** So, are you new here? I throw the Hookin’ Up with HoH Party every week to give all of you a chance to find other awesome blogs to read. Below you will find several hundred mini links to other people’s blog posts. Have fun browsing through the links in search of new ideas. Also, if you are a blogger, please feel free to add your own links to the list!

Please refrain from posting links to shops and stores.

Please note: RECIPES/FOOD is a separate link. Please make sure you are linking in the appropriate section.

Here are a few of my favorites from last week’s link party:

Better With Age updated a blank wall in her kitchen with an office area. Such a great idea!

Simply Designing shows how to make ice cream in a bag. We recently did this at a resort and it was so fun (and delicious)! I’m glad to finally have the recipe so we can recreate it at home.

The Wood Grain Cottage made a hanging ironing board rack. It’s so much prettier than anything I’ve ever seen at the store.

A beautiful dining room makeover at Nalle’s House.

Smart Girls DIY updated this awkward staircase platform and it looks amazing now. You really must go check out the before pictures.

Like camping? Make sure to read this great list of camping tips from Twin Dragonfly Designs.

The Turquoise Home shares some really great yard sale tips.

I am {secretly} a geek at heart, and I am geeking out over these 8-bit Mario magnets from Law Student to Life Student. 8-bit + Mario = super geeky. Love.

Artzy Creations finished a friendship bracelet so now instead of it looking like something your 10 year old has tied around their ankle, it looks pretty enough for a grownup to wear.

So so so smart! Turn plastic lids into stamps using Crafty Journal‘s easy tutorial.

One Sweet Appetite shows how to make lollipops using a powdered sugar mold. Very cool.

Lizy B does it again! This time with beautiful birdies and owl cookies. Her creations are amazing.

To see the InLinkz party you will need to click through!

To view the remainder of this post please

If you’ve been featured you are AWESOME so grab a button and tell everyone!

<a href="http://www.houseofhepworths.com"><img src="http://images.houseofhepworths.com/buttons/2013-logo-link-party-featured-button-hoh.png" /></a>

Post about anything you’ve worked on recently.

*Please link back to my blog pretty please! Buttons can be found HERE.

* Don’t link up your SHOP, STORE, OR ETSY to my party.
* Don’t link up your GIVEAWAY to my party.

Ready. Set. Post!

     

Hookin Up with HoH #149 is a post from House of Hepworths.

He has been battling brain cancer for a year.

He fought a long hard fight. He never gave up.

He passed away yesterday.

Many of you reached out and sent post cards to Max when his “last wish” trip to Paris was canceled last month. Thank you. I know that Jay and Scott appreciate every last card and note sent to Max. It certainly brightened the last few weeks of Max’s life. He passed away knowing that the entire world loved him.

Please take a moment to post a quick note and virtual hugs to the family via their Jedi Max facebook page. I know they would appreciate the hugs and support.

I would like to share their PO Box with all of you again, just in case you would like to send a note to Jay and Scott and their 6 year old daughter Katie. There is absolutely nothing that will heal a broken heart from the loss of a child, but a kind note from a caring stranger might help to lift them up and brighten their spirits.

Send condolences here:

Jay and Scott Simmons
P.O. Box 690309
Killeen, TX 76549

Also, if you would like to donate any money, click here (please do not feel pressured. Jay doesn’t even know I’m posting this.)

Here is the Jedi Max blog that Jay has updated for the past year.

Here is a beautiful video about Max.

Max was an amazing kid who lived a beautiful and selfless life. He touched countless other people’s lives and will never be forgotten.

Funeral Services for Max will be held:

Monday, May 27, 2013 @ 1 p.m.
at Cook-Walden Funeral Home
14501 North IH-35
Pflugerville, TX, 78660
512-251-4118

If you attend services, please do NOT wear black. We would love for you to wear something bright and cheery. We are not mourning Max’s death, but rather celebrating the life he lived.

If you cannot attend the services but would like to do something to remember or pay respects to him, we ask that you take a moment of your time on Monday and release some blue balloons. Also, if you could post a picture on Team Max, they would appreciate it.

     

Goodbye little Jedi Max is a post from House of Hepworths.

Before we moved into the new house we wanted to replace all the carpet. If we were going to rip up all the carpet it seemed like as good a time as any to paint all the baseboards and trim in each room with a fresh coat of white paint. The baseboards were dingy and dirty. Also, it looked as if the original trim color was an almond color but the previous owners had made an attempt to paint it white. Upon further inspection we realized the new white paint was actually primer, so they all had that flat chalky texture.

All the open living areas are either tile or hardwood, but all 4 bedrooms and gameroom were carpet. Those are the rooms that I prepped and painted before the carpet installers were to arrive 3 days later (5 rooms total). The open area baseboards and trim (living, piano, kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry) are still the previous color and I will paint them as I paint each room.

Here’s one of the doors and baseboards before I started painting:

As I prepped the rooms for the new trim paint job I realized just how dirty everything really was. This brought on one of the several panic attacks I’ve had about moving into this house. I am more of a neurotic clean-freak than I previously realized. I just canNOT deal with sticky stuff or filth.

The first order of business was to peel back all the carpet and padding in each of the 5 rooms I was attempting to paint (in 3 days flat). The carpet folks told me to just peel the edges of the carpet back and fold it towards the center of the room. They would take care of the disposal once they got there a few days later.

The plan was to peel back all the carpet and use a paint sprayer to add a fresh coat of primer to all the trim and baseboards (but not the window sills. I will paint them when I add moulding around each window). The following day I would go back and use the paint sprayer to paint a fresh coat of Sherwin Williams Semi-Gloss paint in my favorite trim color – Alabaster (all the trim in every house I’ve ever painted is Alabaster).

I started by purchasing my paint. I bought 4 gallons of Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer. I did not want to end up with another door disaster, so after some research I chose the 1-2-3 because it is water-based (aka easier to clean up) but says it will cover everything including oil based paints. For 5 rooms I used every drop of the 4 gallons of primer.

For the trim paint I went back to my tried and trusted Sherwin Williams (this is not a sponsored post. I am not affiliated with Sherwin Williams. I just prefer their paint over any other). I went with the ProClassic in a semi-gloss because I’ve used this before, I like it, and they recommend it. Tip: if you sign up for their free rewards program you will always get a discount on your paint when you purchase it. I bought 3 gallons of this paint and only used a gallon and a half. If you prime well your {more expensive} top coat paint will go further and wont need as many coats for good coverage.

Now for the paint gun. I ended up purchasing the Graco True Coat Plus from Lowe’s. It was a pricier option coming in at $259 plus tax, but I feel like it was worth the investment. I first read about this particular brand and model at Bower Power who has had a lot of positive things to say about it. I wanted to make sure I was making a good purchase so I also chose a few more other brand paint sprayers I was interested in, then went over to Amazon and read the reviews to each spray gun. The Graco got the best reviews so it is the one that I purchased. (I am also not affiliated with Graco).

The paint sprayer made my job of painting all the baseboards, trim, and doors in 5 rooms a breeze. It would have taken me days and days to paint all this by hand. Painting is messy business though so after 2 days of painting my brand-new shiny pretty paint sprayer now looks well loved.

Because we hadn’t moved in yet I had minimal prep work which was nice. I didn’t tape any of the baseboards or trim. The only taping (with painters tape) I did was around each doorknob and the french doors in the gameroom.

As you can see, I didn’t even tape off the walls. I am planning on repainting every single room in this house, so I just opted to have the overspray from the paint sprayer go directly onto the walls. I still haven’t painted any walls yet, so our rooms currently look terrible!

I removed the bifold closet doors and leaned them up against the wall. They too got fresh coats of paint, but in retrospect I would have skipped this step because I decided in the end to leave the doors off and store them in the attic.

Here are the finished baseboards (after all the carpet had been completely removed from the room).

And a finished “after” of the really dirty door I showed you at the beginning of the post. Even though the walls look terrible now, just having the trim painted already brightened up the place and made me feel 10x better about moving in.

Here’s a before and after of the painted door. This door started out primer white, but the previous owners never painted the other side of the door so it’s still the almond color.

Here’s a better view of the almond color vs. the new Alabaster:

If you look closely in the above picture you can see in the hallway that the baseboard is primer white and the door in the hall is still almond. I’ve got lots of trim painting in my future to get this house completely uniform and matching. But, wow, fresh shiny white doors really give me warm fuzzies. I may have spent the next week just admiring the baseboards and doors. Now that the carpet is in, aside from the two-toned ugly walls I kinda feel like I live in a brand new house.

Next up… a small tile job and then all about carpet.

     

The scare floor will be… painted? is a post from House of Hepworths.

** So, are you new here? I throw the Hookin’ Up with HoH Party every week to give all of you a chance to find other awesome blogs to read. Below you will find several hundred mini links to other people’s blog posts. Have fun browsing through the links in search of new ideas. Also, if you are a blogger, please feel free to add your own links to the list!

Please refrain from posting links to shops and stores.

Please note: RECIPES/FOOD is a separate link. Please make sure you are linking in the appropriate section.

Here are a few of my favorites from last week’s link party:

Want to start a garden? Check out this easy and cheap raised garden bed from The Happier Homemaker.

I am flipping out over this citrus stripe paintings trio from Lake Girl Paints. They are so pretty!

Does the little girl in your life love baby dolls? Make them a cute baby doll towel from Mommy By Day Crafter By Night‘s easy tutorial.

PrrrreeeeeeetttttY dresser makeover from Bright Green Door.

Okay, I am officially adding this DIY farmhouse table from The Turquoise Home to my to-do list.

Make some pretty weights to hold your patterns down using this easy fun tutorial from Vintage Zest.

One Little Project made one little m&m cake and it is over the rainbow adorbs.

Better With Age turned a mini closet into a fab butler pantry. Great job!

An IKEA Rast makeover that is swoon worthy from The Turquoise Home. I’ve said this for two years, but I really want to buy two of these dressers and give them a good makeover.

Mmmmmmmmm, this Copycat Lime a Rita looks really yummy. Get the recipe at That’s What {Che} Shaid.

The Scrap Shoppe Blog created a chalkboard superhero skyline for her kids wall and it is freaking fun!

Almost too pretty to eat! I love these rainbow desserts from One Little Project.

To see the InLinkz party you will need to click through!

To view the remainder of this post please

If you’ve been featured you are AWESOME so grab a button and tell everyone!

<a href="http://www.houseofhepworths.com"><img src="http://images.houseofhepworths.com/buttons/2013-logo-link-party-featured-button-hoh.png" /></a>

Post about anything you’ve worked on recently.

*Please link back to my blog pretty please! Buttons can be found HERE.

* Don’t link up your SHOP, STORE, OR ETSY to my party.
* Don’t link up your GIVEAWAY to my party.

Ready. Set. Post!

     

Hookin Up with HoH #148 is a post from House of Hepworths.

I’ve got a few more tutorials of the old house to share with you guys as soon as I can get them together, but in the mean time, enjoy this one last walk down memory lane (que some sappy Enya-esqe music now).

It’s an MLS photo face-off. In one corner we have the Old MLS photos, and in the other corner we have the New MLS photos. Who will win? Team crappy or Team Now (aka Team Awesome)? My money’s on Team Awesome.

The House Now:

Three years ago:

Now:

Three years ago:

The Backyard Now:

Three years ago:

Another “Now” from the backyard:

The Foyer Now:

Three years ago:

Dining Room (aka the Barney Massacre) Now:

Then:

Piano Room Now:

Then:

Family Room Now:

Then:

A few more Family Room Nows:

Kitchen Now:

Then:

Kitchen Now:

Then:

Downstairs Guest Bathroom Now:

Before:

Ben’s Office Now:

Mustard Yellow Before:

Master Bedroom Now:

Way back when:

Master Closet:

Then:

Master Bathroom Now:

Before:

Laundry Room Now:

A long time ago:

Guest Bedroom Now:

It’s Smurf blue past:

Gameroom Now:

Then:

Upstairs Guest Bathroom Now:

Then:

The Boy’s Bedroom Now:

Before:

Kid’s Bathroom Now:

The Boring Before:

The Girl Bedroom Now:

The Football Field Before:

It has been a LOT of hard work to get the house to where it’s at now. I really hope the new owners enjoy the home as much as we have and that they create just as many memories there as we did. When we moved in our babies were 5 and 7. Now they are almost 9 and 11. We have a lot of sweet memories with our little family in this home, but I am excited to look forward and create even more sweet memories in our new home.

If there is anything that you noticed in these photos that you have a question about, please ask in the comments! We scrambled to get the house ready to put on the MLS, so we did a lot of last minute tweaks to it that I may not have blogged about yet. Your questions will help jog my memory so I don’t forget and leave out any details in the small handful of posts I have left to write about wrapping things up here.

Thanks for following along the last three years as I turned an ugly foreclosure into this beautiful house I’ve been proud to call my home. I hope you stick around and follow along as I turn our new Ranch house into our {hopefully} forever home. New rooms, new paint, new moulding, and new DIYs! I can hardly wait to get the sledge hammer out and turn this place into “Ours”.

     

The final before & afters of the old house is a post from House of Hepworths.

Hey guys! Wow, last week I was a mess, wasn’t I? I wrote a very long, very raw post about freaking out about moving and considering moving back. After reading all your amazingly kind and supportive comments and really thinking about the Hepworth future all weekend, I am happy to report that I am happy and I know moving to the new house was absolutely the right decision.

You all are seriously amazing. Your advice and support and virtual hugs were exactly what I needed to calm my nerves. Who needs a therapist when I have all of you?! Your comments, suggestions, and advice were spot on and exactly what I needed, so THANK YOU!

I will admit, I am pretty embarrassed now that I had such a public meltdown (at least there wasn’t any head-shaving or beating things with an umbrella), but what I’ve learned (and hopefully you have too) is that no matter what you are going through, no matter how isolated you feel, you are not alone. I had no idea that my freak-out was “normal”. I thought I was totally neurotic and nuts-o for reacting like that about moving. Posting about it made me feel very vulnerable and exposed, but in doing so I realized that many of you also went through the same thing. Realizing I wasn’t alone really helped to calm my fears.

One thing I did that really helped me zero in on what my real issue was was to break it down into little chunks. I started from the beginning and asked myself basic questions.

“Should I have sold my other home? Yes. I feel good about that.”

“Do I like the new house we bought? Yes, I love it.”

“Do I like the new yard? Yes.”

“Am I happy with the new school district? Yes, I am very happy.”

“Do I mind driving 20 minutes to get to stores? No, I don’t mind driving that far.”

“Do I like the neighborhood? Well… I’m not convinced. But I think I can like it.”

Breaking the entire situation up into little pieces really helped me narrow down what my issues are so that I could focus on them and talk them out with Ben.

After a weekend long therapy session in the form of reading 75+ awesome comments I’m happy to report back that I am doing well and am overall still excited about the move.

What I’ve learned?

No matter what you are going through, you are never alone in it.

I was/am grieving about my old house. As much as I’m ready to move on to a new chapter, I hadn’t allowed myself to say goodbye to the old chapter. It all hit me at once and I was forced to deal with it.

I still have the same friends. They now live 20 minutes away. I think the lure of this great big backyard and all these fun toys will bring many of them out here for some kick-@$$ parties. Plus, now I get to make even more new friends! And as you probably know, I love talking and meeting people, so I’m excited about all the new people I get to meet.

Every female over 30 is considered pre-menopausal. Who would have thought?. Maybe my emotions are hormonal. haha Wow I feel super-old even writing that out on my blog. I’m only 32!

I don’t regret buying this house and moving. Most of my emotions were fear. I am usually a take-the-bull-by-the-horns type of person, but for some reason with this move I was terrified. I didn’t realize I was terrified, I just thought those feelings were regret. I’ve never lived in an area like this, and even though I’m stinkin’ excited, I am equally petrified.

So again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I love sharing tutorials and little tips and tricks I’ve learned about being a home owner, but I also equally love all the knowledge I gain from each of you. Some of the best advice I’ve ever received is written within the comments section on this blog. You guys always help me way more than I can ever teach you. Here’s some big fat bear {{HUGS}} for each of you.

     

Follow-up to my “ping pong emotions” post is a post from House of Hepworths.

Why? Well, because you’ll regret it later. You’ll say things you wish you could take back. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I guess I won’t know until I actually do it.

Now before you go and start to think I’ve lost my f-ing marbles and am on a quick trip to Looneyville, let me assure you, I have, and it’s true. I am losing it. And I honestly don’t know what to think or do at this point.

When we put an offer on our new house I was smitten. In love. Couldn’t wait to move. The floor plan is awesome, the yard is what sold me. Who cares that it’s in a different school district. And who cares that it’s pretty much in the country. And who cares that even though I only moved 20 minutes away, I may as well have moved 15 hours. Same difference. New house = new life. All of those things don’t matter, because THE HOUSE IS AWESOME AND I. MUST. HAVE. THAT. YARD.

We quickly got our house ready to sell, listed it, and had 4 offers within a week. The stars were lining up and obviously this was meant to be. Until we closed on the new house.

When we closed I made a post about the new house. I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to get in and get ‘er done. At least until that night when weird thoughts of doubt crept in. All of a sudden all those things that I didn’t care about, well, now they seemed like quite a big deal. “OMG we have to leave our neighborhood. OMG, my friends! OMG, the school district. OMG we are freaking moving into the country… What the hell have I done???”

And then the hysterics kicked in. For three days I pretty much cried non-stop. And not a pretty cry. It was a full-blown ugly cry that left me gasping for air. I cried to Ben for pretty much three solid days. I cried to my realtor that is selling the old house. I cried to my neighbor. I cried to my mom. I pretty much just could not stop crying.

I need to preface this by saying I am glad we are selling the old house. This is not about the old house. I wanted to sell it. I want a one-story. I want a smaller home. I want a smaller mortgage. If I could go back, I would still sell the old home.

At the same time, I was totally baffled by this strange reaction from me because for a solid month while we waited to close on the house I was SO EXCITED. And for a solid 4 months before that while we shopped for homes in this area of town exclusively I was SO EXCITED.

So why the 180 degree change as soon as the papers were signed?

Everyone keeps telling me this is normal. I’ll get over it. Give it time, I’ll love it.

By Sunday and Monday I was smitten again. I love this house. I love the floor plan. I love the yard! I can do this. I can totally live here.

Tuesday I wrote my Q&A post about the house and how much I love it. I never felt better about the home. I love this home so much I can totally make this school district work, and I can totally live in the country – it’s what I’ve always wanted! – and I can totally make new friends.

But now? Now I’m a mess again. Now I’m crying again. I spent the afternoon in bed doing the ugly-cry where I can’t catch my breath. When I picked up the kids from school (they will finish out the year at their old school) I ran into my neighbor and I started crying again.

This all started Wednesday afternoon for no apparent reason other than I started thinking about my life here long-term, and how I miss my friends, and my neighborhood, and how I have to change my grocery store, and how it takes me 20 minutes to get to Target, and how my kids are going to have to say goodbye to their friends at the end of the school year. And how I won’t be sitting out at my community pool all summer chatting with all my friends while the kids all swim together. And how I freaking live in the country now. What the hell have I done?

When I think about the house, I am happy and I love it so much and I never want to move.

But when I think about my life here, in this little community, out in the country… I can’t stop crying. Maybe this isn’t what I wanted after all.

My emotions are playing ping-pong with me. Ben and I have talked about this ad nauseum and are pretty much living day-by-day trying to figure out what to do. I’ve pretty much decided I will live here through the summer on a trial basis hoping I fall in love with the area in the process. Ben is okay with that, but I know it is killing him because he finally has his “dream house and yard” and this is what WE wanted, but now all I can do is cry non-stop. He’s willing to sell and move back to our old neighborhood after a “trial run” but I know the thought makes him want to cry hysterically, so I just hate to rip this dream of ours away from him. It seems so unfair and selfish of me to even ask this of him.

(As for the kids, they will be happier than a clam either way. They are excited to go to the new school, but when presented with the idea of staying at the old school they are equally excited. They are very easy going.)

Maybe I’ll learn to love it. Maybe I won’t. I have no idea how this will go. All I know right now is that I love the house, but the thought of living here long-term makes me nauseous. Which I guess isn’t totally bad at this point because apparently I’ve dropped 7 lbs from all this stress and worrying and crying. Let me live here at least until I’ve dropped, say 30 lbs?, and then we can talk about moving back home.

But seriously, WTF is wrong with me? Why am I doing this? Why did I think I wanted this, and now I apparently want to throw up even thinking about it? And how come for four solid days I was happier than a clam, but now I’m back to crying again? (And for the record, NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT thankyouverymuch.)

I have so many more points I want to address but this is already so long. I guess I’ll just quickly bullet-point the rest of my thoughts:

- I feel like I need to decide where I want to settle for the next 10 years RIGHT NOW because my son is starting middle school and I hate the thought of changing my mind in 2 or 3 years and making him move just as he’s entering high school.

- I’m glad I sold the old home. I love it, I turned it into our home, but I really am ready to move on from it. This freak-out is not about the old home. It’s just about where we should have bought our new home.

- Our plan for a year, maybe longer, was to buy a home in the same neighborhood that met our new requirements; one story, smaller, cheaper. This way the kids would stay at the same school and we’d all keep our same friends and just the overall familiarity of the neighborhood and community (ie shopping, etc).

- Once we qualified for a mortgage all of a sudden we were like, “Well, if we’re going to move, why not follow our life-long dream of living on some land?” It snowballed from there. In hindsight, it kind of seems like it was a runaway train.

- I feel like we detoured from the original plan on staying in our neighborhood and I traded all of that with not much thought so that we could “live our dream” of having land. I thought that’s what I wanted since we have talked about it for our entire marriage.

- I’ve decided that those “someday” dreams you have, when presented the opportunity to make them come true, are much different in reality than in your dreams “some day in the future”. It’s one thing to dream it, another entirely to actually do it.

- We would absolutely lose money if we sold the new house within the next 6 months or so (because of the 6% realtor fees), but we could recover fairly quickly. If we did this, I guess we could call it our “stupid tax” as Dave Ramsey affectionately calls stupid things you do and choices you make that cost you money.

- If I get totally hyper-focused on moving back to the old neighborhood and we sell this “dream house” of ours, will I look back and regret it? Will I look back and wish I had just sucked it up and toughed it out?

- Is my intuition telling me that I shouldn’t have moved and I need to undo this mess I’ve created, or am I just scared?

- If this is my dream house, and I couldn’t wait to move here, why can I not stop crying?!

I think I’ve about covered it. I’m not looking or “fishing” for comments, I just needed to brain-dump all this out in an effort to hopefully help me feel better about all of this. And like I said in the beginning, I am depressed right now, so maybe this isn’t really the best time to be posting all of this. It is what it is. Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up again and love it here. Tomorrow is a new day.

     

My emotions about the new house are playing ping-pong, and I don’t like it is a post from House of Hepworths.

Jedi Max (my friends son who is fighting brain cancer) was recently on the news with a really awesome piece about him. You should check it out. It’s worth the watch. Watch Max on the news!

Also, my other friend made a youtube video of Max thats really sweet.

** So, are you new here? I throw the Hookin’ Up with HoH Party every week to give all of you a chance to find other awesome blogs to read. Below you will find several hundred mini links to other people’s blog posts. Have fun browsing through the links in search of new ideas. Also, if you are a blogger, please feel free to add your own links to the list!

Please refrain from posting links to shops and stores.

Please note: RECIPES/FOOD is a separate link. Please make sure you are linking in the appropriate section.

Here are a few of my favorites from last week’s link party:

The DIV Village is totally amazeballz and turned their boring basic pantry into this awesome built-in pantry.

Make a fun brag book for Mother’s Day following Nalle’s House‘s tutorial.

Golden Boys and Me DIY’d the most fab bathroom ever.

I love love this maxi dress pattern and tutorial from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. What a beautiful dress.

It’s Always Autumn is always sharing awesome posts. This time learn how to blur the background on your photos – the easy way.

I can’t help it, I just love these bright colored dino topped jars from Shabby Gals.

Thrifty and Chic shows how to remove all those hard water stains with a simple vinegar trick.

Design Megillah designed the most amazing kosher kitchen ever.

These cement garden balls from Creative Passage are so cool. You’ll be surprised how she makes them.

Holy Craft has an awesome post about what craft items to purchase at the dollar store and also how to use them once you get home.

Organize and Decorate Everything whipped up these bright fun pillow cases. And the best part? The cuff at the top has a completely hidden seam. Check out how she does it.

The Scrap Shoppe Blog baked up some delish looking blackberry cheesecakes and shares the recipe with all of us. Sweet.

To see the InLinkz party you will need to click through!

To view the remainder of this post please

If you’ve been featured you are AWESOME so grab a button and tell everyone!

<a href="http://www.houseofhepworths.com"><img src="http://images.houseofhepworths.com/buttons/2013-logo-link-party-featured-button-hoh.png" /></a>

Post about anything you’ve worked on recently.

*Please link back to my blog pretty please! Buttons can be found HERE.

* Don’t link up your SHOP, STORE, OR ETSY to my party.
* Don’t link up your GIVEAWAY to my party.

Ready. Set. Post!

     

Hookin Up with HoH #147 is a post from House of Hepworths.

Q: How many square feet is your new house? How many was the old house?

A: The new house is approximately 2,800 square feet. The old house was about 3,650 square feet. We shaved off about 850 square feet when we purchased this new house. We lost a bedroom and a dining room. And before you ask, yes, we sold the dining room furniture. No room for it here!

Q: How old is this house?

A: The house was built in 2000. It’s new enough to have good bones but old enough to need updating.

Q: How much land is the new house on?

A: The new house is on a little over an acre! Our kids are in heaven. The yard needs tons of TLC though and a fence, so we have a long road ahead of us.

Q: Does the house have a garage?

A: Yes, the house has a two car garage. It’s a side-entrance one so it was hard to see in the first photo I shared.

Q: Can we see the frontyard?

A: Yup. The house has a U-shaped driveway with a grove of awesome climbing trees out front. The kids absolutely love it.

Q: Can we see the backyard?

A: Sure! Most of our property is in the backyard and side yard. The house came with an awesome deck off the back of the house, swingset, fort, two sheds, an above-ground pool with a deck surround, and a half-court basketball court. The yard and “toys” are all in rough shape though, so they will need lots of love and care from us. Eventually some day we’d love to take down the above-ground pool and deck surround and put in a real in-ground pool.

Q: What type of flooring does the new house have?

A: The new house has four types of flooring: hardwood, tile, vinyl, and carpet. The family room and piano room have hardwood. All the other open areas have tile. The bedrooms and game room have carpet. The office has vinyl. I will do a separate flooring post soon so stay tuned.

Q: Are you in the same school district?

A: Unfortunately, no. We are close enough though that the kids will finish out the current year at their current school. In the fall they will start in the new district. After lots of research, we are in one of the top rated districts in Texas which is primarily why we chose this area to move to as opposed to other more rural areas.

Q: I thought you weren’t going to be able to move for at least another year?

A: I have only mentioned this detail in the comments section or through email exchanges, but for those who know our situation, Ben is an Independent Consultant and is a 1099 employee. Because of new laws regarding Fannie Mae, in order to qualify for a home mortgage if you are a 1099 you need two years of tax returns. We only have one (he’s been Independent for about 16 months now). We thought we’d have to wait until at least April 2014 before we could get a new mortgage but after shopping around for quite awhile we found a local bank who was willing to assume the risk and give us a mortgage with them in-house.

Q: Any sadness at all moving out of the other house? Or was it like when you got rid of the van?

A: LOTS of sadness. I was so excited to move into this new home, and within a few hours of signing on the new mortgage I literally had a full-blown panic attack. I then proceeded to be hysterical for the next three days. I’m nothing if not dramatic. It was the exact opposite reaction I thought I’d have. I don’t know where this reaction came from, but my husband probably thought I had lost my marbles. I even had a day when I tried to talk Ben into selling the new house and backing out of our contract on the old house. Ben, our realtor, and my neighbor had to talk me off a cliff. It was probably the most upset I’ve ever been in my entire life. After Ben agreed that we’d move into the house on a “trial” basis I was able to calm down. Now that I am officially moved I LOVE the new house and never want to move!

I think the idea that I was leaving my old neighborhood, old friends, old school, old community, and everything familiar to me hit me all at once once the papers were signed. And I just totally flipped out. This transition was not easy, but it was so worth it. I love my new home!

Q: Can we see a floor plan?

A: I would love to show you a floor plan but I seriously suck at those online floor plan makers. I have it drawn out on paper with a sharpie so I’ll scan that in and show you as soon as I can find my scanner.

Q: Are you going to do the same color scheme you did in the first house?

A: I am undecided. I am definitely not doing the butter yellow again even though I love it. I really love the gray undertone though instead of a tan one, so I’m conflicted. I will probably go with gray again but will choose a different shade that has more of a taupe undertone.

Q: Is the new neighborhood far from the old house?

A: We are about 20 minutes away from the old neighborhood. In order to get an acre of land and save money on the mortgage we had to go a little further out from the city center.

Q: Is there a Basement? An Attic?

A: The house does not have a basement. Most homes in Texas don’t because the water table is too high or because there’s too much limestone. Yes, the house has an attic. The A/C unit is up there. We probably won’t use it for anything though except storing random stuff.

Q: You already moved in? did you sell house #1 yet?

A: We just moved in on Saturday. The house is such a disaster from moving that I feel like I live in an episode of Hoarders. House #1 is under contract. The buyers will sign the final closing papers in about a week.

Q: Dana from House*Tweaking bought a smaller fixer-upper last year. Are you copying her? Young House Love just bought a new house too.

A: Seeing Dana downsize to a smaller house to save money and to help her family feel more unified definitely was inspiring for me. That is when the idea started mulling in my mind. We originally were looking at houses around 1900-2000 sq ft, but this 2800 sq ft house popped up and we just had to jump on it. Most of the extra 800 sq ft are the extra 4th bedroom (office), a 3rd bathroom, and the gameroom.

Like everyone else, I had no clue that John and Sherry had purchased a new home. They posted about their new home just a day after I posted about mine. I joked with a few friends that it wasn’t fair because they stole my thunder! I’m sure their 5-million-page-hits-a-month blog doesn’t need any of my thunder. I’m just happy they even know who I am. hah

Q: Where did you get that yellow bag?

A: The yellow bag is my camera bag and it’s from an awesome company called JoTotes! It is faux leather and is so super soft and my favorite part? The inside is houndstooth.

There you have it. All your questions answered. I am determined to be a more organized blogger this house go-round. My right-brain has a hard time with organization and blog posting schedules. But I’m going to try! YHL’s consistency is so inspiring to me. Cross your fingers that I can stay on top of the projects and the blog enough to keep it coming to you real-time and consistently.

Now that I’ve shared all this stuff about the new house I’m going to pop back over to the old house and share some loose ends about prepping the house for listing, packing up, and moving, so keep an eye out for that. Also, don’t forget my weekly hookin’ up with hoh party is tomorrow night at 9:30pm CST. Be there or be square.

     

Your questions answered about the new house! is a post from House of Hepworths.

Well, I’m back and ready to spill more deets about the new digs (aka house #2). We love house #1 and I have spent the last three years updating it and making it our own, but our dream is to live a little further out, on a little more land, in a smaller one-story home. After following the Total Money Makeover plan for what seems like forever and a day, we finally paid down all our debt and had enough money in the bank and equity in the house to sell it and move into our dream house (which just happens to be cheaper than house #1. Dave Ramsey would be so proud).

When our perfect home popped up in the mls one day, it was a no-brainer to jump on it:

I have several more projects and tutorials for house #1, but for today lets just focus on the house tour for house #2. Holla! And, obviously, I can’t buy a house unless it is oozing with potential, though it isn’t quite there yet, so keep that in mind as you look at the neon green walls… I am a DIYer after all.

When Chase greets you at the front door, this is what you will see:

Eventually I want to redo all the floors in the main living space to the same type of flooring for a more cohesive look.

From the corner of the family room looking back towards the door:

Another view from the family room looking towards the door:

Here’s a view of the family room from the kitchen:

Another shot of the kitchen:

Here’s a view of the kitchen from the bar in the family room:

Bath 2, the kids bath:

Bed #2, the girl room:

Bed #3, the boy room:

Bed #4, the husbands home office:

The game room:

The mud room:

Laundry nook:

We actually moved into the house yesterday (Saturday) but I have been so incredibly busy the past month that I am really backlogged with projects to blog about. I actually spent 3 days last week doing some DIYing in the new house in preparation for new carpet that was installed Friday. For the first time in my life I picked out, ordered, and purchased carpet. I guess I’m officially a grownup now.

If you have any questions about the new house or are curious about something that I haven’t mentioned yet, ask in the comments and I’ll put together a Q&A post.

     

The new digs and deets is a post from House of Hepworths.