House: Finale!

The long-awaited (for some) post about all things HOUSE! (Beware: excessive length.) Last Thursday was closing day, and we couldn't have been more excited. We met at the title company that afternoon, with their representative, our loan officer Brother Sly, and our real estate agent Cole. (Now that I think about it, we should have gotten a picture of everyone. Alas.) The paperwork wasn't quite as bad as I had been told to expect, though it was certainly extensive, and often redundant. Still, our companions made it a good time, and it was sure a happy moment when we were done!

Friday morning we finished packing up our kitchen, and went to the RC Willey Outlet to buy our fridge, which we had scoped out earlier in the week. Then we waited eagerly for our keys. We got word from Brother Sly that our loan was in the clear, and soon thereafter, heard from Cole that we could get into the house. We buzzed right on over, and officially took possession of our house.What a happy day!

That evening we took over a few boxes, mostly books and kitchen things. Moving Day was officially set for Saturday. But of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the first night in our house! So we borrowed my parents van to haul over our mattress, and, as Shaylee would say, we slept at the house in all its empty glory. :)

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to prepare for the move. We were fortunate to have many excellent helpers. We had Cole and Michael, friends, for the first hour (more on that in a moment), our home teacher Mike, James's brothers Daniel and Patrick, and his wife Shaylee, and my awesome parents. We are SO grateful to each of them!

My dad came over at 9am to help James remove a railing from our back deck. Our house is a split entry, which makes moving in large items difficult. So we had determined to take our larger items in through the back--either the back door into our basement, or up the stairs onto our deck and in through the patio door. We also decided to remove the aforementioned railing to facilitate the larger items--especially the piano. 

A few months ago, my mother informed me that at whatever point James and I bought a house and settled down for an extended period of time, we could have "my" piano--their upright grand, which my mother had apparently always considered to be mine. (I am the only member of my immediate family who plays.) Though initially reluctant to deprive my parents of their piano, James and I ultimately could not resist, and took them up on their kind and generous offering.

The first hour of our move was therefore consumed with moving the piano and a few other items from my parents house. For this purpose, I had enlisted some extra aid (aka Cole and Michael, who could only be there for that first hour). James and I rented a moving truck from Timp Rentals, which was a great decision. (Loading ramp for the win!) Upon arriving at the house, we got the other things inside, and then the guys tackled the piano.

It actually wasn't as hard as James and I had feared, though still plenty difficult. We are just grateful we had all the help that we did! Having all these buff guys to lift and maneuver made the process much easier than it could have been. It was a happy moment to get the piano into place.

After that, we went to our apartment to load up our (immense amount of) stuff, then back to the house to unload, which was easier by far. I hate packing, but rather enjoy unpacking. We fed everybody pizza in thanks for their help. After everything was unloaded, everyone but my parents departed with our thanks, while we stayed to unpack, organize, clean, etc, starting with picking up and installing our new refrigerator!

This was one of only a few major purchases we had to make for our new home. I have been lucky enough to collect a lot of furniture and things over the years of my apartment living, without ever having purchased much. For example, our couch and our dryer (I think? or was it the washer?) I inherited from an apartment I lived in over in Lindon. The washer (or dryer?) was a hand-me-down from my cousin Hollie, as was our little entertainment center and rocking chair. The kitchen table was from my parents, although the kitchen chairs were inherited from an old roommate who got married and didn't need them anymore. Our bed was a wedding gift from my parents. We have been very lucky! Besides the fridge, our "major" purchases have included a second couch for downstairs (purchased inexpensively off KSL.com), a new kitchen sink, and a new headboard for our bed. We do still need to purchase a lawn mower. And that will be about it!

Honorable mention goes to my parents, who stayed all day long to help us get settled into the house. (Although they claim it was partially to avoid a bachelor party my brother was hosting at their house. They have been an incredible aid to us throughout the move.

Sunday was low key, but on Monday was when we got our new headboard. The headboard that we'd been using actually belongs to my old bed, which we stored at my parents' house when they bought us the new bed for our wedding present. But when we announced we were buying the house, my mother informed me that she would appreciate us taking the bed, so she didn't have to store it anymore. But in order to put together the bed, it required the headboard. So we needed a new headboard. 

We'd been looking for a headboard for a few weeks, but finally found one we liked on Monday morning, via Craigslist. We borrowed my parents van again and drove up to West Valley to get it, only to discover that there was no way in Hades that this thing was going to fit in the van. (It's as tall as I am, with no detachable parts.) So we shoved it in as far as it would go, strapped down the back door, and proceeded cautiously on our way.

We stopped at IKEA on our way home (how I love IKEA!) to pick up a little side table for our family room. I'd been looking on KSL and Craigslist for this as well, but hadn't really seen anything. But when we decided to go up to West Valley for the headboard, James suggested stopping at IKEA. So we looked at their website before we left, and found the perfect little table--for 10 bucks. Can't beat that!

At home that evening we arranged our new headboard to our liking. We'd been looking for something that had shelves/storage space, and this turned out perfectly. We love it!

This week we have kept busy organizing and decorating our house. The last big project came Thursday and Friday, with the advent of our new kitchen sink. 

The original sink was white porcelain, which looked old and outdated, not to mention having several chips in it. The garbage disposal was corroded and leaking, and part of our home inspection had been a recommendation to remove it posthaste. The sprayer was dysfunctional, and the biggest thing was that it was shallow (only 6.5" deep). I convinced James that we needed a new sink.

Thursday night, James and I (mostly James) ripped out the old sink. I was actually pretty impressed with him. Granted, the internet makes home jobs like this a lot easier than they used to be. Without mishap, James removed the garbage disposal, disengaged all the plumbing, and together we removed the sink. Not gonna lie, I found my husband to be pretty legit.

Friday was the big finish--we spent the morning hanging the rest of our decor, setting up the guest bedroom, and later in the afternoon, my father came over to help with the installation of the new sink. 

The new sink is fantastic. We bought the faucet at Costco, and everything else at Home Depot. It is such an improvement over the old sink.

And with that, we were moved in! HUZZAH!!!!!

Now, I suppose, we shall have the part you all were waiting for: the tour of the house! I thought I'd do this in a video, since that will give you a better impression of what our house is actually like. :)