Prior to seeing the house in person, we agreed to the lease via email over the summer. After our whirlwind weekend in Dallas, we finally headed to our new home in CO, and we were anxious to see the house. We were exhausted after our 10+ hour drive, so the hotel was a beautiful sight for our tired eyes.
Early the next morning, we met the property manager at the house to do our walk-through, sign papers, and get the keys. Dan and I didn't say much initially, but it's safe to say that we were both immediately regretting our decision as we walked through the house for the first time. Later, we even expressed that we only have to stay a minimum of one year (not the 2-4 years we're stationed here). We could do anything for one year, right?!
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine house...with much more space than we'd ever need...but it was dirty. I mean pretty disgusting. After the property manager left, we immediately went out to replenish our cleaning supplies and got to work scrubbing the house. [There was this sticky film on all of the kitchen counters and cabinets...and we tried everything to get it off. Eventually, we had to use an entire bottle of Goo-Gone + warm, soapy water to clear the surfaces. Hours + hours of scrubbing!]
We basically had just that one night to get the house ready, because the movers were going to deliver our household goods the next morning! Again, after hours of scrubbing the kitchen and bathrooms, we were thankful to rest our heads in the hotel for a second night!
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| Gorgeous view from our hotel |
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| Sydney wasn't so sure about the new house, either! |
Early Wednesday morning, the movers arrived! The move-in process this time around was so much better than in HI. It was a nice change that our household goods were waiting for us, rather than us waiting 40+ days in a hotel for them to arrive!
The moving crew was great, and the day was a blur. We quickly got to work unpacking. This is one of my favorite spaces. We knew when we moved to CO that we wanted a 2-car garage...and I wanted a fireplace :)
Once the house was clean (to our standards) and had all of our household goods inside, we knew we could really make this house our home and love it.
However, we soon realized the consequences of the Hawaii mover's quick pack-up job...Unfortunately, we had many items to claim after this move, including our fine china and stemware :(
Since it was our first time living in a house, we had to make some pretty large purchases... Immediately, we needed to buy a lawn mower and a washer/dryer set. We were feeling pretty grown-up (or at least I was)!
This L-shaped space is directly to your left when you walk in the front door. It's meant to be a living room/dining room, and it wraps around to the kitchen. We've never had a home with two living spaces, so we definitely didn't have enough furniture to fill the space. [We only had one couch set (which was handed down to us by my parents), and we've never had a formal dining room set, either.] Consequently, this space was our staging/unpacking area for a while, and then it remained empty for many weeks (with the exception of my armoire, which was part of my bedroom set before we got married). We knew we'd eventually furnish the space, but there was no immediate hurry.
Breaking in the new mower!
The home is a split-level home. There's basically 4 small levels. When you walk in the front door, there's the kitchen, living, and dining room. Up from there are 3 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. The master bed/bath combo is part of the upper level.
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| Master bedroom |
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| Guest room across from the master bedroom...which will soon become the nursery! |
Down from the kitchen is the 3rd level, and it just has the family room with fireplace. It also has access to the garage, and backyard (through sliding doors). We come in and out of the home on this level the most. The 4th level is the "basement" level, but it's finished and mostly above ground. It includes an open office space, a third full bathroom/laundry room, and two additional bedrooms (which we use for storage for now...we do not need 5 bedrooms, nor do we have the furniture to furnish them!)
The kitchen had some pretty horrible knobs and pulls. Not only were they dated, but they also had that sticky residue on them, and we just couldn't get them clean. So, within a few days, we made yet another trip to Home Depot and got new knobs. To us, it was totally worth the investment!
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| Old ones...aren't they awful?! |
We were thrilled when our washer/dryer finally arrived! The laundry had been piling up ;) And to this day, doing laundry is that much more fun. There's something really cool about owning our own major appliances!
Our backyard space is pretty large and we have a beautiful view of the mountains from the deck. It was great to BBQ our first home-cooked meal after a few days of fast food + unpacking.
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| Sydney absolutely loves sitting in the sun on our deck + spying on neighbors |
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| View of the snow-covered Pikes Peak from our backyard |
Unlike when we first arrived in Hawaii, Dan's schedule was really nice when we got to CO (well, let's be honest, it still is...). With the exception of in-processing, he didn't really have to go to work for the first few weeks. It was a huge blessing to have him around to help unpack, etc!
Dan received a ton of gear for his role as Flight Surgeon - flight equipment, as well as various levels of cold-weather gear.
This cold-weather layer is my personal favorite...
After most of the unpacking was finished, we started to think about furnishing that empty L-shaped space when you first walk in the house. Ikea was one of our first stops and we found a few inexpensive end tables.
Slowly, but surely, the house started to come together...
Hanging things on the wall is one of my favorite things! It really finishes the space and makes it feel like home. Sydney agrees...
These little chairs were the next purchase we made for the L-shaped room. I absolutely love them (HomeGoods), but we didn't realize just how small they'd look in the large empty space...haha!
So...we were thrilled when we found a dining room table and a couch on Craig's list! We purchased everything for under $400, too!
We also found some great items at local garages sales:
The room really started coming together!
And the tiny chairs look much more appropriate across from the couch...
Just when we thought the unpacking was nearly finished, our second shipment arrived. Before we moved to HI, we had stored stuff at my parents' house in NY. Since we could now accommodate all of our stuff in this home, the Army set up a second move for us to deliver everything to CO.
Included in this shipment was the bedroom set I had when I was a little girl. It's perfect for our second guest room on the upper level.
[I've yet to go around and take pictures of the finished rooms, but you can probably expect that post before our next move in a few years...haha...jk I'll try to post a more complete house tour soon.]
Once the unpacking was really finished, Sydney and I decorated for fall :)
It always amazes me how quickly a house can feel like home. We've moved a lot, and each place we've lived somehow feels like home in it's own special way. We've only lived here a few short months, but it already feels like we've been here much longer. For that, I'm truly thankful.
Keep Smiling...
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