One Week In

 

Welcome to our new home! 

      

We have been working so hard on the house, we've added curtains to all the windows and frosted the bathroom windows for privacy. All of our furniture is in and I've started decorating slowly. I love that the white walls let the art and decor shine. We are still waiting for our fence (pickets delayed due to COVID), and our blinds, our pergola just arrived and I cant wait to get it set up so we can sit out and enjoy these warm summer nights before they're over. Stay tuned for more updates coming soon.

---Jackie 

New House First Walk Through

Ready to see the new house? We are so ready to show you! This baby was a labor of love that took 4 months to build. It was the longest four months ever but it came together beautifully. 

The Exterior: We plan to add wood corbels in the roof peaks, carriage hardware on the garage doors (might paint the doors to match the trim eventually too), shutters and a wood window box to that front window and finally, landscape.

The Entryway: I will eventually add wainscoting but for now I just want to add a mirror and console table, rug and new lighting. We will be changing all the hardware to black down the line too. 

The Kitchen, Dining and Living: Again, new lighting and hardware and blinds and curtains. Down the line we want to build a floor to ceiling fireplace in the living room but otherwise, this room will be changed the most with furniture and accessories. 

The Laundry Room: I want to add a wood shelf above the washer/dryer and maybe some trim on the walls. Keeping it simple. 

The Master Bedroom: I fell in love with the high ceilings in this room and would someday love to have a huge wood beam in the peak. I'm thinking of maybe painting this room a grey/sage color and adding some trim or wainscoting to the walls. Again, hardware and lighting will be changed. 

The Master Bath: I kept the design simple in here to allow the decor to shine. I want to add some hardware to the cabinets, frame the mirror in wood, change the lights and add blinds and lighting over the tub. I'm not a fan of basic builder towel bars so Ill be removing them and adding wood hooks instead.

The Office: This is the front bedroom (the window seen from the front of the house) and I love the mountain view it has so I stole it as my office. On the right side we are going to add pre-fab cabinets to create a built in desk. The lighting will get changed along with the hardware and we will add blinds and curtains. 

The Guest Bath: We will be framing the mirror in wood, changing the light, adding hardware and then accessories. 

The Guest Room: Not sure how I didn't snag a picture before we moved in but its the same as everything else. Changing lighting and hardware, adding blinds and curtains and possibly and accent wall down the line. 

I cant wait to show you what it looks like now. Just adding furniture and unpacking some decor has made a huge impact already. Til next time! 

---Jackie 

First House Final Walk-Through

 We closed on the new house and we've been living here for almost  a week now. Before we show pics of the new house I thought it best to show the final pics of the last house. It was so weird to see it empty again after three-and-a-half-years, we only hope the new owners love it like we did. 

--- Jackie

Final House Update

We left off a couple weeks ago with drywall and texture and now? 

We are in the final stages of touch ups and landscape. Let me show you everything that's happened.

We got our exterior stone.....

and inside we got cabinets...

then flooring....

then my amazing white paint (SW Alabaster)...

and finally, countertops, which are simply white quartz. 

There was a bit of drama surrounding this slab though. The issue was, because of COVID I had to do my appointment via a Zoom call so everything I picked was shown to me through camera, which was fine, but the stone I was shown and the stone that arrived were NOT the same. If you remember this pic...

The stone looks (quite obviously) pure white, right? Well after it was installed my friend stopped by the house and sent me pics and it was GREY! I thought for sure they had installed the wrong slab (they have a simply grey too so I thought someone ordered wrong.) I called the stone installer who confirmed it was simply WHITE that was installed. I still didn't believe it so after I had worked all day I decided to drive up (40 miles one way!) to see it in person and I snapped this picture as a comparison for the builder...

I laid down an extra piece of subway tile which (from the designers picture and virtual appointment) should have been the same color. I also laid down a light grey swatch, Agreeable Grey, and you can clearly see its a much closer match. Regardless, the builder claims that because I chose white walls (something I fought hard for and paid a huge upgrade fee for) that it changes the tone of other whites around it. Definitely true, but not to this extent. I think a number of things went wrong here: First, their sample is not an accurate depiction of the color, Two virtual design makes it much more difficult to judge color/undertones and Three the white walls are making it seem darker. Kind of unfortunate since its a huge part of the house (huge island and in both bathrooms!) and cannot be changed I'l have to roll with it, and sometimes that's just how design goes. I don't hate it (if I did I would spend whatever I had to right the situation) I think its more that the design I had in  mind will shift a little, and there's nothing surprising about that! Anyone who DIYs or designs knows that no project comes without its surprises so we're finding ways to make it feel more intentional, we'll see how it goes when we move it!

The final projects are mostly exterior focused now: trim needs touch ups and we upgraded to a larger patio that still needs to be poured, then they'll add grass and rock to finish it off. 

At this point we have about 15 days until we get the UHaul and it feels like time is creeping by but the next post here will be us showing the first walk through photos and I CAN NOT WAIT for that part to happen! Keep your fingers crossed for us that the process goes smoothly from here on out <3

---Jackie 

New House Update

Things with the new house haven't gone smoothly... and that's an understatement.

When we left off we had just gotten the walls and roof and we were under contract on the current house. Things went a little haywire since then. We did the inspection and only came back with minor things to fix, which was awesome. We thought everything was all good and went into the appriasal thinking we were done...wrong! Our appraisal came in $20k UNDER our asking price. We were furious. The appraiser didn't use any comps ouyr realtor sent over and refused to reconsider. At this point the buyers asked us to come down the $20k which we were not at all willing to do. We knew the house was worth what we were asking so we cancelled the contract. I was pretty upset. I didnt want to go back on the market and deal with the showings again but our realtor advised us this was the best course of action. The next day we had FOUR showings. By 3pm the people we were previously under contract with called our realtor and agreed to pay the $20k at closing. We agreed and went back under sontract. Though I was relieved to not have to get a new buyer and go through the process again I was a little frustrasted about the entire process.

During this time the new house really started coming together. We got concrete, exterior paint, drywall and texture!

We are so happy with how the progress is coming along but the its just been one tihng after another with the old house. This week we had the AC freeze up and water overfilled the coils and leaked into the ceiling which then leaked through the drywall downstairs. I tell ya, at this point I wanted to cry. We called our AC guy and got everything cleared up and since we caught the water quickly it didn't cause much damage, thank god!

At this point, I feel like we are barely hanging on to our sanity. Buying and selling is one of the most challenging things I think we have ever faced, we are so ready to close and get this over with. A few more weeks and we will be revealing our brand new home!

---Jackie

New House Details

So excited to talk about the new house finally. We were trying to keep things under wraps until we were under contract and things were for sure, we even originally planned not to tell anyone until the day we got the new keys but its me, and I cant hold it in. 

First things first, its a single-story about 1500 sq ft 3 bed/2 bath/ 3 car garage on a corner lot. 

And here's how it looked the day we went under contract..

The design process was nerve wracking! Due to the Corona Virus it was a virtual appointment and I thought I knew what I wanted so I picked everything quickly and then kept having to message the designer to change it. I felt so bad! Luckily she was super understanding and kept making the changes until I was completely happy with it, which I TOTALLY AM! This is what we (ahem I) picked. 

You might be looking at that confused because its no where near the style of our current house but thats the point! With the new house I am going for a clean, modern but classic look. Here are some of my inspiration pictures.... 

Studio McGee

McGee and Co.

Halfway Wholeistic

I have started going through things and putting them aside for a huge garage sale before we move. Anything I dont sell is going to the Goodwill. Seriously, I'm not taking a single thing into that house that I am not completely in LOVE with. Not to mention its about 1000 sq ft smaller than our current house so I need to pare down anyway I want to go into this opportunity with a clean slate and no clutter! Here are a couple of my mood boards to paint the picture...

Dining Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

And finally, this is where the build is now. We have walls and a roof! 

Just a few more months and lots of prayers and it'll be ours! 

Till next time! 

---Jackie 

The Secret Is Out

WE'RE MOVING!!!!

The past 30 days were a whirlwind. Our friends, who live in Colorado Springs, were looking for a larger single story home over their current smaller two story. Being me, I was like, "We should tour model homes, you guys would LOVE new construction!" They agreed and on we went. Zack and I were also toying with the idea of moving but nothing was for sure as we didnt like anything on the market and honestly we still weren't sure if we wanted to stay in Pueblo, Move to Arizona or move back to Colorado Springs, we were just tagging along to hangout with dear friends and see some pretty houses. Then... then it happened. We toured this amazing model home in the perfect neighborhood with the perfect price point and we fell in love and said, "maybe we should consider this." After checking their reviews we were devastated to find out that the homes were poorly built and had several BBB complaints (in the thousands!) Ultimately, we just couldnt do it but in that instant we realized what we hadn't before... we wanted to be back in Colorado Springs. Once we realized that we just kept checking out the listings and seeking out model homes. One day. my friend and I were driving around a newer neighborhood we hadn't been in before and stumbled upon these gorgeous craftsman style homes. We drove around until we found the model (always look for the flags!) and we toured the model. It was GORGEOUS! My friend fell in LOVE. She called her husband and within 24 hours they were under contract on their new house! Me, I was more hesitant. Yes, it was gorgeous but the price was significantly higher than what I thought I could afford and all the homes were either two story or single story with a full basement (still considered a two story in my opinion!) and were much larger than I had wanted. I felt a little bummed until the realtor for the property told me they has ONE floor plan that they offered without a basement. ONE! Zack and I figured it wouldnt hurt to check it out and set up a tour. There were things I didn't love right away but as I walked into each room I started imaging our furniture and seeing us living there and i started thinking, this could work.

The realtor explained that they were almost out of lots and had only three of these plans left. One ready in early July, one in late July and one in mid August. We liked the floor plan but we knew that in order for this house to be our dream home we would need to pick everything: the floors, the paint, the counters, the carpet, all of it. However, the realtor explained that most of these homes were already designed months ago and it was too late in the game to make any changes. But he said that maybe, just maybe the August one wasnt through the design process yet and he'd let us know. Zack and I went home thinking, if its meant to be it will be and we tried to go about our routine as normal.

 The next day, sitting in the Taco Bell drive thru, we got the text: The August house HASNT been through design yet, if you want it I'll need your cabinet selection by tonight! We weren't even pre-approved yet! We weren't even sure we wanted this big of a move yet either but we said, "We want the grey ones!" and we waited anxiously for the lender to call us back. Again, we said, "if its meant to be it will be."  

The pre-approval came through a couple hours later. 

Things moved so quickly after that night. We hired a great realty team who quickly put together a plan to sell our current home while simultaneously working to get everything set with the new house. We were prepared for our current house to sit for a while, we knew the market in this area isnt as hot as it is in Colorado Springs (our friends sold their house for full asking price without ever actually listing!) so we decided to put the house up for sale ASAP to make sure we could get an offer before the new house was done.

A week later the photographer came and took pictures of the house and the next morning at 9am the listing went live but then, the SAME DAY our neighbor 5 houses down listed his house for $10k UNDER our price. It was smaller but was immaculate and had the back yard landscaped (we do not). Our realtor was honest and told us it could effect us negatively but to hang in there and no worry if it took a few days or even a week to get a showing. Zack just kept telling me not to worry and whatever happened it would be OK. 30 min later I get a text that we had a showing for that evening. Four hours later, another showing  for that day. An hour later another showing for the next day. Boom boom boom we had showings right away. It felt surreal, like maybe this is really going to happen after all.

The first showing came at 4:30p and the second at 5:30p. By 9pm we had an offer from the first showing! Our realtor advised us to hold off and see how the other showings would go the next day as the offer was a little less than what we hoped for and she was certain others would make offers too.

The next day came and we had a showing at 11am . Each person that had walked the house immediately left and went to the neighbors house. We were upset, we wanted our neighbor to sell but we also needed our house to sell and it seemed like all our buyers were more interested in his house than ours, to be honest my faith in our realtor swayed a bit. I was hoping we didnt just pass up the only offer we might get. We held tough though and by 5pm that evening we had THREE offers. Every person that had toured the house made an offer! The first was a re-submitted offer from the first people coming in at the same price as before but offering to let us stay in the home until the new house was finished, the second was a low-ball offer $20k under asking and the third was over asking but she wanted us to move within 30 days.  We weren't sure what to do. I mean, it would be awesome to get MORE than our asking price but where would we live for the next 2 months with THREE dogs? It would be really nice to stay in this house but we wouldn't walk away with as much money and moving to a new city again means leaving my job so we really were hoping for more. We decided to reply back to both the strong offers and agreed that whoever answered first was meant to be and we would be happy with whatever we were handed. At 9pm we got a text from our realtor saying we were under contract with the first people! Of course we wished we could have walked away with more, Id be lying if I said it wasnt a little disappointing, but i also felt relieved. Being able to move right into the new house would make things so much easier on us and our dogs so we feel pretty happy with our decision now.

So here we are, under contract on both houses, one selling and one buying. We've gone through the design process with the new house and we visit it at least once a week to see the progress. Our best friends will be living about 5 houses down from us and we are so excited to be able to see them more often and to be back in a larger city that we know and love.

I will have a post up soon with all the details on the new house: the floorplan, the design and the current status of the build (spoiler alert: we have walls!)

Until next time!
--Jackie