Our Home...

Jeff and i bought our first "starter" home in Jan 2002, only 6 months after getting married. We loved our little home and it was a great size for the two of us (approx 1500sqft) but when the housing market was doing so great we saw it an an opportunity to make a little off of it and get something larger. Interest rates were great at the time, too, so we could get a bigger house for not too much larger of a monthly payment. So we sold and bought our 2nd house which we worked hard to make our HOME!

 We bought our house in October 2005. Everything in it was builder grade and over the 8 years we lived there we spent countless hours of our own sweat as well as about $25,000 to upgrade lighting, floors, fixtures, etc as well as landscaping, adding a back porch, etc.

When Mommie passed away in Jan, Jeff and I knew that it was in her will to sell her home and property and divide the money between her four children. Jeff and I had tossed around the idea of, one day, buying an older farm home on some land. We started talking about buying Mommie's home. The thing is, we lived 1/2 a mile from Mommie in our home and the thought of driving by the house that I grew up in but never being able to roam the property again was pretty much heartbreaking.

And the thought of buying it and living in the house I grew up in without Mommie and Daddy being around was pretty much heartbreaking.

The question was: which would be worse?
The answer: watching strangers buy the home/property.

We knew our emotions would eventually calm down from losing Mommie and if we didnt make the decision NOW to talk to the family about buying it, we would regret it. It was a hard decision to make at such an early phase in pregnancy, knowing we'd be making lots of decisions while expecting a baby. But it was a now or never decision.

We worked hard to just touch up everything and make sure our home was completely move in ready for about 6 weeks. And then the day came to take the pictures for the MLS listing and put it up for sale...

I offered to do the pics myself (instead of Jeff's Dad, who is our real estate agent) and just email them to him. I wanted the memories in picture form anyways... So, here they are!

Our kitchenette. Replaced the lighting

Kitchen... we replaced the lighting and put in silestone countertops

We used our dining room as a playroom in this house. It was a perfect set up for us!

And off the kitchenette was a "sunroom" where we kept our fine china, a seat and our desk

In the laundry room we tiled the floor

The bonus room had just recently become Rhyan's room right after Christmas in anticipation of the baby coming (although at the time no one knew that!) Rhyan had been asking to get to move up to the bonus room so she LOVED this room! We did too! It was super cute for her!

Mack's room and the room that served as the nursery for both our babies! I had grown to LOVE this room, simple as it may have been. It just held so many sweet memories of rocking my babies!

Our Master Bedroom! Simple and spacious and got great light, which i LOVE!

Our foryer. I've never had a foryer till this house and always felt it was wasted space, but it spoiled me!

Our extra bathroom. We put down tile, replaced the mirror and fixtures in here.

Our extra bathroom (Aka: Rhyan's "old room"). This was one of my FAVORITE rooms because of the beautiful big window and great light it got in!

And this was our master bathroom! We put in tile, replaced the shower, updated all the lighting and faucet fixtures and mirrors and had it custom painted. Loved this room!

Our living room was SO open and roomy. My only complaint is that I really dont love vaulted ceilings. Its cold in the winter and just doesnt feel cozy to me. I guess you like what you grew up with, huh?

And then there was my very favorite place in the whole house... our back porch! I LOVE being outdoors!

There was obviously also a full basement, and I did take a picture but it was pretty full of stuff and not worth posting :-). This was the house we called "home" for 8 years. Where we brought both our babies home from the hospital and spent most of our married life so far! It holds so many memories for our family. And while we were sad to leave it, we are so blessed to now be raising our kids on the same property that I grew up on!

Btw, we put our house on the market on a Thursday evening (March 13th) and it showed for the first time on Saturday March 15th. And that evening, while we were out of town in Tifton for Jeff's cousin's wedding, those people put in a contract which we negotiated for about a week. And less than 2 weeks later we were OUT of our home. What a whirlwind.