The New House

Hello friends!

Welcome back to the blog and to our new home for the first time. Last time we spoke I told you we were moving and selling our house. We needed the house to sell before we could pay for closing costs on another one (although closing costs will be reimbursed). We moved into my parents' house for the time being. Then we were tasked with finding a new house.


We flew out to Knoxville, Tennessee and spent a weekend house hunting.

 

 

We looked at 15 houses on our first day and by the time we got back to the hotel room we were feeling extremely discouraged. It definitely didn't help that we spent the whole day listening to Henry scream because he wasn't being held, and Calvin making a bunch of noises to keep himself entertained. We liked one house we saw that day, and while we were there our realtor (who is a saint by the way) found out that they were already getting an offer on it. So that night we really did some digging on Redfin. We really didn't want to spend any time separated when his new job started. 

Jeffery called me over, "Come look at these pictures, they look like they were taken with a potato." We had a much needed laugh together. 

"Maybe the house isn't as bad as it looks," he said. At this point we really had nothing to lose so we added this listing to the email we sent Angie (realtor).

The next day Angie greeted us with good news, the offer on the house we liked yesterday ended up falling through. At least we had something in case we liked nothing we saw today. We skipped over a few houses that we really didn't want to see, but this one house with the awful pictures we just couldn't stay away from. What was hiding behind the 2000s flip phone photos? The house we ended up buying, of course.

We never intended to buy a fixer upper. In fact my last blog post ended with the assumption that this blog wouldn't be the home improvement blog it once was, and yet here I am, about to show you a house that needs some TLC. Though the house we originally liked was fully move in ready for us, it just wasn't perfect. There was no backyard, the front yard was horribly sloped. and I just did not like the town we drove through to get to it. So instead, we ended up with a 1990s house who's style hasn't changed since it was built. 

Alright, story time's over, now let's get to what you're really here to see.

House Tour

This house has good bones, built premium when it was stood up. A widow sold it, and her late husband had the house made ADA friendly, so you'll see handles and ramps in various places. They also apparently liked blue.

Here's the view from across the street.

Yes, this house is number 4000.

I think I counted 5 Knockout Rose bushes. These will definitely need to be pruned back come early spring.

It became pretty obvious to us that after the husband died, things started not being cared for as well as they may have once been. 

What is this pile of rocks near the house in between all the massive greenery?

 A mostly dried up fish pond, and let me tell you, I am so excited to have a pond to clean up this spring. Fancy goldfish keeping here I come!

 

 The house also has a detached 2 car garage. The driveway is separate and off the side road (this is a corner lot).

 Okay, inside the house. When you enter the house you are greeted by this lovely open living room featuring a cozy fireplace.

To your left is a small hallway with doors to the laundry and pantry. The hallway ends in the kitchen. Also to the left is the dining room.

  

This is the view of the room from the fireplace looking back towards the front door.

 

This is the bathroom to the left of the stairs.

There's a built in bookshelf beside the bathroom and then this room to the left is our bedroom with on suite bathroom and walk in closet.

 

Our bathroom is ADA friendly and sports an odd layout.

 

Back to the dining room. There's large windows over looking the deck and backyard.

 

 Here's the spot which will be one of the biggest projects of the house. The kitchen is original to the house and definitely needs some updating.

 

The attached garage goes right into the kitchen.

 

 Off the kitchen is a large family room that is an addition to the original house.

 

There's big skylights, floor to ceiling windows, and a set of french doors out onto the deck.

 

 Hot tub on the deck with a large pergola for shade.

Now let's head upstairs.

 

To the left at the top of the stairs is a full bathroom.

 

As well as a bedroom, and a flex room attached to that bedroom. This bedroom will be Henry's.

 

And this flex space with be Calvin's room.

 

To the right at the top of the stairs is another bedroom.

As you can see there's a lot to do around this house too. I hope you're as excited to see the changes as we are to make them. We definitely upgraded space and land, and can't wait to watch the boys grow here.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Em

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