will keep you posted!   

An empty house

The movers came bright and early on Monday and started packing up our house.  Whenever I tell people the company hired movers that are going to pack us (and unpack us!) all I hear is 'you are so lucky!'  I'm here to tell you, it's still really stressful.  You have little control over what they are packing, unless you have put a sticker or note on something that says it stays.  I chose NEON green so they didn't miss it. 

Even still, things will get packed that you never thought they would pack.  For instance, my laundry detergent and a basket of dirty clothes.  Yep, they just put some paper over the top and taped it all up. OMG, just thinking about my dirties hanging out in a basket full of holes and then getting 'unpacked' in a few weeks is disgusting to me.  But, I didn't think I needed to specify that.  They also took all the drawer and cabinet liners from the kitchen, the TV mount in the den we planned to leave, and a pillow that matches a chair we are leaving for the new owners...there is just too much to think about.  

It was very sad to watch my rooms get emptied and realize it wasn't for a renovation, but for good.  The more 'stuff' we took out, the more I saw the details of the house that I love....the little ceiling triangle in the guest room.  

The sloped ceiling, built-in bookcase, and adorable sconce in Ashford's room.  

The built-in we spent so much time on!  Sadly, it is looking a little yellowed where the books were, and there are cracks all over the seams.  I have to say, I will not miss maintaining white paint throughout the house!  All of our painted bookcases and china cabinets were FILTHY.  I should've taken before and after pics, but truthfully, the 'afters' aren't even that great.  I did my best without repainting.  

Just for reference, our stuff took up two huge trucks, and we didn't even take the glass dining set in the porch, the little white love seat and aqua tables in the other porch, the wicker bedroom furniture from the guest rooms OR the living room sofa/chair/ottoman.  Wow!  I have vowed to do better.  I wish I could just blink and become a minimalist.  

I am sad to leave our curtain rods, they aren't available anymore and I LOVE them.  But I agreed to leave them when we listed the house, so they stay.  I also didn't want to patch all the holes and I think it's weird to just leave the rod holders up....I think I might go for a different finish in the new house, anyway.  

The buyers have purchased some things from us, these curtains in the dressing room, the kitchen curtains and rug, and the basement zig zag rug.  I had to be realistic that I can't fit everything from this house into our new one, even if I really like something...I am happy to sell them to the new owners so these things can continue to live here, even if I can't!

I have to say that even after several years, I still love everything that I did in these rooms.  Good job, Sara from 2008!  I haven't decided if I will paint 'Aqua Smoke' in our new master.  If I do, that will be the third time I use it for my bedroom...crazy how much I love this color!  It also touches up seamlessly, which is a huge plus.  

So, today is our last day in the house, then tomorrow is closing!  I am really excited to get the movers out of here so I can have an empty house to clean up.  There are SO MANY dust bunnies and I'm pretty sure I could make another cat from the hair that was under the piano....

I'm off to make the house sparkling clean, because 'broom swept' just isn't good enough for me!  

Dressing room to bedroom

Before we put our house on the market, I knew I had to turn my dressing room back into a bedroom.  There wasn't much to do, I just had to move the bookcases and bench out and find a bed.  Luckily, my mother in law had acquired a charming vintage metal bed for us, and it was a perfect piece for this room!  Here it is with a bad paint job and faux wood contact paper over the adorable metal flower design.  I can't believe I didn't get a shot of the contact paper!  Seriously, it was awful and I scraped at it for a long time.  

I thought about painting it a fun color, but ultimately decided white would be best.  Shaun told me the flower design was ugly and I should paint the entire bed white, but I wanted to keep that detail.  I figured if it looked ugly once painted, I could always paint it later!  

I used two cans of spray primer, and two cans of Rustoleum Universal spray in satin white.  I think the end result is darling!  It is amazing what some fresh white paint can do.

Once I cleaned up the insets, I loved them, and they keep the bed from looking too much like a hospital bed. Which it does, I'm aware.  

The rest of the room turned out great!  I finally hung the yellow clock on the wall, it had been resting on top of the window blinds for the last three years.  

I added this little half-moon table, which was also given to me by my mother in law and painted white years ago.  It works so well under the window, a perfect fit!  An old Ikea desk lamp was a free bedside light, even though I wanted to buy a cuter one.  I was actually pretty impressed with my restraint.  (Since, you know, I get Shaun's employee discount at TJ Maxx!)

I found the sheets, bed skirt, and reversible throw at Target, the pillows and blanket I already had from various places.  The yellow vase was purchased years ago from Crate and Barrel.  I decided to leave the racks on the wall as display rather than take them down and deal with patching all the holes.  I couldn't think of anything creative to use them for, so I hung my colorful skinny belts and a girly purse.  

The other rack holds a robe and some other random items.  Yep, I stole one of Ashford's toys because it matched the room.  

The other side of the room looks exactly the same.  I did paint the windows in this room, which I hadn't done yet.  I was actually shocked at how many doors and windows we hadn't painted in the five years we've lived here.  Awful that you do it all when you are going to be leaving soon!

I still get ready in here every morning, as you can see I didn't remove all my shoes or extra overflow clothes in the closet.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and even happier that it only cost me a few cans of spray paint and some bedding that I can use when Ashford is old enough for a twin bed.  

On the home sale front, we have had huge turnouts for our open houses, lots of showings, fabulous comments, and a few very interested buyers, but only one couple that has had a second showing....which was yesterday.  They really like the house and do NOT have a house to sell, which is amazeballs.  We are hoping and praying that this is the couple that puts in our first offer.  Wish us luck!