Falling into Place

We often wonder if we're still on the right path, doing what we're supposed to be doing. When we moved into our current house, we felt strongly that this was where we were supposed to be. The house, the neighborhood, the school, the ward (congregational boundary). We knew this was the right place, and it was a great feeling. At the same time, I couldn't help but look forward. I knew we wanted more kids, and I knew the house we were in could only handle our growing bunch for so long. Even though that "limit" was all in my head, it was real nonetheless.

Benjamin at about 14 months, right around the time we moved in.

 Lately (actually, starting with Lydia's pregnancy), I've felt what can only be described as (probably mild) claustrophobia. I attribute that to sharing all of my personal space with another person for 9 months straight, while living in an 1100 sq. foot home with four other people.

Our fourth, Lydia is now 14 months.

Knowing this was largely in my head, and that my own ancestors (not to mention billions of people across the globe) have lived with a LOT less, I have done my best to be content. We didn't know if things would change at work anytime soon, and we didn't know if St. Louis was really our forever home. So we lived with what we had and made the best of it. And I can honestly say, we've been really happy.

Sixteen showings in 24 hours. We couldn't believe it.

We started our home search this Spring. During one of our casual "let's just see what's out there" online house window-shopping nights, we came across what we later termed as the "rainbow unicorn." In our favorite area, five bedrooms, a nice private backyard and comfortably within our price range. When we contacted a realtor about it, of course it was sold already. We prayed about it, and felt impressed that we could move if that's what we wanted to do. Not incredibly reassuring, but we decided it was time to get serious about putting our house on the market and finding another. 

We went to the Magic House that first afternoon of showings.

We really wanted to sell our home before buying another. There was just too much uncertainty, and holding two mortgages indefinitely terrified us. The realtor team we chose seemed pretty confident about selling ours though, so we looked and prepped simultaneously, every now and then discovering a home that was almost perfect. After a while, we took a break to get the drain pipe fixed, knowing we couldn't sell until that issue was totally resolved. The day we were finally ready to go back out looking, our dream house (which a friend in our ward had told us about before it hit the market, and which I had refused to actually consider because it was out of our price range) made a huge price drop- just into the upper limits of our price range. We jetted right over there that day, and knew right away this was the one. We also knew it wouldn't last long at that new price, so we went for it.

Paul removing the dead squirrel out front for day two of showings.

The next week our house went on the market, and we just had to wait for our realtor to get our brochures printed out before we started officially showing it. Once they were in, we had 16 showings in a 24 hour period- and all before the open house, where another 50 people came through. We got two offers that first night, and just like that - our house was sold. The couple who bought it reminded us of ourselves when we bought this house. Just like us, they offered more than listing, wanted to keep all the appliances, and asked for closing costs. I'm still holding my breath a little until everything goes through, but the timing has felt nothing short of miraculous. I'm so grateful.

So....here's looking forward! I took some pictures during our inspection. It's a house from the mid-sixties, but it is SOLID. That foundation is in great shape, something I could never say about our current home. Here's the spot I want to convert into my studio! I'm really excited about this.

Here's the entry, with two closets on either side of the front door, and facing the stairway.

I am in love with the curvature of the stairway. 

And the upstairs hallway is crazy. Eight doorways leading to six bedrooms and two bathrooms- not counting the one off the master. Can you say - Guest room!!! We are excited not to have our guests on an air mattress in the basement anymore. So seriously, if you're ever in our neck of the woods, you no longer have an excuse not to stop by!

The bedrooms all kind of look like this. Wood floors, builder beige walls. 

One of the two bathrooms is updated, but the other looks like this. I might need to stretch my creative muscles with this one until we can feasibly do a bigger renovation...

Having never had a master bath, this is an especially exciting thing! It's nothing too fancy- no big jetted tub, but it's OURS. No more tub toys or little boy spray. ;)

Back downstairs, there's a living room (which we'll convert into a library/music room) on one side of the entry. It looks back into the family room. 

And the dining room is on the other side of the entry. While I'm not wild about the chandelier, that ceiling medallion is staying! (Paul and I were throughly enjoying our leisurely tour through our new house without kids, since they were at a friend's house! haha...)

The family room has these great ceiling beams that will be stripped. I'm all for natural wood beams. 

 The other side of the family room has a door leading to the backyard and a wet bar (which I'll probably knock out and convert into a game closet. Through the hall is a bathroom on the right and the kitchen. There's even a cute little desk right there, perfect for the computer!

 The kitchen is pretty plain, but I'm thrilled. It has probably three times more storage than what I've had these past seven years, and the layout is great. We can definitely live with this for a while until we save our pennies to make it ours. And I'm actually glad it's not granite. I would have felt a lot more guilty ripping out granite than this. :)

That doorway on the far left is the laundry room/closet!!!! No more basement laundry!

We may build a bench along that far wall for the eating area.

We still don't know when our closing date is. With Benjamin's baptism coming up in less than a month and our parents coming into town for that, we're hoping to get in as soon as we can. We're officially ready to move forward!!!