New House

For the last month, Stephen and I have been in the process of buying our first home, and are all set to close on July 23. We are super excited about it and can't wait to get out of the duplex we've been renting for the last year! We looked at about 15 houses in the Athens area (and poor Bella got drug around to every one of them!). The most important thing we wanted was a safe, family-friendly neighborhood, in a nice area with a low crime rate and good resale potential; and in the end there was only one house that met all of those qualifications and was within our budget. Not our dream home, but certainly livable, and I think it will be really cute once we make some improvements.

Here are all the details about the house: 3bd/2ba, 1160 square feet, built in 1992, fenced-in backyard, covered front porch, one-car garage, eat-in kitchen, wood-burning fireplace in living room, 10-15 minute drive from campus, and very close to grocery stores, restaurants, the state botanical gardens, and a huge playground. The house is also on a cul-de-sac, which will be great when Bella starts riding a bike. We're most excited about Bella getting a room of her own and I can't wait to finally decorate a nursery for her.

We had a house inspection and termite inspection done, and the seller has agreed to fix most of the issues that came up on the reports. Overall, the house is in good condition, and the only bad thing about it is that the roof, water heater, and heating and air are all from 1992, which means we'll probably have to replace them while we are the owners of the house.

Front of house


Front porch


Kitchen (Peeling this outdated wallpaper will be our first project!)


Living room (I'm thinking taupe for the walls)


Backyard and deck (veggie garden going in next summer!)


We're going to visit the folks in Alabama this weekend, then we'll have a week to pack, followed by a week to move, so there may not be many blog posts for awhile. I have no idea how we're going to pack and move with Bella in tow but I guess we'll figure it out. Really wishing there was someone close by to watch her! I feel bad about putting her through the stress of moving, but hopefully she'll get over it when she finds out how great it is to have her own room where she's not disturbed by us.