Its hard to believe its been 2 years since we started our search for a home with our awesome realtor, turned friend (You can read about our roller coaster ride here, scroll down to the bottom). We looked at many houses in different areas, price ranges, different ages. Nothing felt right…until I walked into the door and glanced into the room that I’m in now as I type this. It was perfect. It still is perfect for our needs. Like finding a spouse…you just know when its the one. We love it. I seriously look around every day amazed at the home God had placed into our lives despite our long wish-list of needs in a home.

For one, we had a very small budget that made it difficult but this was actually under our goal! It has the open concept I wanted to be able to see my kids where ever I am and run around the house to chase them (or loop around in circles while trying to keep contractions going a year ago!). It has the perfect amount of rooms we needed, including a playroom/office (I guess a guest room would be nice, but we make it work!). It was a newer construction and in excellent condition (no brass fixtures or fixer-uppers for us, please!). The location is idea, with an awesome school down the road and close to highways and shopping. Our neighbors are pretty cool, too. And one of the best things? We don’t have to mow our own yard. Mark and I are not yard working type of people. Since we technically live in a town home (yet amazingly share no walls with neighbors!) HOA handles the yard maintenance. God knew what we needed and absolutely blessed us with this home exactly when we needed it…coincidentally we found it the same time that I should of had the twins I miscarried in December 2009. We honestly could in vision us staying here forever, living a simple life. When we have more kids they can bunk beds, right? :-)

Here’s our house when we found it 2 years ago. Now it has a swing and a million pink-and-purple toys all over the porch! And it has blinds, definitely love having blinds. Thank you God for our warm home!

I know I’ve promised this posts for weeks now, but trust me, it’s worth the wait because I’ve got even more to show you now :-) I have done little projects to keep me occupied and customize Jaxson’s room in ways I didn’t get to do with Savannah, and I’m loving the results!

First off though, I have to give some credit to my husband. See, my Mom let us have her old childhood furniture (and mine) to use for Jaxson but it really needed some lovin’ before it entered his room.  The stain/paint was chipping off, the hardware was falling off and scratching the wood, etc. Plus it just looked…outdated…and needed a new look. I originally was going to re-do it myself because I am the more handy person of this O Couple, but one weekend while I was visiting family he surprised me by taking on the task of sanding and refinishing one of the dressers. He even picked out cool modern handles! This picture doesn’t do it justice (it’s darker, less red, in person), mostly because this is me trying to take a picture from across the room, in the corner, with my  back pressed to the wall (Dear Santa: I need a different camera lens for these kind of things!).

Then, a few weeks later I added this mobile over the changing area. I bought this decoration at Hobby Lobby for my baby shower with the thought I could reuse it as a decoration in his room, too.  However, it originally had a toile pattern on some of the dots so I bought a inch and half hole punch (scrapbooking section!) and punched out orange scrapbooking paper to tape on using scrapbooking picture tape squares. Super easy, but so time consuming. It took hours to complete, but I love doing that kind of stuff. However, it does need to be shortened because it would be in the way of Mark’s head when changing diapers or baby clothes.

Lastly, because of the sanding done earlier, the inside of the of the drawers had some powdery-orange-red old stain that I couldn’t get to wipe away and thus it was getting onto Jaxson’s sweet newborn clothes.  I decided to line his drawers so that it would resolve the issue and remembered this easy DIY project one of my favorite blogs did a few months ago (tutorial here). I already had the Mod Podge and foam brush so I went in search for the perfect paper to use. I wanted to use wrapping paper as Young House Love did but I could not find anything cool enough, so I decided to find cool scrapbooking paper instead. For these drawers, I used 3 full scrapbooking papers to cover it (the VERY back has about an half and inch it doesn’t cover but who will ever see that?)

The fun colors and patterns make me happy to open his drawers, it is a shame I have to cover these with clothes and diapers, huh?

And that concludes our tour of the diaper changing area all completed :-) Still left to do: hang art work, find another pair of white tabbed curtains for his other window, and stain more furniture (ah hem, Mark). And even if those don’t get done, we’re pretty much set for his arrival. Tomorrow (October 5th) marks my due date one month away, whoa!

Soap and water? For what? Getting clean?

Nope. Getting rid of ants!

We woke up yesterday to a small ant infestation in our kitchen. This week apparently kept me busy and I didn’t get around to sweeping up those crumbs or getting the dirty dishes put in the dishwasher and they found them.  They also found our dishwasher. Hundreds of them. And to make them worse, they were the biting kind that sting and itch like crazy. Let me just say, they were not welcome in our house. I immediately swept and mopped the floors, hoping to get up any crumbs and food stuck off the floor while Mark was busy squashing and spraying whatever he could get his hands on (what a way to spend Saturday morning, right?).  And that worked…for a little bit. Until we came home and saw even more.  We kept pounding our fist and trying to drown them but a new batch would come right out. Finally out of desperation and not wanting to go to the store to buy chemicals, I searched the internet for natural ways to kill ants.

And it worked.  Who knew something so simple as a few squirts of dishsoap and hot water in a spray bottle would be so effective? They seriously die instantly. Bam. I think it’s the bubbles that trap them or maybe something in the soap that doesn’t agree with them.  Who knows, but it works. And, I’m not afraid to be using it myself since I’m pregnant and even Savannah gets a kick out of spraying them as pay back for all the times they bit her toes outside. We sprayed it in the cracks we knew they were coming from and only a few have ventured out since our attack…and those few were quickly dead whenever we walked by.

Muhahaha! Take that ants.

Today…was a very big and fun day in so many ways.

1) I went to the giant Ikea store for the first time. Oh. my. gosh. Designer heaven. Did I ever mention I used to want to study to be an interior designer?  I wouldn’t want to be responsible for some one else’s house now, but I so enjoy decorating our house! There were so many ideas popping in my head, I almost wish I had more rooms left to decorate. Almost. And what’s even more amazing than the various products and styles is the prices. See, Mark gave me a “budget” of only $20 (go ahead and laugh, we did too) and I went $12 over. I came out with:

-3 round area rugs to make polka dots on the floor I paid $4.50 each (technically they are bath rugs, but they don’t look like it to me!)

-A taller step stool for Savannah $5.99 (Now that she is potty trained, she obviously needs to wash her hands more and it has been frustrating for her to not be able to reach with the typical stools places like Target have),

-A throw pillow that matches the new paint color for $1 (looks great in my glider!)

-Blue/fallish napkins for my baby shower $2.50

-And get this…a $5 twin duvet cover (better picture of fabric is below). FIVE DOLLARS!

Grand total: $32. Can we say score?

2) I actually spent time with other ladies my age. It’s not often I get kid-free social time. Fantastic day.

3)  Jaxson’s room is quickly starting to look like a nursery! Today we not only got paint on the walls (thanks uncle!), but the crib, bedding, etc. and added the new Ikea finds to finish it off for now.

See?

It’s a light tealish blue that matches the crib sheet. Of course, there is still much to do, mainly involving a huge project of refinishing old furniture (two dressers, a night stand, and a head/foot board). Also, I  need to figure out what and where to put things on the walls. Oh, and curtains. And…lots of washing and organizing once I have a dresser finished. Still, it’s a good start for one day, huh?

Now, who’s excited for November when there is a cute baby boy along with all the cute stuff?! That would be me…

…and why I’m up until 1am writing about it.

Well, we’re finally here!

Welcome to our home:

We still have a ton of pictures and curtains to hang, but we’re here and we’ve gotten a lot done in just 5 days.  The rooms not shown are no where near as done. Our kitchen chairs are still not finished being painted white, we have a stroller in the kitchen (why?), I just was able to clear out the boxes in the play room/office a few hours ago, and Savannah’s room is a mess with a million stuffed animals, and every room is in desperate need of things on the walls.  But, it’s looking so good and we’re loving having our own space! After 5 days it’s starting to feel less like a hotel I designed and more like our home.

And, I have to brag on Savannah for a moment: She has done amazing with so many changes this week. Not just moving from the only house she’s ever known, but also moving out of her crib into a big bed AND saying goodbye to passy. All in one night!  I truly thought that giving up the passy would be the hardest, but she easily has forgotten about it without a single tear and has not asked for it since we told her the passy doesn’t come with her to the big girl room.  The only issues we’ve had is getting her to sleep the first few nights, understandably since it’s a whole new place AND bed. And then, she would wake up around 3am and be wide awake for 2 hours before finally giving into to sleep again (oh, the sleep deprived frustrations!).  I still think that’s minor to what it could have been, and thankfully each night has improved as she is getting even more comfortable. I can’t believe how grown up she seems in just the last few days, her third birthday is just 11 days away. Crazy!

And now, back to hanging and unboxing things…

Paint? check.

Blinds? check.

Curtains? check.

Shower Curtain rods? check.

Washer and Dryer? check.

Uhaul truck? check.

Guess what we’re doing this weekend? MOVING! All we need is some furniture and food and our then house is finally our home.

It’s amazing what some paint, blinds, and curtains can do to a house making it feel more cozy. I’m excited to see it all come together with our things instead of just pieces here and there.  I’m excited for it to look like a home, not just an empty house. And not just any home, but our home.  But, I can say I’m overwhelmed thinking about all the tasks I will be taking on to manage our new home (paying more bills, doing all the grocery shopping, cooking every night after a long day of classes, etc.). Living with the in laws the past 3 years has allowed me to just do a little bit of these things as they come up, now it will be my job all the time.  I feel the stress already.  I’m hoping to start out organized both with time and physical clutter so that I can maintain it, like with menu planning for example. Any tips?

Anyways, I”ll post pictures once we get some furniture in/arranged and you can tell which room is what. Happy weekend, folks. We’ve got a busy one ahead!

I love chocolate milk.

Especially on my living room walls.

As I said yesterday, this house buying thing is a roller coaster.  However, I’ve heard of much worse situations and I’m grateful that ours has gone relatively smoothly over all.  The waiting just stinks right now.

So, while I wait, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned while on this crazy ride:

1) Find an amazing Realtor. I contacted several Realtors online before I found the one for us. The others just sent me quick little emails saying how excited they were for my decision to purchase a home and sent me a link to start house hunting. But wait, we weren’t ready to buy a house yet! At that point we were only wanting to wet our feet and prepare for a purchase months down the road. It was more about educating ourselves versus jumping into a new home asap. It felt very impersonal and like they just wanted a quick sale to up their commission (tip to Realtors, that’s not a good strategy).

Thankfully, I stumbled upon our chosen Realtor accidentally on my local Mommy board (yet another reason I love it!) when she replied to a question I posted. I truly think our Realtor was a god-send for us, we just clicked from the moment we started emailing and from the beginning she was willing to answer questions thoroughly, get to know us as a couple, and help educate us on the process before diving in. (If you live in NC/SC and need a fantastic Realtor, email me!).

How do you find an amazing Realtor?  Word of mouth. Ask your friends who they used and why they liked them.  Ask on local mommy boards, ask on citydata.com, etc. And make sure you talk with several Realtors before deciding, you’ll know when you’ve found a “match.”

2) Research. Research. Research. I cannot tell you how important it is to research the areas you are looking at to live in.  Research the schools, even if you don’t plan to have kids any time soon because of resale value. Research the crime rates and pedophiles. Research the cost of living in the area, like taxes.

We were thisclose to putting in an offer on a townhouse that was an amazing deal…until I decided to pull up the crime reports. Yikes. We instantly knew this was not the place for us and knew to rule out this entire area in the future, making it easier to pick where we wanted to focus our search on.  Research helps you zoom in your focus.  Like I said, I asked around on citydata.com and my local mommy boards, but also looked at the county/state crime records that are available online. And of course, our Realtor had some information as well.

3) Educate yourself. There is SO much to know about buying a home.  There are lots of terms related to the banking world that are important to know and understand before signing anything.  Our Realtor was amazing at helping us understand what we needed to know, and still, I learn something new everyday about this process.  We had to take this quick online course for our loan and I wish we had seen this in the beginning. It’s a great over view of options and important things to know. http://www.freddiemac.com/hrc/

4) Keep an open mind. You hear it all the time, you can’t everything you want, and first home buyers tend to think they can.  There’s got to be compromise some where, whether it’s in the location, the price, the size of the bedrooms, a gas fire place, granite counter tops, etc. Something has to give.  Setting priorities is a must. For us, location and price was at the top. We wanted great schools, safe location, and close to Mark’s commute and thankfully we found the perfect place for us that fit those basic needs.

Also, if your Realtor suggests an area or a house that you hadn’t thought about before or don’t think you’ll like, test it out anyway. In the area we chose, we never even considered it and it turned out to be our dream spot.  Keep an open mind to their suggestions, they may have something great to show you that’s outside your imagined box.

5) The Cost is More Than Your Monthly Mortgage. Our initial budget was a small one because from the start we wanted to have room for the extras in life, like traveling and going out on date nights, buying me a new car, and having another baby. But for a a brief stint, we explored what a higher budget could get it. Yes, it was appealing to add in a bonus room, a garage, and a bigger kitchen. But when we crunched the numbers? It just caused stressed.  Technically we could have afforded it and were approved even higher, but when we included the cost of utilities and HOA fees, it pushed us into an uncomfortable range. Ask lenders for Good Faith Estimates to help you decide what you are paying monthly and include utilities/all expenses on top. Also, think about what you need for a house, like a washer and dryer, furniture and blinds (even small things like curtains add up FAST). And of course, the closing cost fees. Even if you have 100% financing, there are some costs that need covered. Make sure you’re prepared for that.

6) Have Patience. In our small budget, demand of a great location, and still having enough room for our family, it could be discouraging at times to go into home after home and realizing we weren’t comfortable paying the price or just didn’t love the house.  Persistence and patience to keep trying were important. Thankfully, we were/are in a place we don’t have to move out quickly so taking our time to find our perfect home (and now, to move in!) wasn’t rushing us.

The same goes for after you’ve found your home.  It’s nerve wracking and it takes patience at times because no road to a house is completely paved smooth from what I hear.

7) It’s a Roller Coaster. It has many highs and many lows.  From trying to find your house, to waiting to hear back from the seller about your offer, to getting the financing together, to hearing the results of the inspection, to waiting for the closing.  Expect things to come up and hang on to your seat. It’s a fun ride, that’s for sure, but some times things can be intense!

We still haven’t gotten the keys to our new house.

We were set to close this past Tuesday but several last minute things came up that delayed us into this coming week.  My heart was set on last Tuesday. I was so ready to start loading boxes and organizing to the point that I didn’t sleep well at night because I had visions of kitchen dishes, room layouts, and shower curtains dancing in my head. Things had gone very smoothly from the time we found our house up until the day of closing, so I wasn’t emotionally prepared to have to put off my super house planning agenda.  But, Tuesday came and we got that dreaded call.  Wednesday we got another dreaded call, as well as Thursday and Friday.  At first I was angry, sad, and frustrated but now I’m numb to it. We literally rode an emotional roller coaster this week, with super highs thinking that “YES! We’re almost there!” to “No, not again…” several times. I’ve had to force myself not to expect certain things for fear of let down again. Our next goal to close is this coming Tuesday, but with the way things have gone this past week, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even later.  If it’s not one thing on the paperwork side, it’s another thing with our own weekly schedule.  Will this ever happen?

It’s also lost it’s excitement. I’m hoping when we DO finally get to step foot in that office, sign our life away, and finally get those beloved keys the excitement will be back.

Me last week: WOO! We’re moving! (!!!!!!) Me this week: Oh, we’re maybe finally moving? Great…

Here’s to hoping that we’ll be official homeowners sooner rather than later. Until then, I’m holding onto my seat.

Remember my cry for help on what to do with this table and chairs? Let me remind you:

It’s not a great overall shot of the chairs, but I’m sure everyone here has seen these before. They’re county looking, not really my style.  And while I would love to splurge on some new chairs that are my style, with the new house and the many (many) purchases we’ve had to make to be able to live in our house (like, shower rods, blinds, the every day things add up to be a lot!) it’s just not possible right now.  So I was determined to make this bargain steal for $50 work for me to tolerate it.

After some thinking about what was do-able at my skill level, what would cost too much and wasn’t worth spending on (I contemplated adding cushions but the cost of fabric and batting wasn’t worth it once I added up the costs), this is what I’ve created:

I had my father in law cut off the pointy tops and simply painted (and painted…and painted…) for the last 2 days while enjoying our spring-like weather. Yes, it’s still country looking, but it’s more classy as well. Crisp and clean.  I love it! The table is being painted white as well, still working on it.  Also haven’t even started on 2 of the chairs. But, at least it’s progress…

It’s amazing what a coat of paint can do.