Moving… AGAIN?!

They say a decorator is never finished decorating, and I agree for the most part. But you’ve got to know when enough is enough. And as a decorator, there have been just a few times when I was completely satisfied with my home. Just a few, short months ago, that’s how I felt about The Dollhouse. I was completely content with how it was decorated and styled, having just finished my garage. (Read about the garage reveal HERE.)

I was putting a pin in decorating for the time being to focus on producing my audio book and working on some personal business goals. But then something happened. There was a thought, and then a conversation with master realtor Peggie Simmons, of Realty Marketing Group. You can read about how amazing she is HERE. And the next thing I knew, we were out looking at houses. What?! And just a couple weeks later we were listing my house. What?!?! And less than 4 weeks after that, I was moving out of my home. Whaaatttt?!?!?! I was only there for a year and 10 months! I know, right? Hard to believe, but it’s true. The sun has officially set on The Dollhouse. Here’s a before and after…

Sigh, and moment of silence… So now, I’ll tell you why I moved, but first…

Some things you should know about me and moving…

Let me preface all of this with… I HATE MOVING! Seriously! Back in the day when I was just a young woman in her 20’s and early 30’s, I would gather commitments from friends to help pack and move, but then be left alone on the day of for all these activities. So I never again sought out “packing” parties. Instead I’d turn up some good music and just get to it by myself with some wine. Then I started hiring professional movers to cart the things in my life from one place to the next. I’ve moved my adult self a total of 14-15 times in just shy of a 40 year lifetime, including two state relocations and that one time I moved into a high rise apartment, immediately knew I didn’t like it, and moved out the next day into a town home on the same property that I loved. Yeah, that’s my crazy move life. I hate moving because it’s so much work, especially the last few, with packing up entire houses. Being the meticulous and super particular person that I am, I don’t leave anything to chance when I’m packing up my things. I’ve become quite creative and a bit of an expert at it. (You can read about my house packing/moving process HERE.) But as a near-60 year old woman, let me tell you, I am tired! This move almost took me out. I have never felt exhaustion like that before, and I don’t intend to ever again. So I declare right now, I will not be moving again… unless… it involves a man who’s changed my last name having everything done by someone else, so I can just worry about the fun, decorating part.

So why am I moving?

This won’t take long at all. I always knew this wasn’t my “forever home” for a couple reasons: one, it was a lot smaller than any other home I’d purchased and I would want just a bit more space. If you follow this blog I’m sure you remember me mentioning many times how small the home was, thus the name The Dollhouse. Two, it had stairs, which I’ve never been fond of. But the company I work for moved to a tri-level office space and in my role, I’m up and down stairs all day. Stairs at work all day, and when I came home as well, was killing my 57 year-old knees. And three, and this is where Ms. Simmons comes in, the real estate market here in Phoenix is really booming and it simply was a perfect time for me to sell and buy something else before being out-priced in the market for what I could afford. So here’s what happened next…

Storage, Rooming with Mom, and A Long Commute!

Things moved quickly once I decided I would in fact move… AGAIN. Thanks to the expertise of my super-talented realtor, coupled with my home staging and styling talents, my home sold in a day, to the first person that took a look at it, at full price. I did have to give up all my window treatments and washer and dryer, but it’s a small price to pay considering the blessing of everything else. So the closing date was set for less than 30 days out and I started making plans. I never begin packing until the last week though, because I absolutely hate living in the chaos of transition for too long. Unfortunately I got really sick that last week. So when the movers arrived, with the worst migraine I could remember and nausea, I was slow at wrapping up packing a few areas of the house, and wound up moving well into the night before the morning I was slated to be completely out. The other thing that kept me up that night was the cleaning. It’s never been my style to just move out of a house and leave it as is. This one was no different, so I took a couple hours to clean floors, baseboards, cupboards, shelves and window sills. The carpet cleaners had been by earlier so the carpet was all fresh and clean. With the movers having moved all my worldly goods in storage, it was time to head to my new roommate’s place, my Mom’s house, where I’ll lay my head for the next four months or so. The next morning I began to wrap my brain around my new work commute; a whopping 48 miles. Turns out it’s about an hour and 40 minutes coming and going.

Looking Forward…

Prior to the Dollhouse selling, I put a contract on a new house. Yes, another new build. I don’t think I’ll ever buy a pre-existing home again. But more about that later. I don’t like to take too long “looking” at homes. I know exactly what I want and don’t want, and so does my realtor, so it makes it easy. We took a Saturday to check out about five communities and after letting go one of my “must-haves”, I settled on a floor plan I’m so in love with, about a mile and a half from the one I just sold. What can I say, I’m happy with the location. It’s an open concept home with a nice big foyer, a nicely sized master bedroom, bath, and thank God, closet. Please read this post HERE to hear my woes with a less than desirable closet. It has my beloved wall of glass leading to the patio, and a cute office nook. You wanna know what else it has? A big girl mortgage, haha!!! I thank God that I’m able to cancel some debt that will free up some coins to put toward it so I can’t complain. The Queen’s Quarters is on schedule to be finished by the end of July, so I will focus on that time with visions of decor fairies swirling around my head. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come, the elevation, floor plan and my core design picks.

Let’s Wrap Up…

I’m determined to move in a little differently than before, taking care of certain aspects of being in a new home prior to me actually moving my things in. For instance, I hopefully will have all the chandeliers hung, the surround sound installed, window treatments up, and any other design features finished, so I can do a proper “install”, like they do in the home shows on HGTV. Yeah, we’ll see how that goes. Until then, stay tuned, and I’ll keep you updated.