May 17, 2017
5 Things We Love About Our Home
The other day, Facebook reminded of a very special 1-year anniversary. At the top of my news feed was the first picture that Branden and I ever took in our house holding the keys that we finally ours to our very first home together! This is definitely one of those things where I can’t believe it’s been a year already, but it also feels like we’ve lived here forever!
We did the tiny 1-bedroom apartment thing for 4 years while Branden was in medical school. We were still getting to know the area and getting to know how to be adults on our own for the first time! It wasn’t long before I really started to get the itch to get a house of our own! A yard, room to entertain, a place to make our own! But since we didn’t know where we he would be doing residency after medical school, we had to wait. So during those last few years in our apartment, I dreamed! I stalked zillow, envisioned our life in these houses that I knew we couldn’t buy yet. We even made trips to see these houses every now and then, even though we knew we wouldn’t be in a place to buy for a few more years!
So when the time finally came where Branden was finishing school and we could actually look at houses for real- like actually go inside them with a realtor instead of just creepily driving by- I was ecstatic, but also pretty nervous! What if this vision of the perfect starter house that I had dreamed of for so long wouldn’t happen? All the ones we liked always seemed to be just out of our price range or getting snatched up before we got a shot at them! I began to lose hope. Until we found THE ONE!
From the moment we first walked into the house we now live in, we both knew it was the one. Right price, amazing neighborhood, plenty of charm, adequately updated- it checked all the boxes! We put an offer in the very next day and never looked back! And in May of last year, that dream that I had had for years finally came true!
This past year in our first home has been all that I hoped it would be and more! And making it our own had been a blast- well, sometimes. Haha! House projects aren’t always for the faint of heart! Branden has this look like I punched him in the gut every time I tell him I want to tackle a new project! Haha! But it’s always worth it in the end!
As I reflect on this past year in our home, here are some of our favorite things about living in this house!
A Yard! This was definitely one of the biggest factors for wanting to get a house. Having a yard has been so wonderful for the pups! Not only do they get to run around and chase each other all day long, taking them out is a breeze! No more bundling up in the winter 5 times a day to walk them. Just open the back door and kick them out! But the yard has also been great for the humans too! BBQs on the back deck, fire pit in the back yard, sipping tea on a rocking chair on the front porch- it’s the best!
Making it our own. In an apartment, there’s obviously only so many changes you can make to the space. So one thing that I was really looking forward to in this house was being able to do whatever we wanted to it to make it our own! We totally gutted and redid the landscaping out front, replaced an old fence, rebuilt the back deck and more! All these little changes have really made this house our own!
Decorating! I’ve always loved interior decorating, but never really had a good canvas to work with until now! The charm and gorgeous architecture of this 100-year-old craftsman house was the perfect blank slate to decorate and turn into my neutral southern dream home! Decorating this house really helped me to hone my style, which also led to my decision to rebrand my business last year!
Entertaining!!! This is definitely a big one! One of the biggest changes of living in a house vs an apartment is the ability to entertain!! We’ve already been able to host so many gatherings in this house, just like I dreamed we would! Dinners, tea parties (it’s a family tradition!), holiday party for my brides, cookouts and even a workshop! I love to entertain, so finally having a home that I can fill to the brim with loved ones is such a treat!
The neighborhood. One of the biggest pros to this house is the neighborhood that it’s in. We didn’t think we’d be able to get into this neighborhood because the average starting price was out of our budget. But when we found this little hidden gem, we knew it was a steal! Even the neighbors told us that when we asked about it! Being able to step out our front door and walk the dogs through this charming century-old neighborhood is such a dream!
Looking forward to making many more memories in this first home of ours! Here’s what it looked like when we bought it last year.
And here it is now! 
Want to see more of our house? Check out these posts! And I’ll be sharing my new home office soon!