A record of Last Day In The Second House

We enjoy being able to look back at the empty photos of our first house, because while they are certainly bittersweet, it is so much lively to reminisce. They are a strong reminder that a house is only a house, and it is the moments that you’ve shared with the people (and the chihuahuas) that you enjoy that truly make it a home. So we wasted no time snapping empty photos of our second house. And although I thought “without furniture all these rooms will fairly much look the same” the funny thing is that none of them do. So it is pleasant to know that we left our mark on this sweet home of ours.

Here is the dining room/office before:

And here is the empty after.

Here is the office all empty (wish I had a before picture from this angle).

Here is the frame hallway all cleared out.

And we cannot forget what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.

A lot has changed in there for sure.

Here is a before photo from the other side:

And a clean and empty after.

Here is the laundry room before:

And the room as we left it.

A lot of people asked us what we sold with the house, so the short answer is “all the stuff you see in these pics.” Apparently it differs greatly by region, but in our area it is typical for anything that is “attached” (light fixtures, curtains, blinds, open shelving, bathroom mirrors) to stay with the house unless it is otherwise outlined in your listing/contract from the start (for example, we indicated that we hoped to take the curtains in the playroom, guest room, and dining room with us in our flyer but everything else stays). We did not want to strip this house and leave it with a bunch of boob lights and naked windows, and every home has a distinct layout/number of windows anyway (so I am sure if we took our blinds they would not fit our new windows anyway).

Even the light fixtures might not work as well since they were selected for the rooms/spaces in this house. For example, our new house’s laundry area does not have an overhead light – so we’d much rather know that our clothespin chandelier lives on in this house’s laundry room. In our area it is also typical for houses sold as “turn-key” or “move in ready” to come with all of the appliances. A fridge from one kitchen might not even fit into the nook in the next kitchen, so we do not mind leaving them – especially because we enjoy buying “fixer uppers” instead of “turn-key” homes for a lot less money (which means we can afford to upgrade the appliances there).

Anyway, back to the before and afters. Here is the living room as it looked when we moved in.

And here is how it looked when we left.

Here is the sunroom before.

And the sunroom after.

Our bedroom changed a lot too. Wish I had a before photo from this angle.

We do have this before shot of the sink nook…

I wish we had a shot of the hallway as it looked on move-in day, but at least we snapped an after to remember it by.

Here is Clara’s room as it looked when we got here.

And here it is as we left it (Clara came with us though).

And of course the guest room looked a little distinct…

… after the dark teal paint (and crown molding) came into play.

Our biggest regret was not refinishing all of that old orange oak and faded brown parquet in the same rich mocha color as the cork floors in the kitchen. Oh man, that would be delicious. I’d bet money that the new owners will do that… (fingers crossed for a house crash someday!).

Oh and here is a closer shot of the frame hallway. Look ma, no holes.

All hail spackle, king of Hands-on!

We are going to miss this house of ours. But we will never forget all of the remarkable things that happened here (three Christmases, all three of Clara’s birthday parties, writing and shooting our whole book, watching Clara crawl and walk for the first time). Plenty of memories to take with us for sure. Now somebody get me a tissue.

Psst- We have a fairly funny picture comparison on the house Life today too. Holy cow, time flies.