The House that Built Us

As many of you know, Chris and I put our house on the market last week. Little did we know we'd have a contract on it in 48 hours!!

Instead of talk about the buying/selling process, I thought I'd tell you guys a little bit about this house. I feel like so much can be said about people by their homes. I mean, it's where you LIVE! While I adore our house now, that was NOT the case six years ago. The house is Chris's and he's been in it since 1999. It's in this great neighborhood in Frisco that was built in the 80s (they had houses in Frisco in the 80s!?) so there are gorgeous mature trees, a golf course, and fantastic neighbors. But, it also means older houses.

For the first two years of our courtship, the house had lovely brown-ish carpet, furniture from who knows when (no judging, I think I still have furniture from my childhood), linoleum in the kitchen, 1980 wallpaper, and more brass fixtures than you can even imagine. We were just saying last night that we wished we had pictures.

Somewhere around our two-year mark (not co-habitating), I ~~begged~~ ~~ordered~~ ~~encouraged~~ suggested that Chris look into some new floors. He had Sally Pants the dog (RIP) and I have severe asthma and allergies. So, minus the aesthetic reasons, I thought hardwoods would help all the dander. Chris agreed and proceeded. The new flooring kicked off a (unintentional) four years of renovations. Here's the list in order of repair:

New hardwoods
Tile in kitchen, entry and bathrooms
New, low-profile carpet in all bedrooms
Wood deck for backyard
New roof
Renovate master bath (new tiled shower/glass, new fixtures, separate vanity mirrors, NO BRASS)
2" faux wood blinds in entire house (removal of really terrible 1985 blue drapes)
Texture/repaint kitchen (removal of floral wallpaper)
Move office out into dining room / paint, decorate nursery
Stainless steel appliances in kitchen (a fridge that actually filled out the fridge cubby)
Washer/Dryer that didn't require close monitoring to avoid kitchen flooding
Replace every single doorknob in the house (NO BRASS)
Spray paint hardware around closet and wet bar (NO BRASS)
New ceiling fans/light fixtures in all living areas (NO BRASS)
New AC
New furnace

I made this list for the Realtor to put in our house description. As I started listing out everything I realized what a transformation our house had made! And oddly, what a transformation Chris and I's relationship made! By the time I moved in with Chris (three years), the house was already starting to feel like it was partly mine. As time went on, I stopped calling it Chris's house and called it OUR house. And, now it's Walt's home too. It will be sad to leave something we've put a lot of heart into, but I know the new buyers saw what we love and will take care of it. Below are some present pics:

Entrance (left) and what we call the "Big Room"

The "new" office

another shot of the entrance from the other angle

Kitchen

More kitchen. I think the only thing we haven't done to this house is granite counters

From kitchen, looking at the living room

Walt's abode

The master bed