moving day
We've been reading Berenstain Bears' Moving Day on repeat at our house for months, and when the day arrived, Finley was ready to announce, "My dears, the time has come to move!"
I'm sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly from our first day and week in the Little Blue House.
We split up for the day so Kevin could supervise work, assemble the cribs, and try to clean things up for the movers. I stayed at the old house to finish packing, supervise the movers, and almost throw up about 10 times from nerves. It was such a crazy, miserable feeling to see my house empty and hear the stairs creak in the same spots for the last time. I did not enjoy being by myself for that farewell.
Our movers were friendly and helpful and kind, even when they realized we had way too much stuff for our new space. We had an extra pod storage unit delivered to the new house to help store some of our items until we have access to the whole house. (Later we will laugh about how one of the movers had a bathroom emergency in our downstairs toilet at the old house, which we later discovered on our "last and final check" and had to go to Target and buy a plunger to go back for that parting task.)
At our new house, about half is still taped off and dusty. We have access to the kitchen, two bedrooms, and the bath/laundry combo space. We have no living room, coat closet, master closet, master bedroom, or master bathroom. The painters were still spraying and touching up paint (which now looks fabulous). These pictures were taken a couple of days later when they finished.
By Tuesday we knew the water tests were clean, safe, and totally fine to use as-is-- a little extra iron can stain over time so we may add a filter later. But what a relief to know after 6 months that we did it. Kevin and his dad had installed a new LG matte black dishwasher, which looks fabulous across from the chalkboard wall I've been testing out. Once we cleaned out all of the contractor crap from the kitchen we could actually see the much-improved space! They had also moved out the old, weird range to make space for a new GE slide-in unit that was delivered, but it took a couple of days to get installed because the countertops needed to be cut down to make space. (Nothing standard in this old house, remember?)
Back to moving day. I realized that our washer was still hooked up with those stainless steel hoses, and they were not BUDGING. You know I love my LG washer so I was definitely not leaving it. No tools left in the house. I tried a few times with a rubber jar opener helper, but still not budging. I shut the door in frustration and left the dryer running in there for a bit while I talked to the movers. Came back, and the warm air in there must have done something, or maybe I "just loosened it for you" as we say at my house, because now I could start to crank them off with my hands. I caught the extra water in an old pitcher and disconnected them myself! Then once they were delivered at the new place I felt confident in hooking them up. Once you take something apart, it's way easier to put it back together.
After the movers played Jenga in our pods to store everything, and carried all our extra boxes into the firey hot upstairs (more on that later), it was 4pm and practically time to get the kids from school. I had an hour to set up their rooms. I was so nervous to make everything perfect for them, or at least familiar and cozy. They are sharing a room for the first time so it felt like the stakes were high.
When the boys arrived home, they were so excited to see all the new features of The Little Blue House. The peeked at the painters' work and admired the chalkboard wall. They loved all the toys on the concrete pad outside and enjoyed watering Nina's Garden outside after school. We served NuvoTaco (family fave) at our old dining room table with the leaf removed. They were polite, helpful, and dreamy.
When we made it down the hall to see their new room, Finley exclaimed, "Oh! It's so nice and cozy!" and my heart nearly exploded. They loved it. And it is bright and cozy and friendly. Lots of boxes still to unpack, curtains to hang, etc., but it had all their favorite and familiar items to make it feel like home. They got a kick out of being together, truly, and after 30 minutes of chatter they even settled down to sleep. Far surprassing my expectations for the first night.
I can't say we are quite as comfortable in the tiny guestroom, but we improvised a closet setup for our cardboard boxes and are making it work! Besides, the whole point of this house is to get outside as much as possible. So we are taking that to heart. We actually ended up moving the bed around to a different setup I will show you soon, but this was our first attempt with a view out the window into the backyard.
I'm sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly from our first day and week in the Little Blue House.
We split up for the day so Kevin could supervise work, assemble the cribs, and try to clean things up for the movers. I stayed at the old house to finish packing, supervise the movers, and almost throw up about 10 times from nerves. It was such a crazy, miserable feeling to see my house empty and hear the stairs creak in the same spots for the last time. I did not enjoy being by myself for that farewell.
Our movers were friendly and helpful and kind, even when they realized we had way too much stuff for our new space. We had an extra pod storage unit delivered to the new house to help store some of our items until we have access to the whole house. (Later we will laugh about how one of the movers had a bathroom emergency in our downstairs toilet at the old house, which we later discovered on our "last and final check" and had to go to Target and buy a plunger to go back for that parting task.)
At our new house, about half is still taped off and dusty. We have access to the kitchen, two bedrooms, and the bath/laundry combo space. We have no living room, coat closet, master closet, master bedroom, or master bathroom. The painters were still spraying and touching up paint (which now looks fabulous). These pictures were taken a couple of days later when they finished.
By Tuesday we knew the water tests were clean, safe, and totally fine to use as-is-- a little extra iron can stain over time so we may add a filter later. But what a relief to know after 6 months that we did it. Kevin and his dad had installed a new LG matte black dishwasher, which looks fabulous across from the chalkboard wall I've been testing out. Once we cleaned out all of the contractor crap from the kitchen we could actually see the much-improved space! They had also moved out the old, weird range to make space for a new GE slide-in unit that was delivered, but it took a couple of days to get installed because the countertops needed to be cut down to make space. (Nothing standard in this old house, remember?)
Back to moving day. I realized that our washer was still hooked up with those stainless steel hoses, and they were not BUDGING. You know I love my LG washer so I was definitely not leaving it. No tools left in the house. I tried a few times with a rubber jar opener helper, but still not budging. I shut the door in frustration and left the dryer running in there for a bit while I talked to the movers. Came back, and the warm air in there must have done something, or maybe I "just loosened it for you" as we say at my house, because now I could start to crank them off with my hands. I caught the extra water in an old pitcher and disconnected them myself! Then once they were delivered at the new place I felt confident in hooking them up. Once you take something apart, it's way easier to put it back together.
After the movers played Jenga in our pods to store everything, and carried all our extra boxes into the firey hot upstairs (more on that later), it was 4pm and practically time to get the kids from school. I had an hour to set up their rooms. I was so nervous to make everything perfect for them, or at least familiar and cozy. They are sharing a room for the first time so it felt like the stakes were high.
When the boys arrived home, they were so excited to see all the new features of The Little Blue House. The peeked at the painters' work and admired the chalkboard wall. They loved all the toys on the concrete pad outside and enjoyed watering Nina's Garden outside after school. We served NuvoTaco (family fave) at our old dining room table with the leaf removed. They were polite, helpful, and dreamy.
When we made it down the hall to see their new room, Finley exclaimed, "Oh! It's so nice and cozy!" and my heart nearly exploded. They loved it. And it is bright and cozy and friendly. Lots of boxes still to unpack, curtains to hang, etc., but it had all their favorite and familiar items to make it feel like home. They got a kick out of being together, truly, and after 30 minutes of chatter they even settled down to sleep. Far surprassing my expectations for the first night.
I can't say we are quite as comfortable in the tiny guestroom, but we improvised a closet setup for our cardboard boxes and are making it work! Besides, the whole point of this house is to get outside as much as possible. So we are taking that to heart. We actually ended up moving the bed around to a different setup I will show you soon, but this was our first attempt with a view out the window into the backyard.