Selling Our House!

Hello Everyone! What crazy and unsettling times it has been for our world - living through a Pandemic and social turbulence.

What a time to choose to sell a house and move, eh? But we did it!

It was mid-February when we first decided we would sell our home. COVID-19 had not yet become a world-wide Pandemic so generally the world felt pretty normal.

Our initial timeline was to list the house in mid-April, move into a temporary apartment until October, then move to Southern California.

Let's just say that things did not go exactly according to plan! Many of the preparations to sell required hiring contractors but with stay-at-home orders for all non-essential business, much of our prepping progress came to a grinding halt.

Luckily by May, as some businesses starting to open up again, we were able to get our wood floors refinished, the carpets cleaned, and the yard spruced up by landscapers. Many of the big renovation projects we had already completed (and enjoyed!) over the last four years.

Behind the scenes and while desperately waiting for help from delayed contractors, I painted at least four rooms a neutral while, hauled four carloads of household donations (as a result of a major KonMari purge of our belongings) before all the donation sites closed. I also painted and re-installed yards and yards of baseboard millwork following the wood floor refinishing. Let's just say that now I expertly wield a tube of caulk and caulking gun!

I love how we designed the spaces, as previously blogged on my website, but I wondered if prospective buyers would like what we did to the place? I do not have a very neutral approach to color palette selection as many real estate agents would recommend for selling. On the contrary, my design style is fairly vivid and playful. Our realtor, McArthur Kelley, assured us that the right buyer would come along and love what we did.

The lighted exterior looks so magical at night - a great time for photos! The Amalfi blue door was inspired by the colorful doors I saw once

on a romantic trip to Paris.

We really miss our beautiful kitchen, big center island and maximal storage. Our current apartment has the tiniest space for food prep and cooking.

Just for laughs, here is our current tiny apartment kitchen. Gah! Minimal storage and we are an active-cooking kind of household!

Having an updated home office (or carving out space for one) is proving to be extremely useful with so many people working from home!

Our primary bedroom was quite large, enabling us to have a sitting area. The update brought much needed personality to our space.

We went vivid and bold in our powder bath.

One of the last projects at our home was to create a beautiful outdoor entertainment space. The string lights make a brilliant addition, don't you think?!

Our real estate listing went live the first weekend in June and we had a weekend of showings and a strong, slightly over asking-price offer within two days! We accepted the offer and experienced a fabulously smooth closing by the end of the month. We are hoping the new owners are loving their new home as much as we did!

For now, the five of us and our two dogs are nestled into an apartment half the size of our former home.

It has been challenging and interesting to adjust to the smaller space. I know that soon, two of my kids will be either be returning to or starting at a new college and my recently graduated son will be moving into an apartment of his own. Our family is growing up and each of us is exploring our next chapters.

In about five months, my husband and I (with the dogs) will make the move to Southern California. We are planning to rent an apartment or townhome for the 3-5 years that we intend to reside there. Ultimately, we plan to return to the Pacific Northwest as it is where we most feel at home.

But for now, a California adventure awaits...

Resources:

• Photography credit to: Alex Hill Productions and Wynne Earle Photograpy (powder bath)

• Real Estate: McArthur Kelley at Right Fit Real Estate.