Nesting...Again

With this move to Wilmington, we downsized...again. I know I talked about the last two moves...one as recently as November. I've mentioned that we downsized when we lived in Bellevue/Seattle. I loved that. I was surprised by how many endorphins I got from lightening our load. The Bellevue apartment had just 736 square feet. I thought of that small size as a badge of honor. 

When we downsized in NC, I earned another badge of honor. We went from living in a house to 853 square feet. --Granted, not as small as Bellevue. But, the new proud achievement is that this was the first time we downsized without any of our things stored in a utility room or storage unit. In the cross country move in 2010, we ruthlessly let go of our possessions in storage. Our thinking...do we love "this" (whatever the "this" was) enough to pay for it to move cross country with us. Keeping in mind that moving costs are affected by how much space we take up in the truck (movers) and what the weight of our stuff is.

When we got to the NC house we basically did not furnish several rooms in the house. In that time we enjoyed another aspect of fewer possessions. We got to live with a lot of "blank spaces". I'm not sure how to explain this...but seeing a room with clear surfaces provides a sense of calm.

So, when we moved to 835 square feet, it wasn't as difficult. We did give a few additional things up, but the big win was that we were not paying rent for our possessions to be in storage. YAY!

Long story, shorter...I've not regretted any of my downsizing experiences.

With this move, I had to really work on lightening our load even more. This time we are living in 667 square feet. The kitchen/dining table had to go as well as Jordan's desk. When I measured our living room furniture, I realized that it would not fit in the new space. The living room space is too small for the couch and chair we had.

On moving day, our new living room included two side chairs one side table and a footstool. Of course, we also have the credenza for the TV.  --But sitting wise, we had very little.

More Apartment Living

I realize that the photos of our apartment are pretty sparse here on the blog. One reason is that I haven't felt that the photos I've taken actually do the space justice. I have been relying on my smartphone as my impromptu camera, which does not do well in low light.  ~That's the excuse reason I'm using, anyway. So, to give a better idea about our apartment, I'm sharing pics of the model units, which are very nicely lit.

Source

Making My Apartment Home

There is not a day that goes by that I don't look around my apartment and say "I love this place." We've been in our place for a little over a year and have zero desire to consider leaving. We enjoyed the home we had before and I enjoy looking back at the photos of how we made that house our home. 

HGTV Inspiration Plus: I've Designed Two Rooms

Last night I sort of binged watched "Love It or List It" on HGTV. I just love a good reveal. I'm especially focused on the show because this season is filmed in the Triangle, NC. One of my friends saw them filming a home in her neighborhood. 

Do you ever do that? I like when the show is in Seattle too. I'm always trying to see if I can recognize the neighborhood. Seattle neighborhoods are unique and easily recognizable. 

I've seen several of the local NC shows. I haven't been able to recognize the neighborhoods, which I think is by design. But I have recognized the skylines and the restaurants and bars where the homeowners meet with Hilary and David. That's fun.

HGTV is very inspiring. I'm sure I'm late to this, but this weekend I discovered a new obsession:  Olioboard. It's fun. I "designed" two rooms. I'm pretty proud of my work. One thing I loved is that I can design and "see" a room without having to do any of the real work.   

Playing with Olioboard is sort of like looking through decorating magazines or retail catalogs and cutting out photos for inspiration. When I was young I used to spend lots of time with the Sears Wish Book, cutting out things that I wanted. Olioboard is like a grown-up, electronic version of cutting out pictures from the Sears catalog.

It might be a little addicting. 

Until next time!

~Kimberly

The Bellevue High Life

I have been thinking about living in small(er) spaces for a while now. When we sold our house in the Seattle area, we downsized to a much smaller space. As a matter of fact, we originally planned on buying a condo right on Elliott Bay. As part of our planned downsize, we sold virtually all of our furniture. We kept one couch and one chair for the living space and we kept our bed and bedroom dresser. Other than that...gone.

A Few Scenes From Home

Getting Settled

We are almost completely settled in our new place. I knew when I saw our new kitchen that I wanted a pop of apple green. I'm loving this tea kettle. 

The biggest change (although, I don't think that is the right word) we made is our kitchen table. The white kitchen table we had in our red kitchen was our true taste when we lived in a high-rise in Bellevue. We had a tiny apartment with a "view" of the space needle from our kitchen window. The table was a perfect fit. 

We also bought a craft table with two bookshelves. We used this as our kitchen island in the "Centerway" house. It was more streamlined than the island counter that was originally in the kitchen. It also complimented the kitchen table. 

Anyway, we let the buyers of Centerway keep the two kitchen tables. They were such a good fit there and we don't have room for both tables in our new place. 

The Right Buyers

Photo by: David Jenkins, via TMLS

Photo by: David Jenkins, via TMLS

 I mentioned seeing a townhouse online that looked like a possibility for a new home for us. The house had modern updates that J. and I love. It had accent walls and was bright and airy with hardwood floors. It was, in a word, lovely. The Realtor was laid back. After we had walked through the rooms (at least twice), David invited us to sit down and talk in the living room. It was a pleasure to spend more time in the inviting space. We sat and discussed the things we liked about the townhouse.

Photo by: David Jenkins, via TMLS

We talked about our house. We talked about how much we loved our home and how we made it a reflection of us. We told him that we had not upgraded the bathrooms and that there was no granite in the kitchen. David was unfazed. We told him that we had painted the rooms with bold colors. Again, calmness. He said neutral paint in order to sell a house was an outdated mindset. Character is what clients want. He said presentation is important in finding the right buyers. Good staging and good photography.

Photo by: David Jenkins, via TMLS

Jordan and I knew we found our real estate agent. He got us. He got our house. With his coaching we got the house ready to make the best presentation of our house. Really, staging is a matter of editing. The art was our art and the furniture was our furniture. The work we did was to de-clutter (think HGTV).

Listing my home made me feel so vulnerable. I mean, strangers are going to come into my house and critique it. No one likes to have something they created critiqued. David was a calming force and his confidence was encouraging. The house across the street was listed within days of our listing. The neighbor's had a different style from us. Their style was a lovely formal style. Their back yard had a lovely manicured lawn with well shaped bushes while our yard was more of an over-grown English garden. I worried that our house "wouldn't measure up". (Maybe I have issues....) Not to worry, David said. The buyers that will buy the house across the street are not the buyers that will want ours. Our buyers would be people that are drawn to a more casual and modern home. It's all a matter of getting the right buyers to find your home. 

As you already know, the right buyers did find our house. I feel like Sally Field when she gave her oscar speech. My version is: "You like my house, you really like me." And I'm so happy to hear that they really do like the house and are excited to make it their home. 

--If you live in the Triangle and need a real estate agent, send me an email and I'll give you his digits. I whole heartedly recommend him. 

P.S. All photos in these past posts were taken by our Realtor for the listing. 

The Right Real Estate Agent

Photo by: David Jenkins via TMLS

"This is where the decision will be made," he said. "Right here in the kitchen." Of course, I'm biased. I like the kitchen. I love the breakfast area with windows on three sides. I love the lighting we chose for the breakfast area. I love the lighting we chose for the "island" area of the prep area. I love how the table and the island work well in the space. 

The kitchen is bright and airy which the natural hardwood floors highlight.
I've always wanted a red kitchen... and this kitchen is red. 

The right Real Estate agent can make a huge difference in how well the process goes and our Realtor is the BEST! 

When we were entertaining the idea of downsizing we considered townhouses and condos as well as apartments. I'm so glad that we waited to list our house until we were comfortable that we found just the right person to work with.

Selling your house is deeply personal. It is an odd thing to try to remain objective. I mean, who wouldn't love everything we did to make the house modern? Right? Who wouldn't love all the things that we did to put our personal stamp on the place? But, of course, I know/knew that a personal style stamped on your home is not universally loved. So, the trick of thinking of the house as a business transaction and not my home is, well, tricky.

Photo by: David Jenkins via TMLS

We met our Realtor at one of his listings. I had seen the townhouse online and knew I would love it. The kitchen was bright...with white cabinets and black granite counters. There was a window over the sink (I love that!). The lower level had hardwood floors and the family room had a lovely blue accent wall.  I had to see it. It had some of the elements of what we had done in our home like, the flooring and color and a modern look. So we started with the potential of a new / smaller space and made an appointment to see that space with the listing agent. That turned out to be the BEST thing we could have done!

Photo by: David Jenkins via TMLS

I'd like to say that finding an agent based on their listings was our savvy approach. But, no. It wasn't a plan. We had no actual plan and I was a little bit terrified about that.

We met another agent a few weeks before and we talked with her about the market and what we could expect if we listed "now" and if we listed with her. She said the market was surprisingly "hot" right now. She encouraged us to move quickly as summer is nearing an end. I believe she was spot on with both of those thoughts. I decided to feel her out about what we should expect to get the house ready for market.  I told her that we upgraded all of the light fixtures and mentioned some of the features that we thought would matter. She was visibly disappointed when we told her that although we have updated light fixtures and new hardwood floors, had not replaced kitchen counters with granite. She was also discouraging because we haven't renovated the bathrooms. 

I told her...we used bold colors...but colors that we think work."Well," she said, "you'll want to go ahead get your house ready before listing it. You'll want to paint the walls a neutral, etc." But, I didn't want to paint our walls a neutral. What if I painted our walls neutral and the house didn't sell? Then I'd be living in a vanilla house. I said something about hesitating to paint and she said, "You have to commit. Before you list you just have to commit that you will do what you need to and you will sell the house." 

Clearly, she wasn't the "one". But, the agent that listed the modern, bright townhouse? He was the "one" and choosing the right one made all the difference.

I'll write more next time about the "right" fit. 

Favorite Space (s)

We sold our house. What?? Yes. You know, we really loved that house. We really enjoyed the updates we made to the house and making it "home". It was really "us". But...it was also a house designed for a larger household. I loved every single room in the house. But really...does an empty nest need four bedrooms?

After some serious reflection, we decided that we would like to live in a smaller footprint. Remember when I told you about our first house? My own words resonated with me.

This sweet house was about 1,000 square feet, which was perfect. We didn't need anything bigger. There is something to be said for a "just right size" home.

There IS something to be said for "just right". Although we loved our lovely, fun, funky home it was too big. Which is, of course, not "just right".

And so, with lots of thought and care, we went about working with a truly amazing Realtor. And "just like that" we sold the house. --Well, it wasn't really "just like that" but we did have a really good selling experience. I will share more on that next time.

In the meantime, I leave you with a picture of one of my favorite rooms.

Photo by: David Jenkins via TMLS

I've Been Busy...

Putting the "Home" in the House

This is the kitchen in our first house. I've never been what I would call a cook. Although, oddly, the kitchen is one of the rooms that determines if I'm going to like the home. This was a sweet kitchen though I feel the need to add a disclaimer about the curtains. They were there when we moved in. They weren't great but...they didn't bother us either. So they stayed.

Like I said before, we have very few photos from before digital. It's not that we didn't take them, we absolutely did take them. And I think we put them in photo books. But finding them now...that would be a trick.

Our First House

Earlier this week I wrote about some of the things that make my house feel like home. 

Today I thought I would share similar thoughts on our first house. This isn't our first home but it was the first house. 

Feeling At Home

So, here's what I've been thinking about...home and how we feel about it and when our house feels like home. Why do I think about this? I think because I enjoy reading so many bloggers describe their home and how they are updating it...even if it's just something like new throw pillows.

Window Shopping

I love window shopping via Zillow. It's a new past time that I keep finding new ways to enjoy. At first, I checked on the pricing of houses near me to see if I was tempted to sell my sweet house. So far I've not really been tempted. But I had a weird moment at one point where I allowed the "search" to include homes out of my price range. Some were way out of my range, as in "never gonna happen". But with online marketing, I can tour any home (virtually) without being interrogated to see if I can afford to even look at the house, much less step in the front door.

About a year ago my husband and I went to a neighborhood that has wonderfully eclectic homes and we took pics. I can't share them today because I can't find them. I've yet to master the art of organizing digital information. 

But, I can show you one of the houses that I love to look at and have always wanted to see inside. Here it is:

Sometimes a House Needs a Pet to be Home

Just a quick hello. I've been exploring things that make a house feel like home. It's kind of a fun thing. Back in the day when we were house shopping, we enjoyed seeing the furnished models for new housing developments. A ton of ideas can be found there.

There are several houses that have come on the market in my area. I drove by one and

I'm Home-Part II

This story is continued from: I'm Home.

The summer after I got married, Dad called me to finish cleaning out my bedroom. --He was selling the house and I needed to get what I wanted to keep.

Love and Houses

Remember when I wrote about My Childhood Home? That was fun. I'm excited that my home was included in Houzz.com's Childhood Home series. I really enjoyed reading about other's memories of their childhood homes as well. 

House Stylin'

One of my favorite things is looking at well-styled homes. I think that is one of the things that brought me to blogs. I just love when bloggers share their lovely homes and works in process.

Most Used Appliance in My Kitchen

My parents' microwave broke last week. They've only been in their house for 3 years and everything is/was brand new. I know that is frustrating...to have just basically moved in and had something you use every day go on the fritz. They had a hard time finding a repair person that would even come look at the machine to diagnose the problem. Finally, someone agreed to come out and found that there's a push-button switch that doesn't work.

Our house is about 15 years old and the microwave is still working just fine. We have double ovens that are also push-button electronics. We've used the oven several times. But, more often than not, we will use the microwave to heat whatever we are having. We rarely use the stove top either. Clearly, we would be in a pickle if our microwave went on the blink.

It's funny that we have a double oven because I can't imagine actually using both ovens at the same time. Though, I did use them a few Christmases ago.

My mother's parents got a microwave. Funny that Mom's parents were open to modern technology and Mom never got a microwave  She said she didn't want one because she couldn't think as fast as a microwave could cook.

The first big gift my husband gave us after we were married was a microwave that was also a convection oven. Oh my gosh, that was an amazing gift. I've included a couple of pics to give you an idea of how big this machine was. But I loved it! I used it all the time. I even used it for baking. In fact, that first Christmas I baked banana nut bread loaves as gifts using the convection oven.

This oven moved with us eight times in eleven years. And just as we were about to move from our condo into a new house, with a built-in microwave, my microwave/convection oven broke. It was a good friend but it was time for the new "new" thing.

You know, I don't cook. I've said that about myself for the past ten years or so. But every once in a while I stumble upon a photo that reminds me that this wasn't always the case.

I wonder if I should give the whole cooking thing another try.