November/December Update on Our Home Build

Phew! It’s been a while since our last update—thanks for hanging in there! The last few months have been quite exciting. December brought us an early Christmas present, as of last week, our family is fully moved in! A tad delayed after a projected initial move in Thanksgiving week, but we are counting our blessings all of the same. A lot of flexibility and generosity on the part of our new tenants, kind friends, and hardworking contractors have made it possible!

There are still a handful of small projects that have to be completed before Brent and I can say our dream home is ‘done’. Here is what we have been up:

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER UPDATES:

The last couple of months have been all about making finishing touches and last-minute changes – you could even say ‘realizations’. Have you ever made a design decision, only to later realize that you should have gone with something completely different? Well, I have!  Here are the updates November/December have brought:

Now that we are in our new space, I’ve realized that our fireplace tile is not what I want. Nothing feels worse than realizing that a design element you chose is not fitting the vision you are trying to achieve. Initially, Brent and I were wanting to tile the entire run. When we realized that was slightly outside of our budget, our designer gave us some other options and we went with our second choice and decided to use the tile to frame the fireplace instead. This minor hiccup but I’m happy with our pivot and excited for the new look.

We also realized a little belatedly that we didn’t give as much thought to storage space as we could have. We decided to have an open space concept on the top floor. Originally, we had planned a slanted storage space but decided to take it out of the plans. As I began packing, I wondered where I was going to put everything. We had to get creative with our interior design elements to compensate but I think it’s worth it!

We’ve finished pouring our front steps and laying down our driveway – and we even picked out our front door color! The color is called ‘Overjoy’ and is a yellow hue with green undertones. It is an excellent contrast to our shou shugi ban exterior. I’m also excited about our new kitchen island. Along with the black cabinets and natural wood combination, our kitchen looks amazing! The fourth floor and master bedroom have also come together beautifully. Now that we are all moved in, it has been so exciting to cook in our new kitchen—that’s definitely been my favorite part. This will be baby Camila’s (and ours of course) first Christmas in our new home. I can’t wait to have family over to share our new space together next year.

It’s been a long road and admittedly we don’t feel fully settled. There is still a lot to do—our 4th-floor balcony is incomplete and we are mainly operating in the lower levels. But those homey moments shine through when we’re all hanging out in the main level. I’m excited to feel fully settled, decorate our Christmas tree and ring in the new year with this brand new start!

OLD HOUSE UPDATE:The new tenants are all moved in! During the process of packing up our stuff, I realized just how long it takes to pack and how much we’ve accumulated. We’ve only lived in the old home for six years, and we were nearly overwhelmed. I can’t even imagine people that live in their houses for 20 years! This process has given me more insight and empathy for what my clients go through when I’m giving them a blueprint of getting a house show-ready.Luckily, when I was pregnant, I started to declutter, which I’m so grateful for now. Our friends and family have been so generous in giving us things for Camila’s first year—we never had to buy much. It’s CRAZY how quickly she grows out of everything month to month. I’m doing my best to pass everything on as fast as possible. I can’t even keep up with how often I have to clean out her closet of things she doesn’t fit into any longer. So my current goal is to find friends, family, and organizations in need to donate all of our extra belongings too. I was able to get rid of quite a lot before moving, but there’s still more to go.
UP NEXT:

Looking forward, we still have a handful of small projects to get completed. We were hanging on for our certificate of occupancy from the city, which was the primary cause of our delayed move-in. We had to wait through rescheduled inspections and getting in the last minute details the city requires— the fire sprinkler system, handrails, and some window screens.

Landscaping still has a little ways to go. I recently talked with my good friend, who lives in Texas, and she agreed to draft us up a landscaping design. This and our interior design choices will be our next big steps. I did end up choosing a beautiful couch from West Elm and even though it took ten weeks to be delivered, it was well worth the wait. Waiting is so hard when you are so excited!

A huge thank you to our friends who let us stay in their lovely detached Airbnb while we were waiting to move-in to our new home. So unexpected but there’s no way we would have gotten through as seamlessly without them.

By the time I write next, I’m hoping we’ll be far more settled with far more finished room pics to share! See you then!