Ranger needed a backyard and the house came with it…

Well…where to begin?! If you’ve been hanging out with me for a little while now, then you probably remember that we put the condo on the market this past summer. Spoiler alert, it sold! The truth is, putting the condo on the market happened after finding our forever home! Sooooo yeah… we’ve got a lot to catch up on!

I’ll be sharing all about the emotional rollercoaster that was the selling of the condo next week, but for now, let’s talk about the home-buying process!

The Decision

You might be wondering why on earth I sold the condo. Yeah, I get that! After renovating and updating it to exactly my liking I was so happy! I really saw us there for several years.

Of course when Covid hit everything changed for everyone. Not having a backyard was always a slight inconvenience that was overshadowed by my perfect kitchen and my spa-like bathroom. But when I no longer felt comfortable taking Ranger to the park, I started really wanting my own outdoor space.

Truly, what I wanted was a slice of my childhood. I think back to my home growing up and two words come to mind: getaway and gather. Getaway because our backyard felt like a retreat so we never had to go anywhere! I was so lucky to grow up with all this space to run around and play! And Gather because our home was where friends and family came together. As I can imagine most would agree, 2020 put a lot of things into perspective and I’m so fortunate to have been able to start a new, exciting chapter.

House Shopping During Covid

The house hunting process itself was exciting and far easier than the selling process! The only thing I wish was that I could have brought my mom and dad through the houses! Instead of having them right alongside me, I would call them after each house, send them the links to view online, and we’d discuss! At some homes, a realtor would just show up, open the front door, and wait in his or her car. Other times the realtor would wait in the front room. Either way, I felt safe throughout the entire process.

Something you might not think of unless you’re currently house hunting yourself, was not being able to touch anything inside the homes! There are probably plenty of people who didn’t follow that rule (insert angry face here), but I did! Imagine walking through a house and not opening the cabinets or closet doors, not touching the railings, avoiding the light switches… yeah it was kind of weird!

In total I toured 8 houses over 2ish weeks. I’ll share a crazy story with you in a minute, but before I do I’ve got to rewind to before the process even started!

The house that got away….

The first day this whole “buying a house” idea turned into more than just an idea, but a decision, I found my dream home! It was the first listing I clicked on while scrolling through Zillow and I knew it was the house. Yes, really!

After calling the listing agent and finding out that an offer had already been accepted (and after trying to persuade the listing agent to consider my offer, to which she definitively said, “It’s already done”) I was bummed.

This house had water views. WATER VIEWS, people!! I’d only ever dreamed of a house with water views. Waking up each morning, opening the blinds, sitting out on my porch, it would have never gotten old for me.

Not only that, but it was recently remodeled, had 5 bedrooms & bathrooms (crazy!!), a gorgeous kitchen and open concept living. It. Was. Perfect.

Everyone always says there’s always another house. And yep, they’re right.

One of the homes I thought was really cool (and still do!) was an older home with a beautiful rolling backyard, pool, and gosh, like 8 bedrooms!? Walking through room after room I realized there is such a thing as too much house and this was it! I swear the kitchen (which was amazing) was probably the size of the entire condo!

Another home, a new build that was still under construction, seemed to check almost all my boxes. In addition to being in the neighborhood I wanted, it was going to have an absolutely stunning kitchen (rendering below), and I loved the layout! The house, when done, would undoubtably be gorgeous. Ultimately, the beautiful home overshadowed the entire reason for starting this process… a yard! And while the outdoor space was nice, it didn’t give me that special feeling that I have about my childhood home.

Two weeks and eight houses later, I met my forever home! Incredibly, it checked off everything on my list and then some! Ranger gave it her paw-proval (I just thought of that…ha!) And most importantly, it felt like a getaway and a place where people would come to gather (once it’s safe to do so!).

I love it so much, it’s our forever home and I can’t wait to share it with you!

I won’t be moving into the house until late summer 2021. In the meantime, surprise! I’m back living with my parents! From 1,600sqft to 600sqft to 4,000sqft it’s been and will certainly be quite the journey!

*I’m going to hold off sharing any photos of our new home until moving in! It’s not going to be easy though, I’m seriously so excited to share it with you!! Below is another rendering from the new construction home I loved!

Crazy story time!!

Let’s call this house “the frat house”… yup it was that bad! Don’t let the name fool you, though. It was an over-the-top amazing house. Recently built, so many bedrooms, had a legit movie theatre, a huge soaking tub in the master bathroom… what was there not to love?! Well, when we showed up to look at the house, it was completely trashed!!

The guy living in the house was a renter and clearly did not take a second to clean up! Walking into the kitchen we were greeted with crumbs and garbage on the floor. In the master bedroom and bathroom upstairs, clothes were scattered everywhere. It gets worse though… one of the bathrooms had an unflushed toilet! EW!! Honestly, it might have been worse than some of the frat houses I’ve been in!

As someone who has spent countless hours watching HGTV, I had no problem looking past all the yuck and seeing how gorgeous the home underneath it all was. Still though, I left feeling like I needed to shower. Apart from not being in my preferred neighborhood, I did really love it and funny enough, it was the house I spent the most time in out of all of them!

Get ready for lots of home decor inspiration as I start sharing my design projects that I’ll be planning for once I move in! And now, since I’ve typed my little heart out, I’m going to wrap it up there.

With love from Greenwich,
Helen & Ranger