Tuesday, August 1, 2017

We Bought a House

We got the keys to our new house on June 15th, a Thursday. I spent the next several days painting. Lots and lots of painting. I did not realize how long it takes to paint! Seriously. There were a few nights that I was here painting until 1:00 in the morning, trying to get it done before moving day. We had planned on moving our beds and essential items on that Saturday, but we weren't even close to being ready, so we postponed and just waited for the movers to come the following Tuesday. We originally planned on hiring movers to move just our big heavy furniture items, but they ended up moving all the furniture and everything else we had packed and ready for them.

Moving day.

The day we got the keys, MIL came down and helped tape the dining room and living room area. Prepping for all the painting we needed to do was a huge project all by itself. I took the kids home for dinner, and then once Tony got home from work, I headed back over to our new house to start actually painting. I managed to finish Ayden's room that night, but was there until past 1:00am. His room was easy. Rylee's room on the other hand, most definitely was not!

Her room was ridiculously challenging. Taping all the windows and doors took a million hours alone, not to mention the actual time it took to paint the room. She has two windows, two doors, AND a closet! She also has a really cool wallIt took me Friday night, most of Saturday, and then all day Sunday to finish her room. I was so excited when I was done. Not only was I happy and relieved to finally be done, but I absolutely loved how it turned out! That excitement quickly turned into frustration when I started pulling the tape and the paint peeled off with it!!!! Oh. My. Gah. Pulling tape became a painfully slow process in an attempt to keep the paint from peeling off. This didn't just happen in one spot, but all over the damn room! So then I had to go back and touch up everything. EVERYTHING! This girl better like pink for a very long time, because her room will never be painted ever again.

Before I painted, the main color throughout the room was grey and this wall was bright orange and green. 

Tony did the majority of the painting in the dining room area and living room on Saturday and then again on Monday. We HAD to get the dining area done before the movers came that Tuesday, because our big China hutch was going to be covering one of the walls. He did most of it, but I did all the touch up work, which ended up being a big pain, because once again, the tape peeled off the paint from the walls! I have no idea why Ayden's room was so easy, but every other spot in the house we've painted so far has had this problem. Actually, we really only got 3/4 of the living room painted. We still need to paint the rest.


Our tiny dining room area.
We lightened up the room with the cream color on the left. You can see where we stopped and need to pick up to finish the rest.
Once the movers got everything delivered to our new house, we immediately started getting ready for our garage sale. We had some big items to get rid of that wouldn't fit in the new place, and I was ready to get rid of a lot of collectables that I'd accumulated over the years, as well as the typical junk you'd find at a garage sale. I thought it would be a perfect time to have our garage sale. The garage was 100% empty except for all the stuff we wanted to get rid of, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to sell it rather than packing it up and taking to the new house to deal with later.

This meant, not only were we trying to settle into the new house, but we also had a ton of stuff to do for the garage sale. On top of that, we had to finish packing all the last little stuff left behind and needed to clean the old house and be out by the end of the month. Oh, and did I mention that we also had to keep two three year olds entertained during all of this? What a crazy, exhausting couple of weeks it all was.

Thankfully, I have the most amazing Aunt that comes to my rescue when needed! Aunt D came on Monday, the day before the movers were scheduled, and stayed till the following Tuesday (she lives 3+ hours away). She Was A Life Saver. Seriously. She worked her tail off! We took turns between staying at the new house with the kids trying to unpack, and being at the old house either doing garage sale stuff or packing/cleaning. Once the sale was over, my Aunt D was on a mission to get that house 100% cleaned out before she left. She did the majority of the cleaning and I cannot even remotely express how grateful I was for her help. During all of this, Tony did take a couple days off work, but mostly it was always one of us staying with the kids doing bedtime and the other one at the other house getting stuff done.

We didn't even officially own the house yet during all of this! We had to rent the new house for a few weeks until the sale went through. We actually were able to sign the papers and close earlier than anticipated, before the end of the month. We are home owners again! It only took us four moves to finally get here, but hopefully we'll be staying for awhile.


Our house.

People ask if we are settled in yet. The answer is a firm NO. There's still lots of painting that needs to be done. Lots of unpacking and hanging pictures on the walls. We are slowly getting things done, but we are very limited with a busy summer that's packed every weekend and it being near impossible to get anything done with the kids around. I'm looking forward to when the kids start preschool in the fall and being able to take advantage of those three free hours every day to do adult stuff!




23 comments:

  1. Use a razor blade to score the tape before or as you you peal it off. Such a cute house!

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    1. I did start doing that, and it did help for sure, but there was still quite a few pesky spots! It was so annoying.

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    2. I do appreciate your suggestion though, and welcome any others! Thank you!

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    3. So annoying! Keep at it and soon your house will be a home!

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  2. Love the house so cute!!! We briefly looked at buying another home and my thoughts immediately went to 'what on earth am I going to do with Bowen during all the moving???'. It didn't end up working out which was A-OK with me!! haha

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    1. Moving with little ones is definitely a challenge! They definitely can't be around while painting, and they want to be involved in EVERYTHING during the actual moving process. Haha!

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  3. Did you pull the tape while paint was still wet?

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    1. I tried when it was wet, and I also tried after it was dried a few days later. The paint peeled in both scenarios. Google has conflicting opinions about this. Some say, pull it when it's wet, and some say pull it after the paint has a chance to cure. Ugh.

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  4. Oh man this sounds stressful, partially because we are going through something similar! I love the new house though! All of your hard is going to be worth it...until then you just have to muddle through. I would figure out your priorities for what needs to get done now and what can wait until the kids go back to school. :-)

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    1. We've got most of the priority things finished. Now just need to finish painting and unpacking the rest!

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  5. I'm sitting here reading your blog which you know that I love doing even when I already know the story and love seeing the pictures (can I say again, HOW CUTE ARE THOSE TWO LITTLE PEOPLE)!! Even when I'm there watching the picture being taken, still so cool to see it again!!! LOVE THEM!!! Anyway, thank you for your kind words and so grateful to be able to help and then to come down here and see Tigerlilycat (love the name and the kitty) "loves Aunt D"!!! THANK YOU!!! You are all very kind! Would do anything I can to help this family out! They are pretty special!!! Anxiously waiting to hear when I can come back up to help with the settling in!! By the way, you've come a long way as the dining room picture looks great, so clean and organized!!! Needs pictures hung though, huh?!!!!:) Soon!!!:) Lots of love and hugs always, Auntie!!! AND CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!!!!

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    1. PS: Rylee's room is perfection!!! Picture does not do all the work justice!!!

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    2. Well deserved praise for you! Now, if only I can find a rug for Rylee's room. I bought one, but it clashes horribly so need to take it back and continue my search.

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  6. I don't know how you do it all! You are amazing. Your house is adorable and I hope you make lots of sweet memories there. (And get a break from moving for a bit)

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    1. You are generous with your praise, as you haven't been here during my own adult meltdowns. lol!!! Thank you so much, though!

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  7. your house looks great! I love the painting in Rylee's room!

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    1. Her room is my favorite! As much as it was a pain in the ass, I do love how it turned out!

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  8. Try the green Frog tape and see if it works better.

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    1. I have used the green Frog tape before, at the house we owned a few years back, and I didn't really notice a difference. However, it is definitely worth trying again!

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  9. Congrats! I love the accent wall even if it was a lot of work. Moving is a huge ordeal, and I have never done it with the kiddos in tow. All in time :)

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