And I’m still processing, acclimating, feeling a bit (hugely) overwhelmed. I am still feeling scattered enough that I don’t really know what day it is, so forget about stringing coherent thoughts together.
But. We did it. We are homeowners. Thursday was a whirlwind, from our (several) trips to the bank to get certified checks, to the 85,000 times we signed our names. The closing was a little strange – I don’t know what I expected, ominous music as we signed 30 years of our lives away? – but even when it was over I still felt the same. But then we drove to our! house! where we babysat the cable guy and the cleaning service (expensive, but SO worth the peace of mind knowing we had a very short time frame to get the place ready before we were officially moving in). As Dan argued with the cable company to get our new internet working, I wandered our gigantic new place, starting to feel really super overwhelmed by all of the details, and noticing things like how none of the doorknobs are the same color, and they didn’t do such a great job painting in here and why is the carpet in the basement a different color than the carpet on the stairs (srsly, gray next to beige. Why not just use the same color??) and why does our new trash-company-issued garbage can smell like cat poop? (SO GROSS.)
It all finally, really hit me as I took in all of those details. Texts were coming in from friends – my favorite being Cynthia’s “you own a mutha effin home!!!!” – and I called my parents. It was just suddenly SO BIG and SO OURS.
But Dan got them to fix the internet. And we went out and bought subs and realized that despite being in rural Miscellaneous Western Jersey, there’s actually a lot very close to our place (a real camera shop, even!). We went back home and sat in our empty living room on our new wood floors and ate dinner as we drank the champagne the previous owners left for us. And it felt like the Exciting Beginning we have been hoping for.
Guys, we have a (non-functioning) fireplace! (We’re going to get it fixed.)
Saturday was moving day, and I can’t tell you how lucky we are to have a vertitable army of siblings to help us. At one point, with both sets of parents, we had 12 people carrying our shit. It was crazy, and made the day go by so quickly. Sure, we may have learned the hard way that our couch won’t fit down the basement stairs when it got STUCK in the stairwell. The perfect home for the bookshelves of the world is a half an inch too small (because although we thought to account for the thermostat, light switch, and outlet, we neglected to account for the baseboard on the neighboring wall, ARGH). But we got everything in and having our families there to see (and gush over) our house was so, so cool. At one point, most of us were hanging around in the kitchen, drinking beers, eating pizza, and chatting, and it was exactly what I always pictured, exactly what I love best about other people’s homes that are the home-iest.
On Sunday, the day our lease ended, we woke up early and drove back down to our apartment to clean it from top to bottom. It was so sunny and bright there, and Dan and I kept talking about how the light was such a huge selling point when we signed the lease two years ago. It was hard work, but we managed to finish, load the car, pick up subs (again) and be on the couch in our new living room only ten minutes after football had started.
Boxes as coffee tables/footrests? Sure. Also, our wedding quilt was the one blanket that we packed last/unpacked first, which felt extra special. Also, Dan’s new beard, now sticking around thanks to a fantasy football side bet last week. (I won.)
We have SO much work ahead of us unpacking and settling in, and I’m trying not to feel overwhelmed by that, too. Dan has a plan to tackle ten boxes each evening when we get home, which sounds like a lot but felt really good when we did it yesterday. And truly, I knowwwww you’re dying for more pictures, and if I had any idea which box my camera cable was in, I swear I’d post them. Very soon, I promise.
So I didn’t really think I had anything more than a few bullet points in me, but I guess I have a little more to say. It’s an exciting and overwhelming and completely exhausting time now, and I can’t wait to be done with the boxes and on to the imagining our new space for real.
This is arguably my favorite view in our new house – looking from the master bedroom toward the other two bedrooms on the second floor. That window looks out onto the oak tree out front, and from the second floor it’s just a window full of greenness.
she likes stripes 
Eeee!!! So exciting. I loved finally having a house of my own. It just feels…different. Congratulations!
thank you so much! it does feel different, and more and more as we get more used to the idea. 🙂
Many congratulations! A new home together is a wonderful thing and how great that you already got to experience having people over hanging around eating pizza and being sociable!
that really was my favorite part of moving day. 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS! I’m so, so, so, so happy for you guys! It sounds like, all things considered, it was an extremely well-executed and relatively hassle-free closing, move-in, and move-out! I still remember that first dinner in our first house — it’s one of my all-time favorites. I am jealous of your big moving party, though, because even though it’s a ton of work, having so much family helping you out and enjoying pizza is such a great thing!
Oh, and I love that view from the master bedroom — so many wonderful windows! (Also, it maybe got a little dusty in here when I read about the quilt. :D)
it was such a ton of work to move ourselves – we definitely won’t do it again (i sure hope we won’t, and i’m sure dan has NO interest in attempting to get the treadmill back OUT of the basement), but it was so great to finally have everyone there. no one other than the two of us had seen it ahead of time, so in a way, i was almost more excited just for everyone to see the place, than i was to move into it.
That view would be my favorite too. Congratulations!
thank you!! 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I’m so happy for you guys! So many things to comment on… in no particular order:
1. Love Dan’s beard.
2. Awww, look at that quilt! ::sniffle sniffle:: 😀
3. That view from the master bedroom looks AWESOME. I’d just sit and stare at that leafy green window all the time!
4. Isn’t it shocking to notice all the weird things you never noticed when you were shopping for the house? I remember getting into ours and realizing that every window looked like it was the creepiest, oldest, more spider-filled window of all time. Surely there were all nice and clean at inspection, right? Otherwise I would have noticed, right? Heh.
5. I love that you’ve already had a big ol’ family pizza party. Sounds like your house is already treating you right!
6. Dan’s a genius with his 10 box plan. If you don’t unpack now, it’ll just get worse and worse. If ever there was a time to be the ant instead of the grasshopper, it’s moving into a new house.
(Dan’s beard gets to stay around becuase I won our fantasy football side bet – and boy am I glad that I didn’t include an end date on it haaa). and the quilt is seriously so great right now, especially.
and omg i’m so glad i’m not the only one who didn’t notice all kinds of things. i mean, during the inspection we were there for HOURS. how did i not notice?? uugh.
Congrats again! So super exciting. And, if you haven’t done so already, might I suggest that you put all your boxes in one room. Finished unpacking for the day? Close the door and it’s like they aren’t even there any more 🙂 Worked for us when we moved into our current place, and it made being in a new place feel less cluttered and overwhelming. Have fun making this place your new home together!
that’s such an awesome suggestion!!!! i may need to insist that we do that when we make a little more progress. thanks so much 🙂
So, so, SO EXCITED for you guys!!!!
Cannot wait to see more updates and hear more about the adventures putting your beautiful new home together!
🙂 🙂 🙂 me tooo. i’ve got so many projects planned haha!
hooray!!! so super excited for you guys. and omg, i love cynthia’s text. =)
it came at the exact moment when i was starting to lose it, and i SO needed that laugh out loud haha.
Holy crap this is so exciting!!! And I love that view in the last picture you posted. 🙂
(related: I wish I had thought to leave our buyer a bottle of champagne! Instead I left her about 10 gallons of paint and some hardware to fix a door that I’m not sure if I should tell her where to find it, hahahaha)
thanks!! and yeah, I’m totally leaving champagne every time we move from now on, it was such a happy touch. we have lots of paint, too, and i sorta wish we didn’t, just because there’s soooo much of it ha.