how to change your life in 5 days: part I

so you may have heard through the grapevine [or me. right now] that we are buying a new house. it may seem sudden but we've loosely talked about the possibility to upgrading for a year or so. justin is an avid MLS fanatic and will often spend his nights searching homes, researching prices, and planning our future. i spend my nights eating popcorn and perusing on pinterest.

anywho, our first home has been amazing and we feel so grateful we had this huge and amazing opportunity. we bought this house when we were dirt poor [dirt i tell you!], justin was still in school and in a part-time job, and we had a newborn! things just fell into place: the economy was in a terrible state and prices were rock bottom, we heard about a fantastic program that gives down payment assistance to dirt poor people [which we qualified for at the time- knowing we wouldn't always be that poor], and we had been lucky enough with school that we didn't have any debt and some meager savings. honestly, the lord was so prevalent during this time. it took us a year of house hunting to finally get into a home. it was the 7th offer we put in [having already put an offer in on this house the 5th time]. our budget was minuscule and we were competing with investors with deep pockets. it took several months but it finally happened and we got in a home- paying the same amount we did on rent. we were so blessed!

our house is tiny at 1300 sq feet [which really isn't that tiny when i talk to my friend who is living in a 700 sq ft trailer] and we have quickly outgrown our home with the coming of our 3rd kid. i have LOVED our home and i wish we could keep it forever- but i wouldn't want to rent it. renters do not appreciate the hard work and love you put into a home! plus we need the equity. honestly, i don't know how people save up 20% of a home's value other then the way we did. that's a lot of money! i feel like buying this home is the best thing for us - it's going to be our forever house. there's plenty of room to grow and most importantly, lots of projects for us. the house is a foreclosure and being sold to us at a great price [a great price but still a giant stretch for us- it'll be double what our mortgage is now] which i know we can increase by doing a whole lot of elbow grease. despite these feelings, it's terrifying buying a new home, a bigger home, and a bigger mortgage! and one that needs a whole lot of work! i really felt like getting this home was a huge long shot for us but it just seemed to work out. since then i've been having some anxiety but also started dreaming about the future. it's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

that being said, i wanted to look back on all the projects we did. and when i say we, i mean justin did and i watched the kids or helped pick out colors. without further ado, here's what we've got to show for 3 1/2 years of living.

-knocked down our side wall, put up a gate [that justin created with some craig's list cast off], and put down new lining and rocks.
-replaced all the hardware in the house [door knobs, door hinges and such].
-replaced all of the light fixtures [including switching the designated dining room spot into the back part of our house].
-new paint
-new baseboards
-new tile. i've had a few friends i haven't seen in a while come by and remark how much they love the tile. i always forget we had that nasty shag carpet everywhere!
-new blinds, curtains and custom curtain rods
-new bookshelf and kitchen table [of how i love my kitchen table!]
-new bathroom vanity in the spare bath [sink, medicine cabinet, mirror, wall units and two different toilets]
-new cabinets in the laundry closet
-new cabinets in the garage
-new tool bench, shelf, and hanging units in the garage
-new insulated garage door [which is a huge luxury in hot las vegas!]
-new toilet in the master bath
-custom closet - new rods and shoe racks
-new concrete patio and side patio near the gate [where our trash can, trampoline, and shed are]
-custom built shed
-rock gravel on the sides of the house
-beautiful grass and plants
-planter box on the wall
-painted the concrete walls in our backyard
-custom raised garden bed

i wish i had a better pic of the side yard - our garden is just crazy overgrown and it's all a mess.
especially the shed and side gate but oh well.

it's amazing what justin has done to beautify our home and make it unique. it's hard to imagine what it looked like when we moved it- the backyard alone was a horror [dangerous and uneven red wood patio, broken up and partially stained concrete, dangerous electric wiring on the wall, ugly empty pond shell, tree, and ill placed cactus. it was pretty rough]. i feel very blessed to be married to such a handy man who loves to fix up homes. that's why when we were looking for a new place, i knew we would get the best bang for our buck in the long run if we found a home that we could fix up over the years. i really wish we would have kept track of how much we put into the house money wise to see our net profit. [i have a guess - and we're pretty happy with it].

i don't want to give too much away now and jinx myself so i'll talk about our new home in another post

.....to be continued...