checking in/making progress

Hi everyone! We have been busy bees over here. The house was placed on the MLS on Tuesday. One couple looked at the house within an hour of it being listed and are coming back for a second look tomorrow. A good sign! Our agent is having a Realtor Open House next Tuesday. 

The gardens are good. A few hosta varieties are flowering. 

The first hydrangeas are opening.

I bet you do this too, allow the plant to tell you who to pick for arrangements. Blooms lying on the ground want to come into the house!

We have had so much rain this summer, the gardens and grass look great but getting the lawn mowed is challenging because our house sits on a hill and the mower (this beast)

 will create big muddy tracks if the ground is too wet. Husband just bought this last year when he started to work from home.  He is in LOVE with it. But it will have to be sold too. Kind of sad but opportunity knocked when we spotted the waterfront lot and here we are, unloading all of out treasured garden tools and machines! 

We have been purging and organizing, something I love to do! Since we don't know the design of our new house yet, choosing what to keep is pretty tricky. My decisions are based on the amount of square footage we will lose (yay!) and the fact that our new smaller home will have an open floor plan which means less walls for large pieces of furniture. I had to make a few decisions that were kind of painful but have not looked back. 

I consider these shots to be very beautiful!

We store the patio furniture here in the winter. We piled this space with all kinds of stuff the other day and now ALL GONE! Will make organizing before the move so much easier.

I actually cannot tell you how much I enjoy looking at this. Sorry for these stupid shots of a storage room but it makes me so happy to see it almost empty! I will completely miss this in the next house. No basements near water. How in the world we will do without a basement I cannot imagine!

1 800 Got Junk helped us tremendously. We created a huge pile in the basement and garage and they took it all within an hour and were very professional and friendly. However, they charge quite a bit. It was worth it to us, we see it as a moving expense that helps in the selling of the house. They then sell and recycle what they can. The charities are wisely picky about what they take and had over a week wait for pick up. I did not feel it was the right time to have a garage sale, too much on my mind. However once the house sells, I am very willing to have an estate sale if the new owners are not interested in our large sectionals, exercise equipment, game tables, etc. 

So on to the new ideas.

I have a general idea of a floor plan of the new house and yard and continue to research. I pretty much go back and forth between organizing this house (our Amish cleaning ladies are helping too, we are keeping the house in perfect tip top shape since it will be compared to newer homes) and then researching new house ideas using Pinterest, Houzz, etc. for inspiration. We had a group of 13 here last weekend for my mothers 80th birthday so we were have been in a rush to get the house back in shape for the listing start date.

Here are a few ideas on my Pinterest boards....who knows what will actually become reality.

Love the color palette and style of the work space. Husband will work from home. We may put the office upstairs with water view.

Love this pergola.

Love the white, wood tones, Dash & Albert rugs and the tub.

Love everything, layout, casual vibe, windows and french doors to porch.

Love this.

Back courtyard shaded. Love the shade of trim and wall color, the batten board siding (is that the right term?) of the next image.

Time is definitely on my side and I am taking advantage so that when we meet with the Design/Build team after we move (will rent in Beaufort while building), I will have my head wrapped around the design, every little part of the design. I still feel I have not figured it out.... at all! So many things to consider in new construction. Our biggest inspiration in the next house is minimum indoor space but enough space for our three kids and guests when they visit and maximum outdoor space/porches and patios.

And finally Andy says hi and why are my parents running around like crazy? His buzz cut is growing out, going to have to cut him again soon.

What are you working on this summer?

Thanks for visiting!

Cindy