The first meal

As I was downloading pictures I realized I didn't post these. These pics are from our first meal at the house. We didn't 'technically' have the keys yet, but we knew how to get in. So after closing we went and got Pei Wei and mom gave us a bottle of Champagne. Then we gracefully broke in the house and had our first meal at home! It was a very classy situation since we didn't have champagne glasses so we drank straight from the bottle. (No argument here!) :) Also it got dark quick since the previous owners so kindly took almost all of the lights...we will just call that 'romantic lighting.' None the less is was our first meal in our house and we LOVED IT!!!! It was perfectly us!
Pei Wei + Champagne from the bottle + home = THE Perfect Meal

Let the work begin!

One of the things that we loved about this house is that we can make everything look exactly the way we want it. The other side of that is that means nothing looks the way we want it to look. :) SO there is A LOT of work to be done. It doesn't seem daunting to us, we are really excited about it! We have had a few moments of us trying to get everything done right away, but quickly come back to reality and remind ourselves we will be here for a long time. We have plenty of time to make the house look perfect. We have plenty of time. We have plenty of time. We have plenty of time. Oh...sorry...sometimes I have to recite this to myself when I want all of the rooms to be complete or ANY room to be complete! :)
First on the list is paint. We went to Home Depot (I heart Home Depot!!) and bought 17 gallons of paint. That was just the first trip! We started by painting the kitchen (the room that needed the least amount of paint). Starting in the kitchen was very encouraging! After that we went to all of the small transition halls. Finally we painted the hall and 'cat walk' area up stairs. This was slightly scary since there aren't walls on either side it is just rails going 20ish feet to the tile/carpet below on the 1st floor! Standing on a ladder to paint the corners and around the arches was not my favorite thing. Tyler being the wonderful husband he is surprised me and painted the scariest area while I was working late one night. We still haven't completed about a 3x3 area on the ceiling up there, but other than that the walls and ceiling are done.
After those areas we hired painters. We know our limits and when it comes to 24ish foot ceilings I am out! It took us 2-3 weeks to complete the small areas that we painted. In 7 to 8 days Andreas and Luis completed 4 rooms with the tall ceilings and the back staircase. They painted the walls and ceilings, our bedroom which has tall vaulted ceiling, as well as the back staircase walls and ceiling which again is a tall ceiling. They also painted the ceiling in the kitchen, the walls and ceiling in the formal living, the entry and den. Finally they painted the tall fireplace and the tall molding on the doors. AMAZING!! They were so great, fast and CLEAN!! It was impressive! They will be back later to put in the crown molding in our room and kitchen.
We were going to do the floors in December (Ty's post will come soon about the floors being delivered!), but we are going to wait until January. I still need to paint all of the baseboards and rails. Between the 2 staircases, the cat walk upstairs and the other hall upstairs that looks into the den there are over 100 rails. That will be how I spend my Winter Break!
With all of this behind us, and so much more ahead we are loving he house more and more each day! I have to remind myself that this is ours. It is unbelievable!
(On the pictures note the paint on Archer's nose. We didn't get a picture of his bottom that was covered in paint when he laid on a freshly painted wall. How is got on the top of his nose is beyond me. As you can tell he is a wonderful helper!!)
More posts soon to come!!

Closing

YAY!! We closed on our first house!!! Of course we had to document the moment and take pictures.

WE DID IT!

We did it!
We bought a house! I can't believe it.
The original plan was to house shop next year, but we quickly found out that sometimes the stars align sooner than you think.
We found the house in May. (Ty was looking online.) It was really close to the home we were renting so when Ty and I did some of my 3 day training walks or walked the dogs we would go by it. At the time we were just admiring it, not planning on buying it. As the summer went on we fell more in love with the home. We started debating looking at the house. As luck would have it in June Aimee and Chris' realtor took them to it when we went house hunting with them! We were so excited to see the inside. After seeing it we continued to consider it and in July decided to go see it again. After seeing it again and talking we decided that this was the home for us!
We were so lucky to have a relatively painless experience while we were negotiating with the bank and closing. And now after closing, it is official, we are home owners!!!
The most exciting thing is that we are in the home we are going to raise our family in. No doubt, we have a lot of work ahead of us. We are learning A LOT! Every wall that gets painted, AC that gets put together and light that gets hung looks better that the last! Like my parents we went for the fixer' upper' because we loved the layout. So far all of the work has been really enjoyable because it is OURS! It is the place where our child will take their first steps and get their first car! With that light at the end of the tunnel, I am so excited for us to take our time and make it perfect for our family!
Until then, we are UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

More pictures are soon to come!

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