Hard to believe that it has been almost a year since our entire household was packed in moving boxes and lifted from our balcony by a tow truck. More than a year ago, we were still standing every weekend with paintbrushes and sanders in our hands to convert this little house into our colorful dream home. Exactly 1 year ago, I was ecstatic and a little sad at the same time. Enthusiastic about the new adventure we were embarking on and a little sad to leave the apartment where I once started my life on my own. Now it has been almost a year since I said goodbye to that life and exchanged it for the townhouse house existence. Time for a sentimental piece about “bonds” with the neighbors, renovation lessons and box stress.
The Zillow find that started it all
It’s been almost 2 years since our whole moving story started. Early 2023 we drove around on a rainy Sunday through many neighborhoods (from Houston to Richmond) to finally choose our future place of residence. A while later the Zillow advertisement that really started this whole adventure came by, followed by one of the most beautiful phone calls of my life: “Sit down! You have the house!”
In May we signed our purchase contract, in September the keys arrived and then the moving party started. Starting with leisurely selecting color samples (and then reconsidering the chosen colors 5 times), scouring furniture boulevards and fantasizing about pink workrooms. And a little later the whole renovation frenzy started, our entire back facade was removed and our house was covered in blue tarpaulins for a while to make our Pinterest mood boards a reality. What a job! Especially for the contractors. Compared to their enviable masonry skills and construction speed, our painting Sundays were nothing special 😉
The homely homebody that left his spot
After months of work, the big moving day was getting closer. Honestly? It felt like an exciting D-day. I have always had a lot of admiration for people who seem to effortlessly move to another home 4 times in 5 years. I am a homebody. Until I was 25, I always lived in the same house (my parents’!). And once I had made my first own apartment a home, I could not see myself leaving for years. Even though we, as a couple who work from home, could both use a bit more private space, the need never felt great enough to actually take the step to Zillow.
Even after we found the dream house that made me forget my fear of moving in an instant, I still had some mild panic when my apartment was on Zillow. Chips, there was no way back! And although I fully supported our choice for the new house, I was a real mollusk during the last month in our old house. In this apartment I had become big and independent. What if I regret it, but my apartment is now someone else’s property?
Luckily, the house became more and more empty and less “ours” as we packed the boxes. And the new house became more and more ours as the amount of pink in the house increased (just kidding!). So in between those sentimental tears, there was also a lot of enthusiasm about everything that was to come. We painted the walls, put cabinets in the rooms, Amy’s beloved gray corner sofa was dragged inside and we also replaced a few interior doors with stylish ones. It felt like I could finally unleash all my saved home design inspiration on a blank canvas. That made the sentimental stuff less sentimental 😉
The place where I immediately felt at home
One of the reasons we postponed our move for so long is the big ‘Where are we going to live?’ dilemma. I had dreamed of living Somewhere in Texas since I was a student. No idea why! I didn’t grow up there, I didn’t have any family living there. But I always felt at home when I took the bus from my parents’ house through Somewhere in Texas to the university. The fact that Amy was willing to move here for me is still one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. And luckily she likes it just as much as I do.
In the end, we chose a tiny search area: Amy didn’t want to live under the planes, and I was fine with any part of Somewhere in Texas. In the end, the flight path map helped determine where we live now 😉 We felt so lucky when a house in our tiny search area came online after just 3 weeks. This had to be it. We knew it straight away. The real estate agent did everything he could to make us the owners of this house, and I was stiff with adrenaline and euphoria for at least 3 days when it turned out that our very first offer on a house had already been accepted.
I will spare you my further Richmond promotional talk. But it feels great to be in the city quickly and also to be able to consciously leave the city behind me. When I go for a run, I run straight into a large park. And my bike comes out of the shed much more often now that almost everything is within 20 minutes cycling distance: from the cinema to a yoga school, fitness clubs and restaurants. When I cycle through “my town”, it often reminds me of my student days, when I loved walking or cycling through the city and having everything within reach. That is also how it feels where I live now. But then without the tourists, the hectic traffic and the parking costs of $6 per hour. Thank God 😉
Living out of moving boxes
But as with every renovation, ours didn’t go exactly as planned in many ways. Or let me put it this way: everything the contractor and our kitchen fitter made was ready perfectly on time. But with the people we hired ourselves, everything was delayed. The floor was only laid 3 days before the move. Because we moved in January, the plasterwork didn’t dry at all and the painters couldn’t come until we were already living here. The countertop broke into 2 pieces twice. And then there was also a significant delay on the dining table, the curtains, our wardrobe and other furniture. One thing I learned from it: moving during the Christmas holidays results in planning hassles 😉
If you had told me all this in advance, I would probably have had an acute panic attack. But the funny thing is that renovating also teaches you to let go and put things into perspective. After a while, things had slowed down so much that I didn’t even care anymore if another issue came up. So my tip for anyone who wants to learn to go with the flow: renovate a house!
In the end, we lived mostly out of boxes for about 1.5 months. But we had a lot of fun during that period. Pippa had the time of her life with complete climbing frames made of stacked moving boxes. My desk made of stacked boxes turned out to work quite well. Because 90% of my clothes were in moving boxes, I suddenly unconsciously joined the capsule wardrobe trend. I also started to miss our dinners at “the bar” when we finally had a dining table in the house after weeks. And when our doors were installed so that it was no longer a free walk-in on the landing, that felt like an enormous luxury.
You see: all you really need to be happy is a roof over your head and good company.
How everything turned around faster than I thought
Before we moved, I was quite afraid of missing my old house. But the funny thing is that after 2 days I didn’t even think about our old house anymore. I can hardly imagine that I lived anywhere else 1 year ago. When I look out of my office window and see nothing but grass and dogs walking by, I feel so happy with this house. This place is everything I said as a student “This is where I want to live one day!”. It is everything I saved and worked so hard for for years (and Amy too of course). And the fact that I now live here with my 2 favorite creatures on this entire planet (girlfriend and cat) completes the idyllic picture. Sorry for the sweetness!
And although I often think back to the hectic month of December last year during this period and immediately think “How wonderful that I now have a Christmas holiday without moving!”, this work at home has been more than worth every minute.
Enjoying the terraced house life
Sometimes I still have to chuckle a little when I realize that I am a townhouse dweller. That I have become someone who calls out to her girlfriend “Honey, can you throw this in the container in front of our house?”. I am now that person who – just like my mother – always has to pick the weeds from between the soil in the garden when she comes home from a trip. And I have even – against my own expectations – become someone who loves to chat with the neighbors and who knows exactly which car belongs to which neighbor. And also someone who is always overjoyed when her car can be parked in the parking space in front of the house.
In our apartment building, contact with the neighbors was often limited to “Hi!”, “Have a nice evening!” and “Has a package been delivered?”. But now that we have our own terraced house, I was even a little disappointed when there was no neighborhood barbecue. Oh, as a quiet introvert, I never expected that the pleasant chat with neighbors would one day be one of my favorite parts of living here.
What I also learned: houses are never finished
But this whole moving project also taught me quite a bit. I previously shared which 13 things I would definitely do differently the next time I move. The most important lesson? Take more than a few days to pack moving boxes. Even if you come from a modest apartment and are a pretty tidy person, more comes out of your house (and especially from a storage room!) than you think. Take it from me 😉 But what I also learned: renovations are never finished! Your renovation budget may run out, but renovation wishes will always remain.
We still dream of another dormer, another bathroom (I can’t get Amy to accept the idea of a pink bathroom yet…), new window frames on the first floor, solar panels on the roof… But yes, when I list it all like that, I can already hear the money rolling in. In other words: first save up a bit, then make plans again. Fortunately, we already live here wonderfully without solar panels and with defective window frames.
How long have you lived where you live? And what do you like most about the house or place where you live?
