Homeowner happiness!

We have a house!

On March 26th, Jason and I closed on our very first house. We've talked about buying a house for years and knew we wanted to be settled in one before the wedding.

We're staying very close to where our apartment (and my office) is in Roswell - we really like the area and my commute is ideal. We found a three bed, two bath ranch in a neighborhood that is 1,984 square feet and, possibly most importantly, has a two-car garage! It was a pre-approved short sale and, against all odds of it being a short sale, we closed one month after we initially saw the house. The bank was extremely responsive and both the bank and previous owner were motivated to sell.

Since it was a short sale, we bought it as-is. Which means we have lots of fixing up to do! Ten days into owning the house we've already put a big dent in the work that needs to be done. So consider these the before pictures.

Jason was so eager to get started that, immediately after closing, we went straight to the house. We drove separately and I arrived about 30 seconds after him. When I pulled in, he was already started.

Here we are right after closing:

 

Here's the outside:

 

 

And then our pretty trees bloomed:

 

 

 

Oh, right - we have an atrium in the middle of our house. It was marketed as a "plant lovers dream" but everyone that has come into the house so far has expected some Led Zeppelin and a cloud of smoke. We put a hibiscus in it to curb the rumors.

 

When we bought the house, the living room was orange. Like...pumpkin. That was one of our first projects.

 

Luckily now it's a nice beige/grey color. Muuuuuuch better.

 

Our guest rooms were lime green and teal. And our master was a yellowish color. We tackled the master the night we closed - now it's a smokey blue!

 

This is our master bathroom. It needs some work. We've already done a good bit but the "after" pictures will have to wait until it actually looks like an "after" and not a tornado site.

 

Buying as-is also meant that we got to keep appliances, including a washer/dryer that are much better than what we had before. BUT we also inherited a garage full of... treasures.

We have been cleaning and painting and renovating non-stop since we closed and so far this is the best adventure ever! I'll try to update as we tackle projects. Cheers to being homeowners!!!