Prepping Our New Home

We are making the big move to our new home this weekend. Mike and I have been slowly moving boxes and unpacking them at the home so we can concentrate on just the furniture on moving day. Each night we pack our cars with anything and everything and drop it off at the new house before or after work, depending on how early we leave. Nothing like getting really sweaty in your work clothes first thing in the a.m.!



Our new home is small. But that's OK. It's just the two of us, mortgage is still cheaper than rent, and it's OURS. We have a 1.5 attached car garage, and a short basement for storage (which is good, because we don't have enough closets!). On July 7 we are getting a German Shepherd puppy and I am way more excited about that than owning a home. Probably because the puppy is furry and easier to snuggle.

We prepped our home by painting the living room, dining room, master and spare bedrooms. After we started taping the trim and ceilings, we decided the kitchen can be the white that it is. We are having the hardest time choosing a color for it anyway, and the less taping and painting we have to do the better! What a tedious job. I don't have the patience or motivation for it! We have some touch ups to do, but they're where the ceiling meets the wall. Our ceilings are short--only about seven feet high--and Michael is tall, so he gets to finish perfecting our walls! I did the best I could on my tippy toes, but that doesn't allow me to be as sturdy as I should be! Plus, my neck was about to fall off.

We purchased all our paint from Menards, and there was a sale on Dutch Boy paint, so all our paint is the Ultra kind by them, which saved us from having to do multiple coats.

Spare Bedroom: Putting Green--this is a lot brighter than we imagined, but it's growing on us. I think that because it's such a small room without any other color in it right now it seems overwhelming.


Master Bedroom: Silvered Stone is the light color and Gray-cious is the accent wall--I love my master bedroom! I cannot wait to have it all put together!


Living/Dining Room: Misty Surf--this started drying a baby blue color, and I was scared. The sample was a lot more green. But, when it was completely painted and finally all dry we all fell in love with it. I cannot wait to get my brown furniture in here and see how it looks! The light in the two rooms makes it look like it's two different shades, depending on where you're standing. I love that.


We were noticing a lot of spiders as well. Good thing they don't freak me out! Michael bought some bug bombs that were safe to use inside. I feel bad doing it, but at the same time I don't want them in my home. There are also squirrels in our garage. A family of them. We're not sure how they are coming in, but we think there's a hole behind a speaker that was left in a corner. They're adorable, but I'd prefer if they lived outside.

Our home is small, and doesn't have much closet space. The small bathroom (and lack of a linen closet) and proved to be the biggest challenge for me. There are way too many options to choose from, but I think we have it figured out. There is only one bathroom, so eventually we want to make it a real show-stopper and trick it out with awesomeness. But in the meantime, I'll have to live with its ugly silver AND gold fixtures, including towel holders. Ugh. It could be worse, right? Right.

The main problem with the bathroom is there is a lot of wasted space. There are two windows that are causing us the most grief. The vanity and toilet create this empty corner underneath the windows. So for now we have a hamper there (since Mike cannot pick up his clothes from the bathroom floor, I'm hoping this helps!). There is also no medicine cabinet, so we're buying a corner medicine cabinet to put above the toilet. The space above the toilet and between the window frame is only 18" wide, so we were struggling to find a cabinet to fit there, but the angled cabinet will have a bit more storage, and I think easier to access over the toilet.



This is the corner cabinet we purchased from Walmart.com:



I'm also going to buy a wooden spice rack to put on the inside of the vanity cabinet door to store my hair sprays, hair gels, etc. I'm quickly learning how to maximize space! There are also floating shelves you can put inside the vanity to create storage, but my vanity doesn't have walls between the under cabinet part, and the drawers... But, for those of you with fancy walls in your vanity, you can purchase them at Menards! Or, anywhere probably, since they're just floating shelves! :)