This morning we’ve gotten serious about packing up all the beloved artifacts of the past four years of our life (and lots of other stuff, too). Mary Elizabeth is a big fan of moving and has been enjoying scaling the cardboard mountains and toddling through the maze of boxes. The older girls stayed with their Nana and Pop. Madeline was emotional her last night sleeping in the only bedroom she’s ever known (she’s lived in two other cities, but this is the only place she remembers).
I do not have much emotional attachment to our townhouse even though it’s been a fine place to live. I will, however, miss the community I have here. I stink at saying good-bye and have avoided it with most of my dear friends. But I did get teary eyed when my homeschool co-op gave me a send-off that included the gift of a beautiful painting of Mary (as in the Mother of God, not my daughter) holding a lamb. I had to blink back some more tears when one of my closest friends here gave the girls and me a photo album documenting our years together. I flipped through the snapshots of our daughters playing together. There was a photo of Madeline in a swimsuit that Rae is even on the verge of outgrowing. Madeline is all lanky now. As the ephemera of our day-to-day existence was packed away – play dishes and board books – things that Madeline has already started to outgrow like that pink swimsuit, I’m struck by the speed of life. The sands of time slip through your fingers. It seems like just yesterday that we moved here after my husband completed his intern year in South Carolina. Four years at Emory seemed like a long time. But – poof! Here we are, a new chapter unfolding.
On Monday after we take a break tomorrow and spend the Fourth at the lake with my parents and some good friends we haven’t seen in ages, the chapter officially will begin as we begin to move all those boxes to our new home. I’m eager to unpack and to start to nest. I plan to work swiftly and diligently to turn this house into a home, so that when my older girls arrive, it will feel cozy and familiar and be the place where we all can most be ourselves.
The process of turning a house into our home began weeks ago when we grabbed a hold of our charming (read: old and needs a lot of work), “new” home and spruced it up. The walls were dingy and pinkish-flesh-colored. The 1935 kitchen was desperately in need of an update. And the pink carpet in the master bedroom? It had to go.
We were great visionaries when we fell in love with this home, I suppose. While we certainly looked at more aesthetically-pleasing homes and even put an offer in on one (which I’m ever so grateful now that it fell through), there was something about this house that drew us in and made us feel like it was the right place for our family.
Since our decision, we have already started to discover the joys of an old house – the way the backyard hides in the cool shade of old, towering trees even when the sweltering sun is high in the sky, the nooks and crannies your children like to explore, the crystal door knobs, and the glorious hardwood floors (no more worries about raspberry smoothies splattering on the carpet!).
Of course, although we’ve never felt as if we’d wandered purblind into the wrong home, this charming, old structure has already revealed some of its quirks. Like the rusty toilet that overflowed just days before we were slated to move in. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that those beautiful, big, ancient trees we love so much have intricate and vast root systems that have cracked through a clay pipe causing our plumbing to backup very, very quickly. Oh, but we adore our money pit (otherwise the hefty, unexpected bill would have been even more difficult to take), and we’re very, very thankful we were able to include many of our tweaks and renovations in the price of our “new” home.
As we settle in, I won’t be writing much. I’m someone who can’t stand to have hallways lined in boxes. I like to unpack everything as quickly as possible and to add my personal touches so it feels like home right away. So things will be quiet around here for a bit.
I’m also just basking in the blessing of this home and the how beautiful it’s becoming. My first home to nest in, to grow in, to fall in love with, and to plant my family’s roots!
I’ll leave you with some before and after glimpse into our home’s interior. The quality of some of the photos is subpar because they were captured on my iPhone, but you’ll get the idea. And if anyone has any decorating tips, ideas for frugal furnishing, or advice on living in an old home, please pass them along. This is all very new, exciting, and sometimes overwhelming to me.
Kitchen – Before
Kitchen – In Progress
Playing around with backsplash ideas…
Dining Room – Before
Dining Room – In Progress
Powder Room – Before
The Powder Room – In Progress
The Big Girls’ Bedroom – Before
The Big Girls’ Room – In Progress
The Nursery – In Progress (This house is teeming with beautiful, built-in bookcases – one of the reasons we fell in love with it, I’m sure. No more IKEA bookshelves lining our walls.)
Lots of old, peeling paint to contend with…
Our first yard!!!
I am so excited to be able to go home to this:
Wow oh wow oh wow! It's going to be absolutely gorgeous! I love all the bookshelves and windows! I would love to live in a little house like that some day.
We, too, are fixing up an old house, though ours started out looking a lot more shady than yours (and I don't mean shade trees, I mean drug house-ish). One thing we've learned to contend with is things roll far, far away. :)
What a lovely house! It will be a great place to turn into a home.
Oh, wow!! I am so jealous (and so happy for you).
No more IKEA bookshelves lining our walls.
We're saving up right now to be able to afford Ikea bookshelves one day, so I can't even imagine those lovely built-in shelves. I'll need more pictures so that I can live vicariously through you. Congratulations on your amazing new home.
I really shouldn't snub our IKEA bookcases. We've been very happy with them, and we get compliments on them all of the time. We're actually still going to use most of them in our new digs. We have tons of books. We have the Markor series, which I love. I think they may have been discontinued, and I know their price went up because we added on another shelf a year or so ago. They did take awhile to assemble. That's my only complaint.
But I did fall in love with all the built-in, wooden bookshelves in the new home!
What a beautiful home! Enjoy…I love it. I love the older homes. Our house is 'older' (ok its my age built in the late 70s) but its a raised ranch which has little of the character I like about older houses. You look like you're doing a great job already….have a great summer there!
I can't believe its been 4 years!! Wow, Katie, that house is gorgeous and totally you :) Maybe we'll come visit! The drive isn't too terribly bad :)
Kate,
What an adorable house!
I'm swooning over your gorgeous built-ins and your lovely new wood floors! I love the glass-front cabinets in the kitchen and your new counter tops are lovely.
We looked at some older houses and that's where my heart would have led me. But they were out of our price range. I'm not in love at all with our 50s era ranch with its tiny windows; it has little character. Your new home looks absolutely charming.
Good luck with the move. God bless you in your new home.
Wow, your house is gorgeous! I love old houses…so many things about them that you just don't find in new houses. (like the bookcases! jealous too :) ). How exciting! Send me an email when you get a chance and let me know where it is. We're still on the fence about where we'll end up.
Oh Kate! It's gorgeous!! I am INLOVE with those built-ins! The girl's room is beautiful! The whole place is! And I'm sure it will look even more amazing with your personal touches! Good luck with the move!
As I write this comment I am soaking my very, very unrecognizeably large and swollen feet in an ice bath after unpacking! This urge to nest (and the fact that I, like you, HATE boxes everywhere) is a bad thing for me. I just can't sit still! We love our little old house, but discovered one quirk- ROACHES! GAH!!! Good luck with your renovations and move! Your home looks beautiful!!!
What a lovely house! I love houses with character. Our last rental was built in the 1920s, and it was just so, so beautiful, despite all the ways it was falling apart. (Our landlady was cheap!) I loved imagining all the lives that had been through it before us. I would have liked an old house when we bought, but it was not to be. So now we're scheming ways to make our 1980s place look old. Ha ha!
I've done that posting-instead-of-scheduling thing, too. Hate that! Don't worry; I didn't read the first version. :)
Kate, it's really lovely and I'm really excited for you guys. You've got a good eye for remodeling from what I see. We'll miss you so much though. We'll visit you soon and check the house out in person!
Kate,
This looks so lovely. The built-ins are absolutely phenomenal. Oh the decorating possibilities!! Enjoy your new home making new memories with your beautiful family!
BTW, I have the same IKEA shelves. LOVE them!!
Visitors are welcome! :)
What a gorgeous home. I just love old homes because I love imagining all the happy times that happened in them before I came along. Plus, few things are more homey than built in bookcases. Congratulations! I hope the move goes smoothly. I'm so impressed you got so much done already.
Beautiful home! I love the before and afters. Keep them comin'! We live in an old cape cod and are constantly in remodel mode but we love the charm that comes with an old home:) good luck unpacking!
ElizabethW
Kate, I'm thrilled for you. It's just lovely. My daughters in particular have had a hard time with moves, so I feel for you there. She will work through it, but there is a grieving that happens in the life of a young child. Think of it as preparation for other losses that also will bring about blessing. :)
Beautiful! I too am an admirer of those bookshelves, the wood floors, and I also really like the dining room hanging lamp.
Oh those built ins in the girls room are AMAZING! And they have DOORS – best thing ever for kid clutter. And hide and seek.
Congratulations on your gorgeous new house! My in-laws have an old-house and what they did was research the architecture etc from the time it was built(and even the architect!) and then picked a color scheme and decorating style that would've gone with the house originally! For them, that meant lots of green, brown, and camel colors, mission-style furniture, and leaded glass windows and doors on built-ins. It looks SO awesome now. I don't know much about 1930's design, but I wonder if you could mix some cool vintage and vintage feeling pieces in with your other stuff gradually?
I've always lived in new, no-style houses :(
So lovely!! I'm kind of glad I was gone during your "move" week so we didn't have to say goodbye. Now I can just look forward to our first visit to Athens!!