Hi everyone, it’s Amy and I have some kind of big news to share. The last month has been a bit of a whirlwind, if you follow us on Instagram that you probably have heard some of this but if you missed it, we have moved and are in the process of building a new house. Last fall we started the process to build a home in a neighborhood we’ve had our eye on for about, well, about 10 years now.
I’ll start by saying that obviously moving right after the holiday wasn’t really our plan, but life has a funny way of working out, doesn’t it? Moving in the “Artic Blast” that hit the east coast last week? Definitely also not the plan either, but let me backtrack a bit. We purchased our home (above) almost 4 years ago, after a sudden relocation back to Northern Virginia due to my health issues. At the time our home options were limited to just a few neighborhoods so my children could return to their previous schools, which had very few homes for sale at the time. We eventually wound up purchasing our home privately from neighbors after having rented briefly down the street.
Over the last four years, as you have probably seen on the blog, we updated the home, did some fun DIY projects, and made it our own {my post on all the projects we did is HERE}. Then, last year after one of those rough seasons of life that make you ponder everything, my husband and I started talking seriously about what we wanted for our future as far as our home, the location, and where our kids would (ideally) spend their last years at home before heading to college. We felt our current home was too large and too far from their schools, not to mention it wasn’t really appreciating in value, especially if/when we made the pricier updates we felt it needed, like a bathroom remodel. Also, if you read my Day in the Life post, you saw that I was spending up to two hours a day driving between schools and activities for my kids. The (public) high school we are zoned for is about 20 minutes from our home so with our sons in a variety of sports (and no late bus) it required a lot of driving back and forth and would for many years to come.
We also started talking about how we wanted to downsize, have fewer rooms in our house we didn’t use (like a formal dining room or formal living room, as nice as they were to decorate), and to have a master bedroom on the main level as we get (cough!) older. We’d considered building in a large neighborhood we liked near our kids’ schools several times before, but this time we decided that if it was where we wanted to be, it was now or never. Our kids were thrilled with the idea as well, since most of their friends live in the area we wanted to move to.
We briefly had our home on the market late last spring but removed it after the unexpected loss of my father-in-law and no serious offers despite frequent showings, which was strange, but I see now the timing wasn’t in God’s plan. After we regrouped for a few months, we knew we still wanted to pursue building so we relisted our home early last Fall and saw much more success. We accepted a contingent contract after a few weeks on the market, which allowed us plenty of time to make building decisions as we waited for our first purchaser’s home to sell.
I’ll do a follow-up post all about the new home we are building, plus I am sure I will have plenty to post about it this spring, but looking back, I am grateful that we had the chance to make all the building decisions early in the Fall before things got kind of crazy :). At the end of November we received another offer on our home (right as the first contingency was expiring), one that was too good to refuse, the catch being that we had to close in just over 30 days which was just after the new year. To say the least that made for an interesting holiday! I posted my holiday home tour HERE, and then promptly undecorated much of my house the next day.
Looking back, I admit December is a bit of a blur but we successfully managed to pull off my daughter’s Nutcracker, two of my children’s birthdays, have a great Christmas, find a temporary rental and a move all in the last 30 days…and we even got to visit with Christy’s family who graciously overlooked the boxes piled throughout in our home while with us! We closed on our former home last week, and this spring will be living in a rental home about 15 minutes away until our new home is ready.
I could blog all about how much I have learned from this experience about waiting, but going into it my husband and I committed to our move, if it happened, it would be God’s timing and not in ours. As always, waiting is hard but when He opens the floodgates, it all just works out. The stories I could tell about how all the pieces fell together, it’s not lost on me that none of it would have happened without Him masterminding the plan.
{I saw this on IG from Cyndy and thought it pretty much summed up our last year!}
I won’t be sharing too many decorating projects while we are in this rental home these next few months (it’s not really a typical rental situation) plus I am much more interested in talking/writing/posting about our new home anyway! Truthfully, since we’ve been so absorbed in moving for the last 5 weeks, I have barely had time to think about the home we have under construction (or will once they break ground) I am excited to get back to it and will share all about it in another post in a few days.
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(the site of our future home)
Also since it is January and we’re all in organization mode, one thing that moving teaches you is just how much stuff you have. Since we put most of our “stuff” in storage, my husband pointed out the other day if we could live without it for 6 months maybe we really didn’t need it that much after all. Food for thought! I’ll be on a massive purging/organizing kick for the next few months if you want to follow along, and stay tuned for a part 2 post soon (UPDATE: That post is HERE!) which will be all about our new home!
XO,
How exciting Amy! God has a plan for all of us, sometimes we just get the timing wrong. We had our home listed last yr and it was the same thing, despite interest we didn’t have any bites. I also wasn’t doing a very good job as a real estate agent and wasn’t accepting all requests for showings. I wanted (still want to) build a new home more than anything. But I realized I really was the only one that wanted to. My husband is so busy with his construction business that he would have little time for our home. My kids were adamant about not moving. Once I realized how my desires might not be what our family needed I pulled it off the market. Just after that my husband had a health scare, I can’t imagine what we would have done if we were building! I now trust Gods plan for us more and I’ll have to settle on following my friends journeys while they build ☺️❤️. Your lot is beautiful, I can’t wait to follow along!
Thank you Jen, I loved hearing your story. It’s amazing how God knows best! I shared before that we had a buyer last spring who moved to another house down the street when it came on the market, but thank goodness they did because their closing date would have been 2 days after my Father in Law’s funeral, can you imagine? I am so grateful now that didn’t work out, though it was hard at the time. I hope your husband is doing better and when the time is right you can build your next home. Your current one is gorgeous though! Hope you are having a wonderful New Year, XO Amy
Boy did this hit home. i finally convinced my husband that it is time to move. truthfully he still isn’t sure. because of his health issues we have to stay close to yale/smilow hospital and i want to move closer to them. We are approx. 30 minutes away now. we are already older – 67 and almost 69 and our 5 bedroom house with two floors is just too big for the two of us. i want one floor with an attached garage with less bedroom space and more living space. i have already started purging but i have a long long long way to go. after 46 years of marriage you can only imagine what i have collected. good luck in your move.
Patty, good luck it’s a daunting process but I think you are wise to start it and do what is best for you all long term. I feel for you with the purging process, but take it little by little and maybe it won’t be overwhelming. I hope you find a house that meets your needs and that everything works out for you both. Good luck! All the best, Amy
How fun and exciting. I am so thrilled for you. Since we just moved at Christmas time last year, I can totally relate. You will have so much fun planning your new home and I can’t wait to hear all about it. Congratulations.
Thank you Marty, I appreciate your sympathy with the Christmas move! Though at least I had my teenage boys home on vacation to help, that was actually great timing (they may not have agreed!) but they are great at carrying boxes 🙂 I love your new house, you have made it beautiful! XO, Amy
I am so excited and happy for you all! We have been in our current home for 25 years, and while we have no plans to move anytime soon, there are things we do need to do to make it more of the home we need “now”. When we moved in we had a 2 1/2 year old. Now the girls are grown, yet Katie is living with us for a bit and we have the dogs. Not to mention we aren’t getting any younger. Some of the things are maintenance that comes with an aging home, others are things to make it more suitable for our current lifestyle. But even most of those have been put on hold since we lost my MIL last year and we now have a home in Michigan to clean out and sell. It’s on the market, but things there don’t move in the winter months due to the weather conditions. I know God has the perfect buyer for the home, and it is all about timing. looking forward to following along on this new journey with you.
Oh Lauren, that is so hard. Selling a family home and having it be so far away. I hope you find a buyer as soon as you get some warm weather there and that it is a smooth transaction (that part in itself is hard too, especially when you are out of state and selling). I am sure you will get to the point when you do all those updates, but in the meantime enjoy having your girl home and especially the puppy 🙂 (I should probably say dog now, right!) XO, Amy
God does work in mysterious ways doesn’t he? Twenty three years ago(!) There was a home we wanted and even gave the sellers their asking price. Sparing the details it fell through because the sellers didn’t want to sell because, after all, it had now been fixed up and they liked the home more than they thought. ha? I also was in the hospital for three days because say the word ‘house’ and my brain fried (all stress related). although it was the right decision, i was bummed the purchase wasn’t happening. I continued looking in the same neighborhood, and low and behold found a house where we tore it down and rebuilt a 2-story brick colonial (my dream!). this house we now live in is bigger, new, and in a better area then the one i was grieving over. I’ve thanked god many times for how this worked out because i would definitely take the current house over the one we almost had. home building is exciting and stressful – as much as i felt i could handle all the questions/decisions (hubby left this all to me and i was ok with it), there really was a lot of decisions that had to be made – some not so important and some very important. Remember to ‘breathe’!! I am excited for you re this journey and look forward to your writings as we all travel along side you. 2018 is your year!! HUGS!
Thank you Julie–your support means the world. I am so glad to hear your story, and hear that you wound up in a better place. This is a long-awaited move for us, one that fulfills many needs for our family so I appreciate your support. Some people think we are crazy LOL, and moving at Christmas there were times when I thought we were too! Anyway, I am very excited and can’t wait to show you all what we have planned. Have a wonderful day! XO, Amy
What a busy girl you have been. We downsized 6 years ago, for different reasons ~ our kids were all out of the house. Lived in an apartment for 11 months while our new home was being remodeled. I understand the purging and letting go. It’s hard, but so freeing at the same time. It’s incredible how much less stuff you can get by on. Of course, then you go to the flea market and the madness starts again, but in a different way. Building a new home from scratch is such fun and I hope you love every minute of it.
Carol–you are so right, I will just wind up giving so much away then finding more and bringing it home won’t I? I guess that is the process. At some point you wonder how many sets of china you need though, but it’s hard to decide what to part with. I am sure that was a process to do a total remodel but I’ll bet the result was wonderful! Thank you for your kind note, XO Amy
I am beginning to realize that God has a plan for us and we should not argue.
I left my family back in New jersey 5 years ago to begin my new job in Knoxville, Tennessee. Husband was left to pack up an entire house by himself(I think he has forgiven me). We have never been happier!
Everything works out for us as it is supposed to be.
Betty I am so glad to hear that you are so happy, that is wonderful! You are so right, we just need to move out of HIS way sometimes. Ha! Thanks for sharing your story. XO, Amy
Congrats Amy and I love the quote! We too plan to build the right sized home…no formal dining room or living room either….and one story! 🙂 Looking forward to your new home journey!
I am looking forward to your journey as well, it is a process but it will be worth it in the end! Can’t wait to see what you do 🙂 XO, Amy
Amy, when you said you were moving I had no idea what that involved ~ the time frame, holidays and activities, etc. You are truly amazing and I don’t know how you did it! I’m so happy for you and I know the new home will be stunning!
I was discussing God’s perfect timing with a friend today. We just need to get out of the way cause it’s planned and He already has it handled. ????
xoxo
Pat
Pat, you are so right. He not only handles it but handles it best, I am grateful for that. This has been such an eye opening experience for me, though I am grateful that it’s (mostly) behind us and now we just wait for them to actually build! Hope you had a very happy new year, XO Amy
Oh my Gosh Amy! How wonderfully Exiting and Stressful!! I wish you all the best of luck. I know your new home will be amazing!
Thank you Heidi, we are very excited about this next adventure. It’s not a complete custom build (we’re working with a production builder) so we have our limitations. I will share more on that part next, but I think that limitations are always part of the process and I am sure we’ll figure it all out. So thankful for your support! XO, Amy