Our Final Day in Our First Home: Moving Out and Memories

We promised photos of the old house empty and ready for the new owners, so here they are. We’re posting this thanks to a quick stop at Panera for Wi-Fi—our internet at the new place won’t be hooked up until tomorrow. We had hoped to share updates sooner, but coordinating a “domino” closing (when one closing funds the next on the same day) is rarely straightforward. Our buyers experienced an unexpected delay, and we did too, so we didn’t actually close until this morning. Fortunately, the previous owners of our new house were kind enough to hand over the keys early because they knew we had a truck full of belongings and nowhere else to go. We’re so grateful. Oh, and we also got hit by a surprise snowstorm, which turned the move into quite an adventure—more on that later.

Old house exterior in snow

After hours of unloading boxes and trying to settle both the baby and the dog, we finally crashed—our mattress on the floor—around 1 a.m. We were exhausted but couldn’t stop smiling. There’s something special about spending your first night in a new house. Clara and Burger seemed to agree; they’ve both adjusted surprisingly well so far. We’ll share more about moving day and photos of the new house as soon as we can organize them, possibly this afternoon. For now, enjoy a walk through the former Casa Petersik in its final empty state alongside some early photos to compare.

Here’s a look back at the old exterior to compare with our snowy shot above:

Old house exterior before

And here’s what the living room looked like when we first moved in:

Living room when moved in 1

Living room when moved in 2

Here’s what it looked like when we closed the door for the final time:

Living room empty 1

Living room empty 2

And here’s the kitchen when we first moved in:

Kitchen when moved in 1

Kitchen when moved in 2

And the kitchen emptied out:

Kitchen empty 1

Kitchen empty 2

The den when we moved in:

Den when moved in 1

Den when moved in 2

The den as we left it:

Den empty 1

Den empty 2

Den empty 3

The master bedroom when we moved in:

Master bedroom when moved in

And the master bedroom now:

Master bedroom empty

The office/guest room/playroom when we first moved in:

Office guest room when moved in

And that same room emptied out:

Office guest room empty

Here’s the room that was a formal dining room when we moved in:

Formal dining room when moved in

We left that room as a nursery (after removing Clara’s beloved light fixture and curtains—the only fixtures we couldn’t leave behind):

Nursery left behind

Here’s the sunroom back when we moved in—excuse the awkward angle; we didn’t expect to need a perfect before photo at the time:

Sunroom when moved in

And the sunroom as we left it:

Sunroom empty

Even though it was a little bittersweet to shut that door for the last time (I didn’t even cry!), opening a new door—both literally and figuratively—into our new home felt wonderful. We’re excited to share the next chapter with you and will post more photos and details as soon as we can get them together.

P.S. We still need to update our site header and rename the House Tour tab to “Old House,” and add a “New House” tab full of befores. Hoping we can find a moment in the next few days to tackle that.