It’s happening! We accepted an offer on our home and as of today, we are under contract. Knowing that in less than a month’s time, we’ll be saying goodbye to our old home and hello to New England, I’m feeling all of the nostalgic feels.

We bought this house in late 2011 as our first place as a family. We had been looking for a couple of weeks, with no luck, when it was listed as a foreclosure. The day it was listed, I saw it. (Without an email alert. I was lurking that hard.) It didn’t have any photos listed yet, but I read the stats and was so excited it had a POOL(!) for my triathlon training that we went and saw it in person that very day.

It wasn’t all that pretty.

But I walked in, and I knew. I hadn’t seen pictures, I hadn’t seen the rest of the house, but I remember walking in the front door and thinking it was perfect. Woman’s intuition. (Or maybe I just really wanted that pool.)

It had been uninhabited for over a year, and neglected for some time before that. We had a lot of initial work done to it, and we moved in, all three of us, in February 2012. Over nearly four years, we poured love into this house and filled it with joy, memories, and laughter.

 Scroll through the photos of the evolution of that old foreclosure to our first home, and click on the photos to enlarge.

Foyer

The foyer, living/dining room combo and den all had really crazy textures on the walls. We had those removed ASAP. The foyer went through some wall color changes over the years (this being my favorite), we installed keyless entry locks, and, shortly before we listed (much to my irritation ;]) we replaced those terrible old floors.

Living/Dining Area

We resurfaced all of the hardwoods, painted every room in the house, changed the light fixtures, filled it with books, travel souvenirs, photos of family and friends, thrift store finds, and lots of silliness.

Kitchen

If you thought you might have seen a fan with blades in the shape of chilies in this photo of our kitchen when we first bought it, you are not mistaken. And, yes, those are various fruits on the tiles that covered the backsplash and countertops. We did away with all of that, and got new appliances.

Den

Hallway

I stayed up all night a couple of years ago painting these hallway stripes. I’m just going to try and not think of the possibility that they may be painted over.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is the only room that I ever thought was “finished.” I still have the beginnings of many projects that may or may not happen in the next house.

I made that leaner mirror by hand!

Master Bath

In the master bath, Mark picked out the shower layout. Had we already been married, I might’ve vetoed him. (Same with the kitchen backsplash and counters…I’m bossy like that.) Hall Bathroom

I just loved this bathroom. I spent so many hours over the years getting ready in here, and it had plenty of space and mirrors for three girls to get ready to go out. LOVE. (Especially when I was still in college and I actually went out, hah!)

Tobias’ Room

When we moved in, Tobias’ favorite color, and his walls, were bright orange. He decided a year ago it was turquoise, and I surprised him after a sleepover with his father before Christmas with a brand new turquoise (and cleaned by mom, for a change) room.

Office

When we moved in, Mark declared that the office was his only room. There were more photos, my vision board, my degree, a painting of Yoda, ect. in here before we listed and took these photos.

In the next house, all of the rooms are mine to decorate. 😉

Back Yard

I don’t garden. I’ve tried, don’t get me wrong. But have you ever been OUTSIDE in Houston? The yard didn’t change much at all–we eventually tore down that old ugly shed, and we never got around to putting our little waterfall pond into working order on the side of the yard that doesn’t have the pool. Then again, I ever got around to building that playhouse and I’m thankful for that!

The buyers worked my patio furniture into the contract this morning. Mark bought it for me for my 25th birthday. I was like, “My patio furntiure?! What?!” I need it less now that we won’t have a pool and it was relatively inexpensive from World Market, so it’s not a big deal…but, still!

I’m going to miss this house so much. For the last few months, while it was listed, I kept looking at things like mirrors, light fixtures, even our master bathroom cabinets and feeling disbelief that the things I picked for our home back in January of 2012 were never actually ours. I even made #oretaplace on Instagram weeks ago as I went through some of the memories I’ve shared.

That being said, I am exhilarated about beginning this new chapter, and sharing it with y’all–though “y’all” may get phased out of my vocabulary, whether I like it or not.