If you haven’t read Part 1 of our moving story, you may want to start there first.
Thank you so much for all the enthusiasm about our upcoming move. It means a lot that you’re excited to see the new house and follow along as I transform it.
How We Chose Our New Home
After the emotional ups and downs of offering on a house, mentally processing a possible move and then losing that offer, we kept looking at the market. Nothing immediately appealed to us—until one weekend when my husband showed me a listing on his phone. I was skeptical at first: green walls, dated details and lots of visible work. It didn’t seem promising.
The next day, on the drive home, I scrolled back through listings and noticed the photos had been updated. A simple set of better images changed my whole impression. It was a reminder of how important high-quality real estate photography is when you’re shopping—or selling.
Checking Off Our Must-Haves
I ran through our list of must-haves and nice-to-haves and realized the house met most of them: a larger kitchen, a dedicated office, plenty of walk-in storage and, happily, not a corner fireplace. Those practical boxes mattered to us more than staged perfection.
We visited the house the same evening—30 minutes after arriving back in town—and even in the dusk we liked what we saw. Still, after the disappointment of the previous offer, we took a few days to think it over. I pictured how the layout could work, how the sight-lines would feel, and gradually it began to feel like the right fit. Four days later we contacted our realtor to discuss next steps.
We Bought a House! (And Now We Need to Sell Ours)
Five days after brushing off my husband’s suggestion, we made an offer—and it was accepted. We closed the deal while putting our current home on the market, hoping it would sell before we needed to move. In our price range, houses were moving quickly, so we took the risk despite the stress.
We listed our home on a Thursday and received an offer within 14 days. It felt like an eternity because we were getting one to three showings a day, but in hindsight it moved pretty quickly. Our closing is set for early December, which means I’m busy decorating our current home for the holidays one last time so I can share Christmas content here before we pack everything up between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
At the new house I plan to put up a single Christmas tree this year with our family ornaments to keep the holiday tradition. Next year I’ll have a full year living in the space and lots of ideas for going bigger with decorations and design.
Keep a Wish List When House Hunting
This fast-moving process reinforced the value of keeping a clear list of must-haves and wishes. I’ve kept a running list in my phone’s notes app for years—items that help me notice what’s repeatedly frustrating about our current home and what I want in the next one. Examples include a powder room for guests, at least nine-foot ceilings on the main level, and windows flanking the bed in the primary suite.
Some items on my list are influenced by my work as a home blogger—certain sight-lines and design possibilities help create compelling photos. While we would never buy a home solely for content, the blog does factor into decisions sometimes, and it’s practical to be aware of that when compiling a want/need list.
Perks and Projects at the New House
The first house we tried to buy was move-in ready and perfectly painted, which would have been lovely and low-stress. Instead, our new home has excellent “bones” and needs mostly cosmetic updates. That’s actually exciting—refinished real wood floors, a new roof, updated fence and new A/C units mean the major systems are taken care of.
Cosmetically, the walls are painted in shades of lime and yellow and many fixtures are original brass, so there’s plenty to update. The bathrooms and laundry have original tile and countertops that we plan to replace eventually. I like to joke that it’s our “lemon and lime” house because of all the green and yellow tones.
We’ll tackle a number of phase-one renovations to make the home livable and reflect our style, while saving for larger gut renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms down the road. I have a lot of design ideas brewing, and although I want to wait and budget wisely, I’m already making vision boards and planning the order of projects.
Walking into a new blank canvas can feel overwhelming, but I’m excited to share the entire process with you—from color selections and light fixtures to countertops and layout changes. I’ll ask for your input on what to update first, likely through Instagram and stories, so follow along there if you’d like to weigh in and see behind-the-scenes updates.
If you’ve read this far, thank you for coming along on this journey. I can’t wait to take you through our move, the renovations and all the decorating that follows.
xo, Laura
More Posts You’ll Love:
- Our Current House
- We’re Moving!
- Introducing: Our New Home!