The Big Close

We closed on the house and have moved the family in!  The closing went very smoothly.  After getting all of our mortgage documentation in for underwriting, we were approved and just needed to wait for the house to be fully finished.  A couple of days before the actual closing we met at the title agency to sign all of the paperwork and hand over our down payment.  Once the loan funded we were notified that it closed and we could come pick up our keys!

We had movers bring all of our things that have been stored in storage and we drove over with all of our belongings from the rental.  Everything was in the house by mid afternoon, leaving us with a lot of unpacking.  One small pitfall about having sold our last home so quickly is I never had the time to weed out things I didn’t really want to move while packing.  It all just had to go.  So now, we’ll be sorting through and deciding what really needs to stay and what should probably go on craigslist or goodwill.

Its turned out really well and we’re very happy with our choice.  It's amazingly huge after living in that tiny rental property where we were all tripping over one another.  Shockingly, our furniture, although from a much smaller house, seems to fit decently well in the new spaces.  I was really worried the scale of our existing furniture would be too small in the new house with larger rooms, and ceilings that are 2 feet taller in many of the rooms. 

The first big project will be tackling our backyard and courtyard landscaping, as it's currently just dirt and concrete slab for the patios.  First we’re talking to a couple of different landscapers.  Although doing it all ourselves sounds strangely kind of fun, it seems a little more complicated and time consuming that we’re willing to bite off.  First our community requires the HOA to approve all of our landscaping, including the back and side yards.  Although I’m sure I could navigate that process and figure it out, I think in this instance it probably pays to have someone familiar with the process handle it.  I also wanted a landscape architect to design our backyard, and hopefully they’ll come up with something more interesting.  We’ve decided not to put in a pool since we live just a quick walk away from the neighborhood clubhouse and pool.  We’re also thinking of doing faux grass in the backyard, which sure has come a long way from AstroTurf!

We sure have come a long way in a short amount of time.  I wasn’t thinking it would all fall into place quite so quickly.  Since it’s a colossal mess with boxes everywhere , I’ll leave you with a picture of how the kitchen turned out and where I can’t wait to start cooking (after I find our dishes of course!).