#172: What Will & Will not Be Done When We Move Into The New House

Our whole approach to renovating our new house from afar has changed fairly dramatically since February when we first began house hunting, including a period in which we did not think we’d be tackling any major projects at all. And plenty of you have been asking for a rundown of what we are doing now, what is left, and how long we think this house reno might be. So today we are taking you down that rabbit hole and sharing how our plans shifted quite a few times – and where we ended up. Plus, why packing all of our belongings was a more intense process than we expected, and an update on our move date. Oh and what truly makes for an “adult” kitchen?

You can also find this episode on your go-to podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.

What is New

• This is what our office looks like at the moment, now that most of our stuff is packed up and on its way to Florida in the Pod. What you see remaining are some of the items we sold to the new owners (like the big floating desk & desk chair). Obviously the computers and as many plants as Sherry can fit in the car will ride with us to Florida on our moving day. That should be interesting…

• We will be sharing a full video walkthrough of the whole house so you can see what stayed and what is packed up in the pod – along with a final video house tour that we filmed right before our early March house showings this Wednesday on the journal.
• If you missed our episode about how we chose what furniture to bring and what to leave, it is covered in “How Exactly Do You Downsize Your Stuff?” (Episode #169). We asked ourselves four distinct questions that made it surprisingly straightforward to make the choice. And man did it feel good to get all of our keepers into a single pod.

• That is what our PODS container looked like as we got the last few items packed. It was quite the puzzle!
• And because we had heard some horror stories from you folks about things shifting during transport and wedging the door shut (one person said the pod pros had to come out and tear the door off!) we made a makeshift cardboard barrier at the back of ours to prevent items from sliding against the door. Here is hoping!

• We certainly were a bit more neurotic about packing ours than we likely had to be (we also heard from people who said they fairly much simply threw things in there and it was perfectly fine). But as a sort of “best practices” guideline (because I am John “Rule Follower” Petersik, we did try to follow the official Pods packing video.
• And as promised in the podcast, if you are moving or packing anytime soon, here are some of the supplies that we found especially helpful:
  • These $16 Forearm Forklift straps to assist us lift heavy furniture (we carried every last item ourselves with these things)
  • These $10 ratchet straps to assist hold boxes and furniture items in place within the pod
  • This 12-pack of moving blankets to assist pad our furniture and ward off any scratching/chafing that could happen as it rumbles down the road for over 12 hours (we ended up using two packs total)
  • These moving boxes from Home Depot, which we were able to get via curbside pickup at their store. We found the small and medium sizes boxes were the most helpful, but used a few large ones for things like lampshades.
  • This furniture stretch wrap which helped to hold our moving blankets in place, as well as keeping bubble wrap tight around fragile items. It even helped us turn random baskets and bins without lids into makeshift boxes (you could fill them up & wrap them around the top to secure items inside the basket).
• And do not forget to check out our inspiration photos for our Florida House if you missed them!

What is In An “Adult” Kitchen?

• If you want to check out the whole article that Sherry quizzed me on this week, check out 5 Thing Every “Adult” Kitchen Has, According To These Pros from The Kitchn. Reminder: We do not think an adult kitchen in fact HAS to have any of them, but it was interesting to see what they listed.

• Oh, and here is the link to that cutting board / charcuterie board from Ikea that we used in both duplex kitchens (it is leaning up there on the right side of the photo above). It is such a strong size (LARGE!) for only $20!

Our 4 Phases Of Changing Renovation Expectations

• In case you missed last week’s post with all of the before photos of our Florida House, be sure to check them out along with the video tour. You can see why it certainly did not match our initial plan to buy something that did not require much renovation (hello missing floor boards and broken-down bathroom!).
• And if you did not see this series of IG stories, we got tons of feedback that it was especially helpful when it came to understanding our plans and the actual size of the rooms in our new house (it is hard to grasp the scale of a room without furniture).

• But even though we toggled back and forth between a few distinct approaches to tackling this reno from afar, we are thrilled about where we have ended up because we will have a comfortable & livable space when we move – but there is still plenty to do when we get there. First thing on the list is a phase one reno of our mauve-countered kitchen…

We are Digging

• Here are some sample pages from The 50 States (find it locally) book that our son and I are truly enjoying. I think we have made it to Hawaii so far on our routine of reading one spread per night. I also simply noticed there is an Activity Book (here is where you can buy it locally).

If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we have recommended on our Book Club page.

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