So we finally did it! Years of planning and prepping and we finally own this little part of the earth. *happy dance*
There's actually a pretty cute story on how we came across this particular house. When David first got contracted with Disney, we were still engaged and had a few more months until the wedding. Since the shows he was contracted for were sometimes during the week, it meant he had to move up a lot earlier than planned (we were already planning on relocating to Central Florida when we got married). He found a new day job, and moved up in just under a month. It all happened so fast, and it was incredibly overwhelming, as I stayed in South Florida until we got married. The day he officially moved up there, he went exploring, saw the new home flags outside of the neighborhood, and decided to check it out.
I actually still remember sitting in the back of my dad's car on the way back to south florida getting that photo text from David. I remember seeing the shiplapped walls, the beautiful stone exterior, the huge island and the spacious rooms and I texted back saying "WOW thats beautiful! Maybe one day!". Well, one day came a lot sooner than I thought.
A few months after we got married, we started looking into pricing of homes to budget out what we thought were the next few years. We were so used to the South Florida housing market, we weren't sure what to expect. And then we came across the infamous neighborhood. It was like it was meant to be. So we looked into it, and thought how blessed are we that this amazing "one day" house is within our financial reach! It took David a lot of nights to convince me this was the right move, as I still couldn't comprehend how we could snag such a beautiful home just 5 months into our marriage. But when you set goals and you stick to them, really anything is possible.
So anyways, that's the story on how we decided we wanted to invest in a new-build home. There are so many great incentives for first-time home buyers, and it was the best way for us to be able to customize on the budget we had. With a new home, most builders allow you to pick your flooring, countertops, if you want pre-wiring for light fixtures, ceiling height, and so much more. Luckily, after doing some research, we found that the builder we chose to go with had pretty affordable upgrades, so we were able to customize a lot more than we anticipated.
We skimped out on some things and decided to hold off on upgrades like crown molding, paint color (over $1000 for the builders to paint it! No way, that's part of the fun! We'll do it ourselves, thank you very much!), and cabinet color, although hubby is convinced we're keeping the bathroom cabinet colors. I'm not , haha.
I think the thing I'm most excited about is incorporating a barn door in the house. I am obsessed with Fixer Upper and all of Chip and Joanna's designs, so when I first saw our kitchen's pantry wall, I just knew that's where I'd put it. In the model, they put the AC door on the same wall, but in our home it will be relocated, meaning I'll have that whole wall completely blank. Perfect for my barn door to slide on!
The next thing we'd probably do, besides paint of course (that come's first!) is crown molding. David's pretty sure he can do it, and I trust him so it should be fun! I also wanted to maybe do some sort of shiplap-hack, or wainscoting somewhere in the house. We are totally convinced we want to have an accent wall in the Great Room with light stone, but the jury's still out on that one.
We definitely want to build a farm-style entry table for the foyer, and it will have a fun twist, so stay tuned for that!
The best thing about having such a humble home is that we can really invest into it and make it our dream home with high-end upgrades. Since theres less square-footage, it also means less money as opposed to a bigger home. And it will be even less when we DIY everything, too! I'm confident with our skills, we can totally nail this. (did you catch that pun?)
So if you're buying a new home, planning on doing some DIY's and are not, by any means, a professional, join us on this journey!
We'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll learn a lot, but most importantly, we'll make a mess.
And it will be glorious.