Moving Update + DIY Home Projects
Home, Massachusetts
Hope you can excuse my absence from the blog between May to July… it has been a crazy last few weeks to say the very least - let’s catch up! We spent the last 2 months: painting, spending time with our parents who flew into Boston, flying to Washington for work and family in June, and finally installing new floors!
Now that we finished moving all of our belongings into the new house, we are starting to make our mark in our new home! In order to avoid excessive unpacking and repacking, Lucas and I decided to move all of our belongings into the downstairs and living room, while keeping the entire upper level of the house empty. We had plans of repainting the upstairs rooms, as well as replacing all of the flooring.
To schedule a new flooring installation, it was going to take about 4-6 weeks. In the meantime, Lucas and I chose to start painting the rooms ourselves in order to save a few bucks. Please note that we are rookies at interior painting, so there was a bit of a learning curve for us at first, but by the third bedroom we had a routine down!
The first room that we painted was the room designated to become my office space. It was originally a very deep blue color, so we wanted to lighten it up. We chose Chic Grey (Behr Marquee) to brighten the room and to give it a modern minimalist look. We made many painting mistakes in the office… (painting too quickly before letting it completely dry, etc.), but like I said, by the third bedroom, we felt a lot better about our painting skills!
After seeing how great the paint color turned out, we decided to paint all three bedrooms the same color. Although greys are trendy right now, I truly believe that neutrals can never go out of style!
After painting the second bedroom (designated to be my walk-in closet), and the master bedroom, we were ready for new flooring… but, we had to wait a few more weeks for the installers.
Between painting and flooring, my parents actually flew into Boston for the very first time! We were so excited to show them our new house, and our new city. During the 10 days that they were here, we spent weekends exploring New England (like Mystic, CT, Portland, ME, and of course - downtown Boston!). However, during the week, Lucas and I still had to work between 9am-5pm.
Luckily, my parents told us (before they even flew in) that they were more than happy to help us around the house while we worked, so we’d have enough time to enjoy ourselves during the weekend. I can’t tell you HOW GRATEFUL we are. Not only did they help me move the remaining things from the apartment (and cleaned it to the point where we got 90% of our deposit back!), my mom also helped me unpack the kitchen and then some, and my dad helped us with so many things - I can’t even list them all!
Our Priority “To-Do” list from the Inspection company is nearly completed, we have new locks installed in our doors, our lawn is prepped for the summer, and we have a new washer and dryer installed. I can’t express how appreciative I am for their help. Truly helped us get a head start in all that we have left to do for the house!
...Especially because I ended up spending the entire month of June in Washington! My parents timed their trip perfectly so that when they were done with their trip in Boston, I would fly home with them too. (Unfortunately, Lucas had to save his leave days, so he was only able to return to WA for 1 week.) I had two weddings to capture - one on the first weekend of June, and another on the last weekend of June, so I thought - why not hang out in Washington for the month?
It was so refreshing to see family, friends and even my coworkers back at the office. We also got some errands completed for our Happily Ever After Party coming in August (more to come about that soon!). Washington greeted me with plenty of sun and also lots of rain to really give me the full PNW experience. So so grateful for the opportunity to visit home!
That said, while I was away, I could definitely feel the To-Do List for the house piling up higher and higher. While Lucas was able to get plenty done even when I was in Washington, our list was still getting pretty lengthy for the month of July.
Which is where we are now! Earlier this month we finally got the floors redone upstairs, and I am BEYOND excited with how they turned out! (We chose the Lifeproof Vinyl Flooring in Sterling Oak.) It’s so much fun to have a vision and see it come to life! We still have to paint the bathroom and hallway (a project for another day… haha), but at least I can rest easy knowing we love the paint and flooring that we chose!
Although extremely busy trying to get as much done as we can before August (I’ll be in Washington for another month!), we cope by reminding ourselves how blessed we are to be in the position that we’re in. This summer is just a busier one than usual, but once the house is all fixed up, we’ll have all the time to enjoy it!
Cheers to our first home projects (with many more to come soon)!
‘Til the next one,
Gen
