Many times that I’m writing here, I’m writing to remember a particular time in my life — to make sense of it in the moment and to create a place to reference in the future, should I or anyone else need it.
While I imagine the experience we went through last year — moving a young family from one home to another in middle childhood — might be somewhat singular for me, I still want to record it for posterity. (I say “singular” because while we never know for sure what’s ahead, I can easily imagine a life in which our next big move is as empty nesters. And since our first big move was from an apartment, sans children, that would make the move we undertook last year a singular experience in our life. Which is a crazy thought!)
Still, even if I never need to use my own advice again, we did learn a few things along the way, and I’d love to share them with you. I also know that many of you are seasoned movers with a deeper well of experience to offer than me, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments. If not for my benefit (staying put as I intend to!), then for our fellow readers :)
The first bag of trash (OF MANY) and the first collection of boxes to go to storage
How does it work to sell and buy a house?
First, my biggest question when we approached this move was how to order its cadence — when do we put the house we’re selling on the market? When do we schedule the moving truck? — and it was frustrating to feel like I never got a clear, satisfactory answer from any party. Not their fault: now on the other side, I think it’s because there is no universal order that works in every situation. But in case it’s helpful, this was our timeline:
The first week of August: Our soon-to-be-new house comes on the market (while we are on vacation, do not recommend), we make an offer, we make another offer, we make another offer, and it is accepted. We are under contract with a closing date in early October.
Remainder of August: We begin prepping our old home for sale. We declutter belongings and hire people to make repairs and complete final projects or do them ourselves. We begin packing boxes. (I aim for at least one per day.)
September 15: We rent a small storage unit and use it to stash items we don’t want in our home during the selling process (listing photos, open houses, showings, etc.). This includes toys, a few pieces of furniture, our Peloton, decor, and some packed boxes. We rent it for two months.
September 25: Listing photos are taken of our home.
October 1: Another photographer takes new listings photos, since we didn’t like the editing on the first ones. This was a bit awkward to advocate for in the moment but I think it paid off.
October 2: We officially close on our new home and our old home goes on the market – yes, on the same day! We host open houses on Saturday and Sunday and accept an offer on Sunday night. We now own two homes. Since our new home is less than a mile from our old home, we begin moving boxes and more delicate items (plants, lamps, art) in small loads a few times a week.
October 17: Movers come to move our furniture and all remaining boxes to the new house. They also swing by our storage unit to collect the items we’ve stashed there.
This is also the date the sale was expected to close on our old house. As you know, this did not go according to plan, and the sellers back out on this, the last possible day. After some scrambling, we secure a new buyer and go under contract on Sunday night, with a new closing date of November 17. In the meantime, we camp overnight with friends on Friday, then officially spend our first night in the new house on Saturday.
November 17: We say an official, final goodbye to the old house and sign the papers to close.
Our home on the day the listing photos were taken
Tips for working with movers
While we moved our belongings with the help of family and friends when we lived in an apartment, hiring movers was a no-brainer this time around. (For locals, we used Crabtree Family Movers and they were great!) A few thoughts and pieces of advice:
— We kept gatorade in the fridge and welcomed the crew to help themselves throughout the day.
— As soon as the movers showed up, things moved FAST. There was really no time for packing final boxes or getting organized that morning — our house started emptying immediately and the pace didn’t let up. I thought it would go a bit slower and was scrambling to stuff a few final things in boxes!
— The first half of the day (the loading) was fairly hands-off. The second half of the day I was engaged the whole time, standing by the truck as they unloaded, answering questions and making sure every box and item of furniture went to the right room (even though we had labeled boxes!).
— There were a few final items we wanted to move by hand, and we made sure to segregate them in a corner and point them out to the movers first thing. Otherwise, everything will go into the truck before you even realize what’s happening, ha.
— We had cash on hand to tip each guy $40, which we handed to the foreman at the end of the day.
John power washing in the dark after he didn’t like the way the driveway looked after the first listing photos (LOL) and the box situation two days before moving day
Other miscellaneous tips for moving:
— We sourced free boxes from friends, our local Buy Nothing group, and the ABC store. The ABC boxes are a little smaller, but they were great for heavier items like books. I also bought a few larger ones from Lowes. (Good to remember – you can return unused boxes to Lowes!) Because you’re at the mercy of others’ timing, I wish I had started claiming boxes earlier on Buy Nothing.
— Several friends told me they had been able to get good-quality free boxes from Chick-fil-a, but I called several of our local restaurants and all seemed confused by my request, ha.
— As we unpacked, I gave away any boxes we didn’t want to keep on Buy Nothing. Much easier than breaking them all down!
— We mowed our lawn one final time just before moving the mower, to hopefully keep the grass at a reasonable level for the new owners.
— I kept a few extra, empty plastic tubs on hand on moving day to corral last-minute items. Highly recommend.
— Several of those tubs were used to pack sleep things. As soon as we got up on moving day, I stripped everyone’s beds and ran all the sheets through the laundry (at the old house). I packed the fresh sheets, blankets, and pillows and all other sleep necessities — white noise machines, Yotos, pajamas, stuffies, John’s sleep mask — in the same tub. That first night at the new house, we put on a movie for the kids and John and I worked together to get everyone’s bed set up: sheets on, pillows fluffed, stuffies in place, white noise machines plugged in. It took the whole 1.5 hours (longer than I thought!) to get it done, but but working together with John that night in our new home is actually a very sweet memory.
Doing the laundry one last time at our old house and the main room after the movers descended
— Since we camped on Friday night, our first official night in the new house was Saturday. Friends from church offered to bring us dinner that night; I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal but it really was! First, to have dinner taken care of, but also to have friends in our home even briefly really made it feel like home. On Sunday night, when things were still disheveled, we ate a premade meal for dinner (locals — from Donovan’s Dish), which was also a great call. By the time Monday rolled around we had groceries in the fridge and though we still kept meals really simple, cooking was more feasible.
— One of the most surprisingly refreshing parts of moving was looking at everything that had hung on our walls with a clear eye. I find it hard enough to commit and actually get something hung; once I do, I basically never switch it out. So, after 12 years, it was a delight to be forced to consider whether we actually still wanted each piece on our walls! It’s been a slow process in the new house, and we still have much to hang, but I’ve enjoyed releasing pieces we no longer want on Buy Nothing.
— In the packing process, we emptied many bins and baskets as we filled boxes. We collected all those containers and kept them in a central place in the new house (a stairwell), which made it easy to “shop” for the container we needed in the new house as we unpacked. Most things did not go back into the same configuration as they had in the old house.
— In general, the new house has necessitated lots of new solutions, and shedding of the old. There was an acute two-month period where I was doing a lot of selling items on Facebook Marketplace or giving them away in our Buy Nothing group while also buying new items for new needs. We still have a ways to go in the new house, but the initial flurry has died down.
Finally, something to prepare yourself for: the things you suspect might be an issue when you’re considering a house might very well be an issue once you’ve signed on the dotted line. For example, the thing I was most worried about in advance of our move was the square footage of the dining room. While well-sized for daily dinners, I worried it would be a tight squeeze when gathering the twelve gals of Articles Club or a family with kids. I was right. We make it work, but just as you’re likely to be disappointed hoping your partner will magically change after a wedding, so it is with a home sale.
On the other hand, you might find there are surprises and delights around every corner. As you know, I felt very conflicted throughout the moving process, and into our first few weeks in our new home. I worried if we were making the wrong decision. I missed our old home and our old neighbors. I was desperate to make changes to make our new home feel like “us.”
Now, six months in, I feel like George Banks on the regular: “I LOVE this house,” I think, as I turn onto our cul-de-sac, windows down, front yard maple coming into view. I love how it looks, I love how it feels, I love all the light, I love the backyard, I love that this is where we get to raise our kids. I hope we’re here for a very long time, and I am so grateful. So if change is hard for you, and moving has you in a tizzy, there is hope.
Alright — what would you add? I’d love to hear. xo
P.S. I originally planned to include new home photos in this post, but it got too long and it felt right to give airtime to these in-process photos, instead! A little tour coming soon.
Short and sweet today! I thought it might be fun to share a little bit of the inspiration for our master bath renovation – which, as of last Friday, is officially underway!
As some of you might remember, we were on the cusp of doing a master bath renovation in our old house until a stalled contractor and then our move changed our plans. I’m so grateful that the timing worked out as it did, both because we saved money we didn’t need to spend at our old house and because we’ve already done a bunch of thinking about bathrooms that’s served us well in our new house. And in a full-circle moment, we’re using the same contractor.
The plan, in short: we are taking out the tub, enclosing the toilet, moving and enlarging the shower, and moving the vanity — plus switching out the tile, adding millwork and wallpaper, and replacing the fixtures. I am excited and grateful. A peek at the before:
Here are a few inspiration photos. None are exactly what we have planned, of course, but they should give you an idea of the direction we’re headed:
While the crew is in our house, we’re also having them add built-ins to our main room. Since this space is so central to the downstairs, I hope this change will really set the tone for the whole floor and make our next steps clearer. It also will give us a mantel (yay stockings!) and of course much more closed and open storage for books (so many books!), games, and toys. Again, I am excited and grateful.
Here’s a rough mock-up of the plan I made with ChatGPT. It’s not quite right, but gives you an idea of what we’re going for!
Will try to share more as we go! Let me know if this was enjoyable — trying to push myself to share shorter posts so I can publish a bit more frequently :)
About a year and a half ago, I shared inspiration for our master bedroom refresh. As often seems to happen with these more private spaces (as opposed to the more public spaces that everyone enjoys), our bedroom wasn’t at the top of the priority list (even though it is very much a hub of family life). We have finally completed what we set out to do, though, and I’d love to share the finished space with you today!
To refresh your memory, here’s where we started:
As we discussed, this room does A LOT. It’s where we sleep, obviously, but it’s also where our kids’ clothing is stored, where they get dressed in the morning, and where they pull on their jams at night. It’s our workout area, where our Peloton and weights live. And on top of all that, it’s John’s office 3-4 days a week. While it’s a good-sized room, again, that’s a LOT.
Here’s the landscape painting that inspired the color scheme. This was my gift to John on our wedding day eleven years ago – it reminded me of the dunes near his family’s cottage in Michigan. It has hung in our room ever since.
And here’s the after!
Ahhhhhh. It turned out even better than I had hoped :) Here’s a little breakdown of what we did:
We painted the walls. Thanks to longtime reader Emma, we went with Benjamin Moore Pale Smoke and I think it is the perfect color for this space – calming and elegant. We hired our handyman to paint and it was 100% worth it, as always.
We bought an actual bed (!!!). Those of you who have been here awhile know this deserves all the exclamation points. I think I started talking about wanting a real bed in 2013, ha! After much debate, we went with the Charlotte bed in Zuma White, which now appears to be called the Tilly bed. We have been so happy with it!
We refreshed our bedding. We kept the same quilt (not replacing that puppy until our kids are out of diapers, ha!), sheets, and big blue pillows, but added the green shams (in sage green) and floral pillow. (For the latter, I went with the 12×24 size and 100% should have gone larger for our king bed. Was trying to save money but wish I hadn’t in this instance :))
We switched out the curtains and hardware. I splurged on these custom curtains in an extra-long length so we could hang them high and I think they make the room. Sometimes I turn the corner and they practically stop me in my tracks, truly! We got blackout lining (rod pocket style) and the quality is excellent. We paired them with this curtain rod – simple and classic.
I have recently been thinking a lot about what a blessing our mortgage is. We’re just past a decade in this house, and in some ways, it seems so crazy that we’re still paying essentially the same amount each month when rent, home prices, and interest rates have soared all around us. It certainly eases the pain of squeezing a bed, home gym, double closet, and office into one room :) Would this multi-purpose room be our choice if money were no object? No. But it is certainly the right fit for right now, and for that we’re grateful.
It’s not too often you invite a bunch of friends over for a tour of your bedroom, but here we are! I hope you enjoyed it, and perhaps leave encouraged that it’s taken us over a decade in this house to get to this point :) Of course, as always, please let me know if you have any questions – I’m happy to help!
Friends, I am so very excited to share a few photos of our kitchen refresh with you today! If you’re new here, be sure to click over to this post first to get the back story, including before photos, inspiration clippings, and a breakdown of the work we had done. Then continue reading for many after photos, sources, and some thoughts on the process and our contractors.
So welcome into our kitchen, friends! I always laugh like this while doing the dishes ;)
Ahhhhhhhh. Doesn’t this view just make you let out a long exhale? It certainly does for me. It’s been five-ish months since work wrapped up on this project, and I still sometimes turn the corner only to be surprised by what I see. It just looks so fresh and lovely, and I pinch myself that this project finally happened, ten years in the making.
This photo sums up most of the major changes we made to our kitchen:
— We replaced the cabinet doors and hardware and replaced the crown molding with a simpler design. — The cabinets were painted Natural Cream by Benjamin Moore. — We added Shaker trim to the side of the dishwasher (what you can see right at the front of the photo above). — We replaced the backsplash with Zellige tile. — We moved the microwave from over the stove and replaced it with a range fan that vents to the exterior and a custom-built wooden hood over the top. — We switched out the light fixtures and stools and added decorative touches like the silhouettes and clock.
And then a reminder of a few things we didn’t change: the layout, the floors, the cabinet boxes, the sink, the faucet, the stove and other appliances, and the counters. Again, more on all that in this post.
By far the most common thing that pops out of people’s mouths when they see our new kitchen is, wow, it looks so much bigger! And I can’t disagree! It’s pretty amazing what some neutral paint and more harmonious fixtures can do for the felt-size of a space. We did also remove the wire rack at the entrance to the kitchen, which made a difference. But by and large, it was removing the visual clutter that has now makes it appear larger than it did before.
On the topic of the paint color: it was stressful to choose something other than white for our cabinets, even up until the first coat of color was sprayed on, but I adore how it turned out – to me, it’s the perfect not-too-yellow, not-too-cool greige. (Our painters even liked it so much they had a cabinet door sample done up to show other clients!) I credit Alaina’s impeccable taste and keeping the paint sample hung up for eight months with my success :)
Also, don’t you think it tones down the redness of our floors (which I don’t love)? I was hoping that would be a happy by-product and I think it is.
Since we’ve turned to face the other direction, let’s talk a little bit about this wall. Big changes over here! Bull Restoration (more on them below) demo’d the existing cabinetry and counter above and to the right of our fridge and built these new cabinets up to the ceiling. I love how it turned out.
Here’s the microwave’s new home! Though we did have to find new homes for a few items in this refresh, most of the items in this space were stored here before – it’s just now closed storage instead of open. I was worried (and John was very worried) it might be annoying to open the doors every time we wanted to use the microwave, but it has been just fine. From top to bottom we’ve stored paper cups and party supplies; teas and Keurig pods; mugs; our Soda Stream, blender, and Keurig; the microwave; toilet paper and tissue boxes; and paper towels.
One of my favorite features is that the height of each shelf is completely customizable, so we were able to size each shelf for its exact contents (and can adjust the height whenever we want!).
Popping over to the other side of the fridge, we have one of my favorite new additions to the kitchen. Our project manager at Bull was NOT convinced that this skinny little cabinet would be usable space, but I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for and it has been SO functional. Before, we stacked our baking sheets/muffin tins/cooling racks in a pile in a cabinet, and it was quite annoying to extricate any one of them. Now, I just slide out the sheet I need and it is glorious. This cabinet also became the new home for serving trays (relocated from the wire rack). Pitchers are stored in the shorter skinny cabinet above.
The backsplash! We chose the Bejmat Zellige tile in Weathered White from Clé Tile. It was a larger expense than simple subway tile, but I decided that it, along with the cabinet hardware, was a splurge that would go a long way toward giving a more custom look overall. I would recommend reading up on Zellige before choosing it for your own space, because it’s an artisan product with plenty of imperfections. But we really love the pearly, handmade finished look.
Okay and the light fixtures. I’m obsessed. These Ferguson light fixtures were one of the last items to be installed, and once they were in (a few weeks after the major work was finished), it was like we placed the final piece of the puzzle. I love how the more modern style of the pendants plays against the more traditional cream, Shaker-style cabinets, and how the gold details complement the gold of the hardware. Obsessed.
Full credit for finding these beauties goes to Kristin Winchester – I saw them in her kitchen and knew my search was over. We have the 13″ size in matte white/heritage brass.
Speaking of cabinet hardware: we chose unlacquered brass pieces from Rejuvenation after literally every single inspiration photo I collected used it. (I am not exaggerating.) Along with the tile, it was one of the other larger splurges, but I’m happy we did it – I think it’s a noticeable upgrade. We went with a combination of 6″ Vernon brass bin pulls, 1 1/4″ Ball cabinet knobs, and Massey 6″, 8″, and 10″ drawer pulls – all in unlacquered brass.
They’re a minor detail, but let’s talk about those silhouettes for a minute. We’ve had several done over the years for the kids, and I love that they’ve found a home here. June’s is from when she was about four, and Shep and Annie’s, about age one. Shep needs an updated one :) We have them done at the NC State Fair by Erik Johnson in the Village of Yesteryear – he’s there every year. He travels around the country the rest of the year, so if you’re interested, you may find him near you! He’s amazing – it takes him less than five minutes to cut each silhouette by hand.
A few thoughts on working with Bull Restoration:
I’ve had several local readers ask who we used to paint our cabinets, so I wanted to share a few thoughts. Bull Restoration replaced our cabinet faces, painted our cabinets and crown molding, and built the cabinets around the fridge.
After striking out with several other options, we got in touch with Bull after a personal referral in our neighborhood. Sean, the owner, came out promptly and gave me a quote standing in my kitchen. He came out several more times over the course of our project to finalize details, which I appreciated, and was our main contact throughout.
Bull does what they do and they do it well. In kitchens, they primarily build and paint cabinets and islands. They are a well-oiled machine, which is great, but it also meant that I had to be VERY clear and VERY on top of the details for anything that went outside of their usual scope. I came armed with pictures and rudimentary sketches, but because they don’t use CAD or other professional drawings, I was a bit stressed over how it would turn out in the end. Had I been clear enough? Had he interpreted everything correctly from our conversations? Communication was largely in person or via text which was also not my preference (I would have preferred email – easier to track conversations and details).
In the end, the result was great. The quality seems to be really good, and the paint finish is impeccable. The experience of having the guys in our house was good, too. They were only on site from Monday-Thursday of one week: about three days of building and taping, and one day of actual spraying and assembling. On Saturday, the punch list guy came and was impressively meticulous with making sure every tiny detail was perfect.
All Kitchen Sources:
Design consultation: Callie of Haven & Hinge (more on how Callie and I worked together in this post. She was so helpful!)
Tile install, hood construction, light fixture install, and other general handyman things:Versatile Edge (we have used Don for many projects over the years and adore him!)
Electrical work: Watford Electrical Contracting (we had to have a microwave circuit installed)
If I’ve missed something you’re curious about, happy to share – just drop a note in the comments!
As we wrap up, I owe a big thank you to Honeysuckle Collective for a few of these photos. You’ll see more of her work in upcoming posts on our bedroom and the rest of our downstairs!
And friends, of course a big thank you to YOU! I hope you enjoyed this peek at a project many, many years in the making. So grateful we were able to complete it and share it here!
