Hats & Sippy Cups Epilogue?

I started this blog four years ago to chronicle our coinciding home remodel and birth of our first child. The sippy cups are still around, thanks to our second. But the hard hats are gone. So, soon, may be this house.

After all the hours we spent reviewing designs, picking paint colors, sidestepping 2-by-4s, holed up in an extended-stay hotel, we're about to put this home on the market. We've got it just the way we want it. Now it's time to sell?



We've always envisioned this home as our first, our starter home, an investment. It's been a good one, too! We still love its bones and its proximity to the many neighborhood amenities. We've lived here nearly 13 years and owned it for nearly a decade. Economic and physical realities, however, compell us to find a less expensive but larger home.



We can find a home with a larger living room than this for less money. One where we can feel comfortable raising our girls through school years. Not that we felt uncomfortable here. We were just feeling a bit hemmed in for a variety of reasons.



Look how nice the house looks now. Our Realtor had it staged. Our stager used mostly what we already had in and around our house -- the flowers from our garden, the wine decanter as a vase, the mirror from our basement and the soap from Sarah's collection.





Anyone recognize the barn?





She brought in some furniture and paintings, as well. Each piece she bought at Goodwill. She buys everything there, she says. She selected the picture above because it reminded her, she said, of seeing Claire and Paige sitting at their little white table.




The basement has been rid of its clutter and forgotten mementos. It's now actually usable. I sat down here with Claire yesterday watching The Electric Co., thinking about how cozy it was now. I thought twice about selling the house. We'd discovered space we'd never before used in a pleasurable way.



We are so happy with our Realtor, Tracy Dau. She's really our unRealtor. She's spent hours at the house helping Sarah get it ready to photograph and show. She offered to split the cost of a six-hour house cleaning for Monday to make sure we were ready to show it. We gladly obliged. She fixed this sagging fence post herself with some concrete we had in our basement. I'm kind of embarrassed about this, but very glad she did it.



Tracy restored a lot of homes before she got into real estate a couple years ago. She and her stager both worked for years at Rejuvenation Hardware, and it shows. They've got impeccable tastes. Just look at this dining room. I feel like inviting everyone over for a party. Sarah advises me that's not a good idea at this point. Maybe after it sells. A going out party.



The house officially lists Monday. Tracy plans an open house on the weekend. She offered to do one tomorrow, but we decided to give ourselves a break.



Sarah has been working nonstop cleaning and preparing the house while corralling the kiddos. It's time to savor this place one last time.