The First Couple of Weeks

Saying that the past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind is an understatement. We moved all of our stuff, bought a bunch of new furniture (thank you Ikea), cleaned out our old place, and started settling into the new home.

My parents came to visit for a couple weeks, which has been a huge help. My dad is amazing when it comes to home improvement. He is literally the best. I can't thank him enough for all his hard work! To be fair, I did sign him up for a massage for Father's Day, so I'm not completely taking advantage of him. I know deep down that he loves being able to help me out in my new journey of home ownership.

Anyways, back to all the activities. We closed on a Monday and started moving the small stuff into the house over the week. I bought a dolly (this one) and some packing supplies from Home Depot, and it was a a huge help. Then we had professional movers come on Friday to take care of the furniture.

Once we got all of our stuff into the house, we began unpacking and planning how we wanted the rooms to look. Luckily, we didn't have too much stuff coming from an apartment, so there was more than enough space for everything. We ended up doing a trip to Ikea to get some nightstands, kitchen shelves, this kitchen island, and 2 chairs to go along with the island. I was actually really impressed with the quality of the island. It's nice because it has storage shelves on one side and another open side to put bar stools or chair under. Definitely a good buy!

And don't forget the Ikea Swedish Meatballs! I love going to Ikea, and these are a big reason why. 

                         

We also did a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond for some new sheets, hand towels, and curtains and a couple trips to Home Depot. One random aside- apparently you can bring your dog to Home Depot! A lot of the sales associates have dog treats in their aprons. How cool is that! Anyways, when we were at Home Depot we bought so much stuff. Seriously, if you know someone who is moving into a home, get them a Home Depot gift card. You really can't go wrong. 

Since Dan and I had previously lived in an apartment, we didn't have very many tools or any garden supplies. Over the first couple of trips we bought a couple of hoses, a watering can, a stand for the hose, a shovel, grass seed, a sprinkler (for the grass seed), a new kitchen faucet, a jig saw, new door locks (it's always a good idea to change your looks, in case the previous owner gave their keys out to anyone), and a load of other things. It's kind of crazy how important Home Depot has become in my life. 

We are having a general contractor help take a look at a couple of things on our inspection form. Apparently knowing a good general contractor is super helpful for homeowners, so be sure to look into that when you are moving/buying a new house. Our real estate agent actually gave us a couple of good recommendations, which was super helpful. First on the list- building a new fence for Scout! Our current one is definitely short enough for our dog to leap over if he really wanted to, so we decided to get an estimate on that first and get our first project off the ground. I'll let you know how it turns out. 

That's it for now! I'll leave you with some other random things that I discovered as we moved into our new house. 

Random Tips:

• USPS Change of Address- When you go online and officially change your address (so that your mail is forwarded from your old residence) you get a cool welcoming kit full of coupons. They are pretty good deals for a lot of different places you will soon be visiting (think Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, Lowe's, Pet Smart, etc). 
• Give your cable provider a couple weeks notice that you are changing addresses. This will help make the transition a bit smoother.  
• Ask your real estate agent what utility companies the previous tenants used (gas, electric, water, sewage, garbage collection, cable/internet, etc). 
• You can usually get some free moving boxes if you search for them. I got some from my office, but I heard Craig's list is another good place to look. Also, liquor stores have good boxes for glasses that you might be able to snag. 
• Go through your clothes/stuff- this is honestly the best time to purge all the old junk you don't want. We went through everything and came up with a couple boxes to donate (we just dropped it off at Goodwill, but there are lots of other organizations out there). 
• Check to see if any fruits/veggies need to be picked. We found a bunch of blueberries and golden raspberries that were ripe!