WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! Empty “Before” House Tour Video

We finally did it! WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! After six months of repeated “no’s” and “not quite the one’s,” we closed on our first house last Friday and couldn’t be more excited. With our move-in date quickly approaching this Sunday, we’re scrambling to get as much work done on the house as we can before the clock runs out. Today I’m sharing an empty house tour video of the “before,” our plans for the space + what’s to come!

WHY WE PICKED THIS HOUSE

To keep this short and sweet, we loved the floor plan and open concept. The kitchen is a dream come true compared to the tiny one in our apartment and we could really envision ourselves living here. It has a majority of the things we’re looking for (which is a big win the the house market!), including three bedrooms and two bathrooms with room to grow. We thought this house was a really great shell for the price, and all of those things are why we decided to pull the trigger and make this house the one.

CLOSING + GETTING THE KEYS

Though closing took much longer than expected due to the staff being busy, it went smoothly and we were able to get our keys & start working just a couple hours later. Closing is essentially consists of turning over your check and signing a huge pile of papers and getting the keys handed over to you, which is such an exciting feeling. We spent all day Friday ripping out the preexisting flooring, throwing away curtains left by the previous owner, scraping off the popcorn ceilings, replacing door knobs and hinges, etc. There’s a lot to do, so time went by fast!

Watch the process + the empty house tour below!

GOALS

The work we’re striving to get done before moving in includes:

• Replace all flooring with vinyl plank (Grey Blonde from Floor & Decor) in every room but the two bathrooms
• Remove the popcorn ceilings and refinish them
• Light installs by an electrician
• Paint the master bathroom

During the first few weeks living in the house, we hope to:

• Paint the kitchen cabinets
• Paint both of the bathroom vanities
• Replace all interior doors
• Finish replacing outlets
• DECORATE!

STRUGGLES

Contractors can be a pain. Sometimes getting them on site can be like pulling teeth, which is especially stressful when you have a tight deadline like we do. We’ve run into so many scheduling issues this week that my stress level quadrupled and I had a bit of an emotional/mental breakdown — which was honestly bound to happen at some point probably. 😂 For us, there’s a preferred order in which everyone comes: first the drywaller, then the electrician and the flooring guy last. None of these people work with each other of course and all have different schedules, so trying to work around that has made me want to rip my hair out. We think we have it all figured out now, and as I mentioned in the video, we’re going to try to do the flooring ourselves. If we run into issues, we have a backup guy that can come help us out — wish us luck!

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We know this will be a process and all of these things will take time due to money and scheduling, but we’re excited to see the results and how great we can make this house look. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up with all of my future uploads as I continue to share the move in, renovating and decorating process. You can follow along on my Home Instagram Story highlight as well. Thanks so much for reading and check back for a new post on Friday — I’m off to pack my life away tonight because we’re WAY behind! Ahhhh!