Memories of Our Starter Home

Now that another year has started and it is the month of our wedding anniversary, I tend to think about the years that have passed and how when we first got married we really had no clue. We just knew we were in love and happy and ready to say I do and go from there.

Going from there involved our first home together, starter home if you will. I don't think I realized the magnitude of what purchasing a first home really is. Case and point...I looked at pictures online and sent Hubby to look at them and determine if the outside matched what we saw inside and was in a decent neighborhood. I didn't step foot into our first home until after we were married and heading to Hawaii for our honeymoon.

It had everything I wanted: a fenced yard for the dog, a room for guest and room to grow. It was a bit dated but nothing we could not just throw a little elbow grease to and fix, paint, or change.

Our Starter Home

The above picture was the actual picture I found online and sent to my husband to tell him to drive by and checkout the neighborhood!

Green wall...um no.

The green wall was one of the first things that had to go. It made the room seem so tiny and because the room flowed on into another it was also rather shocking. I did not miss it when we painted it. Two primer coats and then a Valspar paint called Bungalow White made a huge difference.

All three bathrooms had 90's wallpaper in it and when we easily pulled wallpaper from the first bathroom without any issues, we were optimistic about the other two. We should not have been...they were awful to get off. We had to spray and score them and spray some more. It was a nightmare. But the wallpaper had to go and it did. I don't have pictures of all the bathrooms but we did the guest bathroom in a beautiful teal color.

New wall color, slate floor, fixtures and sink and suddenly our starter home was beginning to truly feel like ours. That's the thing about moving on from an apartment and into a house...there is always work that needs to be done. Even if you move into something that is brand new, you will always be looking to decorate or change things.

Ready for a closeup

We changed the color of the home a few years into living in the house. One thing you can't change easily is where you move. I knew the general area we were moving to but I didn't really know. Besides looking at crime stats, there wasn't a cool website to give me insight about where I was moving. (After we wed, I moved from Florida to Georgia where my husband works.) We weren't moving into Atlanta proper and I quickly learned that where we moved was considered "country". The truth was, it wasn't. While it might not have been the perfect place for two young-ish newly weds it worked.

What might have worked even better? Something like this cool site: Compass Searching for an apartment in the Big Apple (NYC for those that don't know) Compass breaks down things by neighborhood so you can match your personality with the area you might want to live. Commute times, nearest subways, the neighborhood lifestyle. Gives you ideas for places to go eat, workout, indulge. Find your perfect hood? Set your parameters and search away for the perfect home. I was impressed and had a few Sex in the City Dreams... Go ahead, check it out. If you are like me searching for real estate, even if you are in your forever home is fun.