Farewells and New Beginnings

As we pack up the last few boxes, I can’t help but reflect on all the memories we’ve created in the only house our kids remember as home. Being able to buy our tiny 1400 square foot home was such a gift just three and a half years ago when Andrew and I were both working long hours to make ends meet.

Our vision was to buy a house under our budget that we could completely make our own. We changed out every builder grade light fixture and Andrew designed and built the architectual beams in the main living area. I distinctly remember him describing the beams to me and not being able to see his vision. They are still my favorite part of the house and were always the first thing people commented on when they entered.

Most people assume I am responsible for the design of our home but it was very much a combined effort. We had a hodgepodge of mostly hand me down furniture so we decided to buy furnishings that would fit our new space perfectly. It was an almost seamless process since we were building our home and could take measurements and play with our floor plan. We had every detail planned before we moved in.

So many memories of tiny hands measuring ingredients and kneading dough have been made in our little kitchen. Instead of buying the builder’s standard island that matched the kitchen cabinets, we purchased a stainless topped island from West Elm. When Storie was born, we pulled a high chair up alongside the bar stools but she has long outgrown it and all three can no longer sit together at the island.

You can’t see the recessed lighting Andrew talked the builder into letting him install before the sheetrock was laid but it added so much to the wall below. I have the fondest memories of the boys and I watching him work on the house and our excitement and anticipation of our new home.

The day we moved in I wanted to paint the wall behind our bed a dark grey. Andrew was not so sure about my color choice though. I was beginning to think I would never get my grey wall when one Valentines Day I came home from work to find an enormous grey heart painted on the wall. A few days later it turned into what you see below. We didn’t have a nursery for Storie when she was born so she slept in the sweetest baby hammock bought by Andrew’s parents in the corner by the window.

Eventually Storie got her own room, kind of. The second bedroom initially functioned as an office and guest room. About six months after Storie was born, she inherited the room but still shared the space. The couch could be pulled out to make a queen bed when we had overnight guests.

With our office space gone, Andrew converted half of our master walk-in closet to useable office space. Not pictured here is the other half of the closet which is hidden behind custom bypass doors so you don’t actually feel like you’re sitting in a closet. It is the coolest little space.

The third room belonged to our two boys. We bought raw pine bunk beds from Ikea for them before we moved in but wanted to paint them grey. Try to imagine saw horses set up in our apartment living room and Andrew and I painting bunkbed pieces after the boys went to bed. It was madness but efficient none the less. Once we moved in, 2 year old Cullen had to transition from his crib to the bottom bunk and it was surprisingly seamless.

Our final project at our house was the outdoor space. Last spring, Andrew built a patio cover which increased our living space by several hundred square feet. We added four raised garden beds and created a beautiful outdoor living space.

Farewell to our sweet home on Moonwalker Trail. You’ve been so good to us and I pray the next family who resides here will have memories as wonderful as ours.

“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do…but how much love we put in that action.”

Mother Teresa