You guys, we bought a new house! And y’all sure are nosey. I am here to answer all your questions and to give you all the details (or at least as many as I feel comfortable sharing online). I’m glad you asked questions because sometimes it’s hard for me to remember every detail that you might be curious about. So here goes nothing…
Q: How many square feet is your new house? How many was the old house?
A: The new house is approximately 2,800 square feet. The old house was about 3,650 square feet. We shaved off about 850 square feet when we purchased this new house. We lost a bedroom and a dining room. And before you ask, yes, we sold the dining room furniture. No room for it here!
Q: How old is this house?
A: The house was built in 2000. It’s new enough to have good bones but old enough to need updating.
Q: How much land is the new house on?
A: The new house is on a little over an acre! Our kids are in heaven. The yard needs tons of TLC though and a fence, so we have a long road ahead of us.
Q: Does the house have a garage?
A: Yes, the house has a two car garage. It’s a side-entrance one so it was hard to see in the first photo I shared.
Q: Can we see the frontyard?
A: Yup. The house has a U-shaped driveway with a grove of awesome climbing trees out front. The kids absolutely love it.
Q: Can we see the backyard?
A: Sure! Most of our property is in the backyard and side yard. The house came with an awesome deck off the back of the house, swingset, fort, two sheds, an above-ground pool with a deck surround, and a half-court basketball court. The yard and “toys” are all in rough shape though, so they will need lots of love and care from us. Eventually some day we’d love to take down the above-ground pool and deck surround and put in a real in-ground pool.
Q: What type of flooring does the new house have?
A: The new house has four types of flooring: hardwood, tile, vinyl, and carpet. The family room and piano room have hardwood. All the other open areas have tile. The bedrooms and game room have carpet. The office has vinyl. I will do a separate flooring post soon so stay tuned.
Q: Are you in the same school district?
A: Unfortunately, no. We are close enough though that the kids will finish out the current year at their current school. In the fall they will start in the new district. After lots of research, we are in one of the top rated districts in Texas which is primarily why we chose this area to move to as opposed to other more rural areas.
Q: I thought you weren’t going to be able to move for at least another year?
A: I have only mentioned this detail in the comments section or through email exchanges, but for those who know our situation, Ben is an Independent Consultant and is a 1099 employee. Because of new laws regarding Fannie Mae, in order to qualify for a home mortgage if you are a 1099 you need two years of tax returns. We only have one (he’s been Independent for about 16 months now). We thought we’d have to wait until at least April 2014 before we could get a new mortgage but after shopping around for quite awhile we found a local bank who was willing to assume the risk and give us a mortgage with them in-house.
Q: Any sadness at all moving out of the other house? Or was it like when you got rid of the van?
A: LOTS of sadness. I was so excited to move into this new home, and within a few hours of signing on the new mortgage I literally had a full-blown panic attack. I then proceeded to be hysterical for the next three days. I’m nothing if not dramatic. It was the exact opposite reaction I thought I’d have. I don’t know where this reaction came from, but my husband probably thought I had lost my marbles. I even had a day when I tried to talk Ben into selling the new house and backing out of our contract on the old house. Ben, our realtor, and my neighbor had to talk me off a cliff. It was probably the most upset I’ve ever been in my entire life. After Ben agreed that we’d move into the house on a “trial” basis I was able to calm down. Now that I am officially moved I LOVE the new house and never want to move!
I think the idea that I was leaving my old neighborhood, old friends, old school, old community, and everything familiar to me hit me all at once once the papers were signed. And I just totally flipped out. This transition was not easy, but it was so worth it. I love my new home!
Q: Can we see a floor plan?
A: I would love to show you a floor plan but I seriously suck at those online floor plan makers. I have it drawn out on paper with a sharpie so I’ll scan that in and show you as soon as I can find my scanner.
Q: Are you going to do the same color scheme you did in the first house?
A: I am undecided. I am definitely not doing the butter yellow again even though I love it. I really love the gray undertone though instead of a tan one, so I’m conflicted. I will probably go with gray again but will choose a different shade that has more of a taupe undertone.
Q: Is the new neighborhood far from the old house?
A: We are about 20 minutes away from the old neighborhood. In order to get an acre of land and save money on the mortgage we had to go a little further out from the city center.
Q: Is there a Basement? An Attic?
A: The house does not have a basement. Most homes in Texas don’t because the water table is too high or because there’s too much limestone. Yes, the house has an attic. The A/C unit is up there. We probably won’t use it for anything though except storing random stuff.
Q: You already moved in? did you sell house #1 yet?
A: We just moved in on Saturday. The house is such a disaster from moving that I feel like I live in an episode of Hoarders. House #1 is under contract. The buyers will sign the final closing papers in about a week.
Q: Dana from House*Tweaking bought a smaller fixer-upper last year. Are you copying her? Young House Love just bought a new house too.
A: Seeing Dana downsize to a smaller house to save money and to help her family feel more unified definitely was inspiring for me. That is when the idea started mulling in my mind. We originally were looking at houses around 1900-2000 sq ft, but this 2800 sq ft house popped up and we just had to jump on it. Most of the extra 800 sq ft are the extra 4th bedroom (office), a 3rd bathroom, and the gameroom.
Like everyone else, I had no clue that John and Sherry had purchased a new home. They posted about their new home just a day after I posted about mine. I joked with a few friends that it wasn’t fair because they stole my thunder! I’m sure their 5-million-page-hits-a-month blog doesn’t need any of my thunder. I’m just happy they even know who I am. hah 😉
Q: Where did you get that yellow bag?
A: The yellow bag is my camera bag and it’s from an awesome company called JoTotes! It is faux leather and is so super soft and my favorite part? The inside is houndstooth.
There you have it. All your questions answered. I am determined to be a more organized blogger this house go-round. My right-brain has a hard time with organization and blog posting schedules. But I’m going to try! YHL’s consistency is so inspiring to me. Cross your fingers that I can stay on top of the projects and the blog enough to keep it coming to you real-time and consistently.
Now that I’ve shared all this stuff about the new house I’m going to pop back over to the old house and share some loose ends about prepping the house for listing, packing up, and moving, so keep an eye out for that. Also, don’t forget my weekly hookin’ up with hoh party is tomorrow night at 9:30pm CST. Be there or be square.
Coming over from the Haven link up page. Honestly, I clicked on you because you were one of the few names I recognized. I know, I’m the blogger odd ball. I need to click around a bit more and discover new blogs! So cool that you moved further out to 1 acre. That’s what we are doing! New house looks great. Look forward to meeting you in August 🙂
Glad to have you here! Looking forward to meeting you at Haven. Exciting that you are moving onto an acre. How fun!
What were John and Sherry thinking? So not cool to steal your thunder. She better not steal my thunder and get knocked up the same time as me. Just kidding. Kind of. (Disclaimer: I love Sherry and we’re totally BFF so I can say these things.)
Your new house is an adolescent’s dream– pool, basketball court, trees. I want to be your kid. I love the spacious deck too. Looks like I’ll be taking a road trip to visit you in Austin soon. Make up the guest bedroom for me. (I prefer Andes mints on my pillow.)
Ya, John and Sherry were probably like, “Oh crap! Allison posted that she bought a house. We better hurry and post so that no one thinks we copied her (even though we totally did).” Yup, I’m sure that is exactly what was going through their mind. 🙂
Yes, my kids are in heaven now. My son has become obsessed with basketball as soon as he found out the house had a hoop. Before that? No interest in the sport whatsoever.
Please come visit me!
Congrats on your new home Allison! I love it, from the photo’s you have posted.
I see you have the Coastal Glasses on your blog. They advertise your first order free. It is TRUE. If you get the plain glasses without extras you only end up paying for shipping. I just did it! I had an employee help me named :
Arsenio M.
Coastal Contacts Inc.
Customer Service Associate
Email: arseniom@coastal.com
She was so patient, helpful, and nice! Guess What ???? All I had to pay was a 15.00 shipping fee. NOW we shall see if I love my new glasses! WOOT! WOOT!
Awesome to know Lois!
And PS for everyone else reading… Lois is a close family friend. This is not spam! lol
Hey, I’m impressed you answered my questions! We don’t have a U driveway, but our garage is situated like yours. Great acreage! A partial basketball court! RE: sad leaving the other house; I didn’t think about it, but yeah, moving from a house/neighborhood does have a lot more memories than a vehicle! Thanks for being honest!
Well you are welcome. I didn’t reply via email because I was planning on doing the Q&A post, so I hope you didn’t feel ignored. 😉
Hi there! I love the new house already! Your kids are so lucky to have that much room to roam around in. I can’t wait to see all your future great posts about updating the new house. Also, if you ever decide you want a little extra money, you could always rent out one of your rooms during the Formula One races there. LOL! My son went to a race and you would not believe the prices hotels were charging that weekend! I’m talking $400 a night for a Super 8. Yes, a super 8. Can you believe that? Ha! I really enjoy your blog. Have a great week!
Are you serious? That is crazy town. I’ll have to check where the races are. I think we are really far on the other end of town from there, so people might not want to drive that far. That is a great idea though!
Crazy town, indeed. 🙂 And FYI… those outrageous prices extended to every hotel within about a 75 mile radius outside the Austin area. Crazy! 🙂 And of course the weekend after the race, the prices dropped back down to normal. LOL!
Two things that are very unrelated! One is you might want to look at the color Bennington Gray by Ben Moore. It is definitely a combo of gray and taupe. Secondly, reading your reaction to moving 20 minutes away makes me feel better about my reaction to moving 11 hours away! I had such a hard time before, during, and after the move, yet I would think, “People move all the time and seem fine with it–what is wrong with me?” So your honesty makes me feel so much better!!! Best of luck with the new house.
I will definitely look into the paint color. Thanks for the heads up!
As far as moving, you would not believe the theatrics I pulled about moving. I could NOT WAIT to get our dream house, and as soon as we did? Total melt down. You would have thought my child had died. I was over the top hysterical crying for 3 solid days. As soon as we moved our stuff in though? I’ve been just fine. Finally living here reminded me why I loved the house so much when we put an offer on it.
Of course we are a nosey bunch! That’s what blog reading does!
I think it’s exciting that you have such a huge acreage! Lots of play areas for growing teens and summer parties. Please nag those kids of yours about the dangers of the pool, and water… please. Don’t ever let your guard down on this one.
You can rest assured that I am paranoid-city about the pool. It has a fence around it, plus two locking gates. Of course, they can climb over, so we are very strict with them and I watch them like a hawk out there. My son who is almost 12 is always like, “Mom! I am almost 12! I will be FINE.” I don’t think I’ll ever stop worrying about them.
Woo hoo! So excited for you! We just bought our first home in December from a family member and love it but it needs a lot of work too. Luckily we bought way below our approved price since we took Dave’s FPU after the fact. So excited to see what y’all do with the home!
You are so weird. And I LOVE IT! We bought below what we were approved for in the last house, and we still felt like we needed a cheaper home. Would you believe that this house is SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS LESS than what we sold our other house for? Yes, I said 60 thousand. We now have a 15 year note and are so thrilled to be super weird.
I am so excited for you!! It was funny to me when you posted about the new house becuase I had been thinking about you and had thought now when she gets done doing all these updates to her house what is she going to do and then you sold it. I can’t wait to see all the updates you do to the new house. I love that bag too! BTW, I know who you are but I have no clue who that other person is you were talking about. =)
Well hot dawg, you just made my day! Someone knows me over Dana and YHL? Shut the front door.
So glad you are here! I hope you always find inspiration and that I can help you make your home your dream home too.
Looks like y’all have an awesome new home. Will be fun watching you personalize it for your
family!!!
It’s so exciting to hear about your new adventure! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Best of luck with the moving and adjusting, and I’m sure we’re ALL excited to see you decorate it!
That house is beautiful, I’m sure you’re going to make it gorgeous!
Congratulations! The house looks awesome and I can’t wait to see what you do with it! I know it will be fabulous!
I always knew you were in Texas, but for some never realized you were so close to my corner of it!
I love the Q&A! I love all the land (although I’m sure a riding mower is the first thing you’ll be buying)!
I love the yellow bag question! I was secretly wondering the same question 🙂 Women always tend to think about shopping when it comes down too it huh?! We just purchased a foreclosure home and moved in this last weekend after renovating it for 3 months it was that bad so I feel you pain. #bittersweet
I totally understand freaking out after signing the dotted line. We moved from LAX area to the San Fernando Valley. It was about 30 miles. I had decided to quit teaching for a few years and the move would take me far from my job so I couldn’t work there if I changed my mind. We had to change churches and everything! I was 7 months pregnant when we moved in and I was bedridden till the baby was born. I ended up having post partumdepression and a really tough time. I still have buyers remorse with this house cause I didn’t know how expensive some of the home improvements would be. I’m hoping to return to teaching this year and with the extra money get stuff done to my house that I’ve wanted to do for the last 15 years. I’m really proud of all of you for paying off your bills and improving your living situation. That is where we are now.
Allison! I LOVE your new home. And your blog is amazing. So proud of you. I will come visit next time I’m in the area (which will still be a while) 🙂 Love, Jennie