Approximately one year ago, We (on a complete whim) made a huge decision to sell our home of 7 years and take the plunge on a complete fixer upper! Our previous home was perfect for us, just the right size, and most of the renovations we wanted to do were done. We had absolutely loved our time in that home, those walls held many precious moments and memories. One November (wine filled) evening, we discovered that a home in our dream neighborhood was for sale. It’s the neighborhood that my husband grew up in, and we had family still there. We knew we’d have the community we had been craving there. We had to move fast! The next day we looked at it, and immediately submitted an offer!
Once we got in to see the home, we were a bit shocked as to just how much needed to be done. It was one of those moments where we had to really use our imaginations and channel our inner Chip and Jo! Thank goodness we could see past the disaster, because we are (very) slowly turning this home into our forever dream home!
Once we got the keys, we got to work! We decided to focus on the upstairs first, since that is where the bedrooms are. We had to remove approximately 963,245 shelves and patch all of the holes, paint every surface, rip out all of the carpet and tile, paint bathroom vanities and replace fixtures. Oh and did I mention that during this process, for a bit over 1 month, we lived in our downstairs family room? We slept on 2 very uncomfortable full size mattresses, ALL 4 OF US! Good thing I really like my family!
When all of the major work was done upstairs, we could finally get into our own rooms. Hallelujah! We put all of our focus on our bedrooms and bonus room. Our girls got to decorate their rooms how they wanted; the Tween daughter chose a chill nature-ey vibe, while the youngest chose a cloud and rainbow vibe! Still working on finding the vibe I want in the master, but I do know I want it to be relaxing and cozy. Since we had all had our beds for a good while, we all got new mattresses! I loathe mattress shopping! There are so many options out there, it gets very overwhelming. And with the lockdown we couldn't get to a store to test any out. We finally chose to go with the 13” Luxury Cooling Mattress from the home line of Off-Road Bedding for our master, and for the girls we chose the 14” Cooling Pillowtop Mattress. We are so happy with that decision! I am happy to report that we are all enjoying the best sleep of our lives! I highly recommend checking out the Home line at offroadbedding.com if you are in the market for a new mattress. Best part, they have a 100 night risk free sleep trial! And FREE shipping!
With the new year quickly approaching, I’ve started to think about prioritizing upcoming house projects. I love to start each new year with a priority board. My husband and I sit down together and think of all the projects we’d like to accomplish throughout the year, we write them out on 3x5 notecards and add an estimated cost. We pin them up on a big cork board and hang it in our home office where we can always see it. It's such a great visual, and who doesn’t love crossing things off of your to-do list?! So satisfying!
2020 sure as heck didn’t go the way we planned (suck it, Covid!), so we are a bit behind on the renovations. Now that we can focus again, I’m really looking forward to continuing down the renovation road, making this our forever dream home!
