Well, our first "official" night in the new house was Saturday (after having the children fall asleep on the sofa Friday night followed by rain coming down so hard that we ended up staying there that night), and boy was it one for the record books. Justin and I put the kids to bed and immediately started working as quickly as possible on our long list of to-dos. By 1 a.m, we had barely made a dent, and 2 a.m was not much better, but by 3 a.m. we had set up the washer and dryer and we were both feeling pretty good about ourselves. At 3:30, I headed to the bathroom to wash my face for bed, and I stepped into a lake in our kitchen. Justin very quickly traced it back to the washing machine, which was running a cycle and was draining itself onto our floor. Within minutes, we had moved it out of the way and mopped up the incredible mess with every towel and piece of dirty laundry we had on hand. Thankfully, we worked quickly enough that our floors were spared damage, but it was still a stressful mess that we weren't able to resolve until after 4 a.m..

 Tonight we will be trying to hook it up again, so wish us luck! We bought a new hose for the washing machine, so that will hopefully resolve the issue. The washer was a used Craigslist find, and the hose that came with it was too big, which caused the flooding.

 The only room we have completely done so far is Logan's room. It still needs a few finishing touches (and his clothes and books need to be put away) but it's a functional space now.

The rest of the house, however, is still far from functional. The living room looks worse now than in this photo, if you can believe it! Thankfully, we've got our blinds up in all of the rooms now, and the alarm system has been installed. So if we live in chaos at the moment, it's at least private and secure.

Closing & Moving!

I apologize for the delay in updating.. it's been a very busy past two days! Friday morning our certificate of occupancy was issued and we were able to make it to the closing table for #44. We expect work on #42's foundation to begin Monday, with the follow-up inspection happening Wednesday and closing on Friday. But for now, we are officially homeowners (again!). 

On Friday, as soon as we left the closing, we started packing up our vehicles and bringing loads of stuff over. There's plenty still to bring or put in storage. Some of what we already brought will end up in storage as well. My thought was, if I bring everything I think I might want to use to decorate our space I'll have plenty to choose from and the rest can be repacked for down the road, or donated. 

 On Friday the space was looking a little bare, with not much having been brought over. We didn't have any of the furniture over until later that day, and we had to move it in the rain.

Tonight you can see we have a lot more stuff in the space! Once everything is unpacked and put away, it will look much better in here. 

This piece was such a lucky Target find! We needed something exactly a certain depth and width to stand in as a laundry closet in our bathroom, since there otherwise wouldn't be any storage for towels and sheets other than our bedroom closet. This cabinet fits like it was designed for the space and it's able to hold everything we need it to. The fact that it's glass on three sides helps it to not take up as much visual space, and allows my pretty towels and quilts to be enjoyed even when not in use. 

Nothing makes a place feel like home as much as treasures like this. Logan's artwork, his hand print, and Emma's tiny footprints from before she started treatment for her clubfoot. 

Oh man... there's still so much to do and only one day left in the weekend! To say I'm overwhelmed would be an understatement. Tomorrow we've got to finish emptying out the rental house we've been staying in (if at all possible), and work on unpacking and settling in here. I'm hoping we will be able to get our blinds up on the windows tonight (yay privacy!), and put together our freestanding pantry since this house doesn't have one. Tomorrow we are also planning to buy a fridge, and that will be amazing. You have no idea how much you can miss a good cup of yogurt or a cold drink with ice in it until you lose the ability to have either. Once we have our fridge, we will be much more comfortable, and this mama will be much happier.
 And when mama is happy, everybody's happy.

12 Hours

Well, today was certainly a mix of highs and lows.

We had our follow-up walkthrough on #44 (our house) and the initial walkthrough on #42 (our rental house). The structural engineer also came by to inspect the foundation on #42, as the home inspection report brought up some concerns.

The certificate of occupancy was also supposed to be issued today (well... actually it was supposed to be issued Tuesday, then Wednesday, but they weren't done) and again today it was not issued. The reason is that two smoke alarms were supposed to be installed, but only one had been, and the stove was not anchored to the wall. The second smoke alarm was actually being wired in today, it just wasn't done when the city inspector came by so it didn't count. 

The good news about the certificate of occupancy is that it is supposed to be issued tomorrow morning around 9am. That is very good news, since we close at 10am! It will certainly be cutting it close, which has us nail-biting a little. We also don't plan to sign anything or hand over any money without that certificate of occupancy, because then we would own a lovely little house we couldn't legally live in. So fingers are crossed that the city inspector shows up as planned and gives us the all-clear!
The tile and floors are finally completely done in both houses, and we were able to get a really good look at them today. I am absolutely in love with this tile, and the gray grout. I think it looks awesome!

The kitchens of both houses are now done. We've ordered simple hardware for the cabinets in #44, and will be doing the same for #42 once we have a closing date and know all is well.

The biggest news of the day was the visit from the structural engineer. That gentleman certainly earned his fee! He was under #42 for ages, in temperatures hovering in the mid-90's (and wearing nice business attire!). He came out as soaked in sweat as if he'd taken a shower in it, and completely covered head to toe in dirt. He was also extremely thorough, and for that we were grateful. There was good news and bad news about the findings. The good news is that it is fixable. The bad news is that the uneven, sinking floors of #42 weren't a harmless quirk of a home built on an older foundation, as the contractor had told us, but were actually because there were no supports underneath much of the center of the home, as well as several downright dangerous supports. One of the 4"x4" supports was balanced on 1/2 of a broken brick, another one was literally balanced on 3 small rocks that were stacked on top of each other. I've never seen anything like it in my life! The fact that the structural engineer referred to it as a "hot mess" under there should tell you all you need to know.
Thankfully, the head contractor today was a man who seems to genuinely care about having things done right, and done well. He was brought onto the project after the foundation work (or lack thereof) had been done, and he was told everything needing repair had been completed. He hadn't been able to fit into the tiny crawl space himself to confirm it, and was just going with what he was told. Without hesitation though, he said they would jack up the house, pour new footers and add new supports, and then pay for the engineer to come back out and recheck the work. That was a huge relief. We would have fought for all of that regardless, but having it volunteered immediately was one less worry for us. He also has a really cute, super sweet dog who is a very good girl.

Our wait, at least on one house, is nearly over. In just 12 hours we will be signing the papers... barring something unforeseen like the city inspector calling in sick or not issuing the certificate of occupancy for some reason. Once that's done, it'll be a very hot and sweaty weekend of moving in the July heat. Wish us luck!

Inspection Day, or: Overpromising and Underdelivering

Well, today was supposed to be our inspection on both houses, but unfortunately ended up only being an inspection on the one we will be living in. The contractor overpromised and under delivered, basically. They'd been swearing all week that both houses would be done by Monday, cleaned and with certificates of occupancy issued Tuesday, and inspections completed Wednesday, with our closing on Friday because they would be working through the weekend. They did not work at all during the weekend, and today neither house was done. The one we will be living in was done enough to complete the inspection, thankfully, but the inspector will have to be paid to come out a second time and check the other house once it's done because there were no appliances and the plumbing was not complete! On the list of frustrations, that definitely ranks on up there.
We were able to do the walk through today on the one we will be living in, and I noted all the things I wanted fixed or touched up before closing. Tomorrow I'll be doing the same thing for the rental unit, as long as it's done (they are swearing it will be done tomorrow... we will see). We are also having to pay a structural engineer to come out and take a look at the supports in the crawl space on the rental. The inspector found a few things that looked potentially concerning, so we thought it would be best to have them checked out. Needless to say, we will not be able to close on the rental Friday. We will just close on the other, start moving in, and close on the rental once it is complete and has been re-inspected and cleared.
I didn't take any photos today, because all my focus was on the minutiae of the houses.
Instead, here are some photos of my daughter playing outside this evening. In the midst of stressful situations, seeing her walking really helps calm me. Emma was born with a clubfoot (which I'll talk about more some other time) and it's been a very hard path for her to get to this point. Every step she takes feels like a miracle to us. When other things aren't going according to plan, at least she is right on track.

One Week

We've got one week from today until we sign our mortgages and get the keys to our "tiny twins"! Yesterday our realtor took us by the houses to check the progress. They've removed the gravel from the driveway and were leveling the dirt out in preparation for the crushed asphalt to be laid. The driveway apron has also been laid, which will keep our driveway material from migrating into the street. 

 The flooring is completely in now in our house, and they were working on laying it in the rental unit yesterday. Tile is next for both units. I love how the flooring looks with the wall color!

The next week is going to fly by. There's still so much to do around here before the move. They're saying everything should be done by Tuesday, and we're having the inspections on Wednesday. It will be incredible to see the houses move-in ready. 

Logan's room is ready for him! 

This is the gorgeous view out of our bedroom window. I love these old pecan trees!

One last look at our lovely vintage hexagon tile before it goes in! 

A Busy Weekend

This weekend was jam packed! We've got so little time left until we move in, and so much still left to do, so we're trying to accomplish as much as we can each day. First on our agenda was to replace some of our larger furniture (which we have been selling off all week) with more compact versions. We've already found a more compact sofa, a coffee table with hidden storage, and several other pieces are on their way from Wayfair. We still needed a smaller bed for Logan to replace his loft bed with stairs, a narrower but slightly taller dresser for our bedroom, a mirrored medicine cabinet, a large mirror to hang on the bedroom wall, and a few other things.
For compact furniture on a budget, it's hard to beat IKEA, so off we went to the home of flat-pack Swedish furnishings for the second weekend in a row.

Justin with our haul. 

As soon as we hit the interstate, rain hit us. Being a lovely sunny day, we hadn't thought to pack a tarp and our boxes were soaked. Flat-pack furniture sitting in wet boxes for the next week and a half sounded like a recipe for disaster, so Justin and I stayed up half the night putting together a Hemnes dresser, a twin bed for Logan, and a mirrored medicine cabinet. I can conservatively estimate that we put this dresser together twice, with all the parts we had to take apart and re-do. It was an adventure, to be sure!

Today I ran the medicine cabinet by the new house to have it installed, and I got to check out the progress. It's coming together quickly now!

This is the inside of our bedroom.

If you look closely in this last photo you can see our tile selection in the back! I love the vintage style hexagons. They remind me of my Mema's house when I was a child.
This flooring should be going in soon, and the clock is ticking down to moving day! I'll be headed back over on Thursday to check on the progress. Hopefully my new medicine cabinet will be up by then and I can share a photo, since I forgot to take one when I dropped it off today.

Two Weeks

Just two weeks from today we will be signing the mortgages for our two new houses. It's such an exciting feeling!

This is the house we will be living in.

This morning I went over to the property to see the progress since last week, as well as take measurements of every room. This is, of course, to help us decide what to keep, what to sell or donate, what to put in our storage unit, and what to bring along with us. It's been nice to sort of strip away some of the useless clutter and try to refine our lives down to the essentials.
Take for example, my clothing. I can't tell you how many pieces of clothing I owned a month ago, but it was outrageous. I've been paring down to a smaller capsule wardrobe, having been inspired by Caroline over at at Unfancy, and right now my core wardrobe consists of around 30 pieces, including shoes and handbags. I've got a few holes still to fill in (denim vest, striped shirt, black tee dress...) but my final count should come in at under 40 pieces. I will of course have a couple sets of pajamas, lounge/relaxation clothes, workout gear, a single swimsuit, and underwear (duh) that are not part of that count, but those items have also been pared down to only the essentials. Off-season clothing I plan to keep will be in storage and swapped out as the seasons change.
So far, our local thrift store has been the recipient of a half dozen huge bags of my clothing, and I've listed over 100 pieces on my Poshmark, with about 100 more to go.

Look at this ridiculousness. The stuff in the box is already on Poshmark and will be kept in our storage unit, the stuff in the chair is waiting to be listed. 

 So now, without further ado, current progress photos...

This is the unit we will be renting out.

This is the inside of the rental. Flooring in both units should be going in soon, as well as kitchen cabinets (this photo taken looking at the future kitchen area into the dining/living area). 

Our future home!

The kitchen area of our home. The walls in both houses are painted Agreeable Gray.

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." -” ― Michael Altshuler

660 Square Feet

In our lives so far, Justin and I both agree, the best things have always been spur of the moment. We don't overthink things too much, we just tend to go with our gut as a couple and dive in head first and holding hands.
And so it was when Justin came to me about a month ago and said, "Honey, I found these houses. They were just listed, they're in the school zone we want, and we could buy both". Since the housing market here is a bloodbath, I was very intrigued and immediately took a look. They were tiny. Really tiny. But they were also cute, and I could see potential. Having just read The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines, I remembered how they had discussed living in very small homes with their children, and I thought... we could do this. Fast forward a few days, and we were under contract on both.

Our plan is to live in one, rent out the other, and give ourselves the financial freedom away from an oversized mortgage to live comfortably and invest in our future. 

This week the interiors are being painted, and flooring and tile is going in. We have a closing date set for July 28th. Justin and I have just begun packing, and we're both full of butterflies. We have to move in as quickly as possible, too, because Logan starts kindergarten on the 4th! 

So wish us luck. We'll need lots of it. 

Plus coffee. 

And maybe wine.  

Definitely wine.