Man, let me just say the moving process for us was incredibly difficult this time around. Jacob and I bought our first house when we were 20 years old. It was a tiny house on Summitview Dr and it served us well for the 3 years that we lived there. My dad ended up knowing the person who had flipped it and sold it to us so the process was super easy and we were comfortable with our purchase. It was just too tiny to stay there for a long time.
Moving into the house we live in now was not as easy by any means! It took us forever to find a house. We were so lucky the first time and didn’t realize that it typically takes longer than a month to find a home. Our tiny house had no trouble selling and it sold on December 7th, 2019. We are incredibly grateful that the new owner let us stay until January 31st, 2020. I don’t know what we would have done had she not done that.
Jacob and I were probably looking at 3-4 houses a week. I swear we looked at 30 houses before finding the one for us. It was a really stressful time. I felt like the clock was ticking down and we had nowhere to go. With a toddler and 3 dogs that leaned on us to survive, it was hard. We did have multiple backup plans in case we couldn't find a house, but none of them seemed right and would require so much work and money just to make it happen. I just remember feeling anxious all the time. It never ended! From the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep, I felt anxious.
I even hated when friends or family brought up finding a house or sent us links to houses for sale or even asked questions. I know they wanted to help, but I just didn't want to talk about it. It was honestly the most stressful and anxious time of my life. I felt sick to my stomach every day. We were trying so hard not to be too picky, but we wanted a house that could be our home for many years. We didn’t want to keep jumping around and wanted a home that we could settle down in.
We finally found this cute house on Sheridan Dr. It didn’t check all our boxes; it was only a 2 bed, 1 bath instead of a 3 bed, 1.5 bath and the yard wasn’t fenced in. It was also way above our budget, but we went to look at it just in case. From the moment I walked in the back door into the room that is now my office, I knew it was the one.
The room was covered in this awful wood paneling and I hadn’t even seen the rest of the house, but it just felt right! It’s hard to explain, but when you know, you know. I had spent the last couple months praying that we would find the house for us and finally God answered my prayers. It makes me tear up just thinking about it.
The house is old, almost 70 years old. It does have old house problems. Before we even moved in we had to replace a furnace and the fridge. The day after we moved in, we had a major plumbing leak caused by a bad DIY job from the previous owner. It seemed like it was one thing after the next! Throughout it all, I just kept praying. I knew that in the grand scheme of things, that it wasn’t that big of a deal and that we would always find a way to make it work.
Before and after of our living room. It's my favorite spot in the house!
Before and after of the built-in in our dining room. This baby probably has 6 coats of paint on it!
Before and after of my office!
We have multiple projects planned this summer and will probably have more projects as time goes on, but we love this house. It feels right and it feels like home. I’m so grateful to our realtor for all her hard work and patience with us. I’m also grateful for my dad who looked at almost every house with us and for all his hard work in fixing the things that needed done. My grandpa has also been a huge help; we are so blessed. I know that no matter what happens, as long as we have each other, we will be okay!
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