Some House Gossip!

Welcome back, friends!

Today’s blog will be brief-ish, as the past couple of weeks have been hectic!
Two weeks ago, I had nine assignments during final weeks (I don’t have much longer to go with school – done in the fall!), was finishing house paperwork, had a lot of stuff to do at work, etc. I was exhausted, LOL. Dawson’s also been pretty beat with preparing for graduation (his last week of being a student is this week!) and wrapping up student teaching.

Life has been exhausting, wild, and a blast. We are just so thankful!

All I want to share today is some house info. Basically, I am just going to answer a couple of questions that we keep getting!

When is the open-house/house-warming party?

I had no idea that this was a thing, which continually shocks people! I guess it totally makes sense though!

After getting asked about the four-hundredth time, Dawson and I decided we’d like to have one around Halloween. How fun!

Plus, we will hopefully have at least one couch by then, so more people could sit! (We have two recliners in the living room, want to add 2 couches we picked from Article, and maybe a bench. The living room will sit about 10-12 people).

But if you want to stop by beforehand, just shoot me a message and we can set up a time!

When are you moving in?

I am writing this blog beforehand, but hopefully, Dawson moved in yesterday! The game plan was to scrub the house down Wednesday and Thursday night. I took Friday off to finish cleaning the house, get Mediacom installed, begin taping, and start priming. Friday night we wanted to get some priming done then wrap up on Saturday. The whole house is tinted yellow and reeks of smoke, so we had to use a special (expensive!!) primer. Sunday, we wanted to start moving boxes in. Then, Dawson and I want to unpack everything throughout this week.

I will move in once we are married! So, on January 9th, you can catch me at our new place permanently!

What do you want for gifts?

This has made me and Dawson feel kinda awkward, honestly! We had no idea that people got gifts for you when you bought a house. We knew that we’d likely get bridal shower and wedding presents from some, but we didn’t know some people also wanted to give house presents.

It’s so kind and generous. We really don’t expect it, and you don’t have to do that at all!! BUT, we know that some people are insistent (and we super appreciate it), so here is what we’d really appreciate…

More than anything, we want to finish the living room first. We’d really appreciate gift cards to any of the following places. I will link the website to the store name, and say what the gift card would go toward!! We want two (ridiculously pricey) couches from Article that we fell in love with – trust me, Dawson can be just as extra as me. There is a limited release shag rug about to launch from Ruggable that we adore. For Christmas, we just need a fireplace that we’d like to build with materials from Lowes and a fireplace insert from Amazon. For décor, we want to build floating shelves with materials from Lowes, too. And of course, throw pillows from Target!!

I know some people don’t like gift cards, so we’d always love anything from our Walmart or Zola registries. (Zola includes our Wayfair registry!)

Again, we really don’t need or expect anything. However, we really appreciate everyone’s thoughtfulness and kindness for everything – our wedding, our house, graduation, etc. It feels like too much, and we know we are blessed.

Thank you times a million.

So many people have asked what our plans for the house are, and well, everything…eventually!

We want to cosmetically redo the entire house over time. Here are some more details.

All interior walls will be a light gray that we picked out, the light fixtures will all be black, the trim and baseboards will be off-white. Eventually, we want the doors to be dark gray (white will be too messy with kids) and black fixtures. In the spring, we want to replace all flooring with a grayish vinyl wood that we picked from Lowes. This surprises many people, but the carpets in the house are ruined and there are three different floors. We want to do the same wood floor throughout the home (and maybe an accent floor in the bathrooms) to transform the look of the house. Plus, kids are messy. They spill things. Life happens! That’s why we want to put Ruggable’s in their rooms so we can just throw them in the washer and it’s not the end of the world.

Additionally, the house will need residing. We want the house to be sage green with dark green accents.

That’s everything we know for sure. The order we want to go is:
– Finish the living room
– Make a booth in the dining room
– Paint all rooms
– Replace the flooring and baseboards (we are hoping next spring!)
– Finish the master and guest bedroom
– Flip the kitchen with new cabinets, new appliances, and backsplash. (We want to try to redo the counter but shall see!)
– Reside
– Get a new fence, as the current one is 25 years old (we will just tighten and re-stain it for now!)
– Totally renovate the backyard as it screams potential
– At some point, replace the furnace

That plan is over the course of a few years. Then, we would like to meet with an architect and talk about adding on. Dawson and I think it’s a better investment to pay principle on the house every month and eventually look into adding a room in the back, rather than moving as our family expands. This opinion may be controversial, but it is what we hope to do!

What’re your favorite parts about the home?

Dawson adores the front porch! I am very excited about the living room, as I feel it is the heart of the home.

Additionally, we both love being outside at home. We are very excited about all the yard we have to create areas for our family to enjoy.

Yayyyyy!

We want to thank you all for your support – we really appreciate it! ❤