We have been living in Washington now for about six months. And what a six months it has been! You may say it was poor timing to move to Seattle! But we have felt so blessed to have our little cottage in the woods during quarantine.
We are in month three of our stay at home order in our county. While there are moments that we miss our family in California or our friends and neighbors in Virginia, we have yet to regret our move here. Having my husband be able to work from home has been a huge blessing (he would probably still be going in if we lived in Virginia).
The time we have craved for our family has been given to us. And while what is going on in the world has brought a lot of challenges and heartache, we do not take for granted this season to simply invest in our family.
Looking back at these photos reminds me how far we have come in a few short months. From getting settled in to making some minor updates that made a BIG difference. We are happy to call this place home.
These pictures were taken back in December after we had arrived with our one car and four suitcases. Our things had yet to be delivered so we were sleeping on air mattress and wearing our travel clothes. Thankfully the washer and dryer and kitchen were all available to us!
I left the house entirely as it was at the moment. Toys and clothes scattered! It was insane. I am grateful to be past all of this! But a good reminder of how far we have come.
I will try to round up some updated pictures of the house soon!
The cabinets have all been painted white (no surprise)! And what a difference it makes!
Lots of stain glassed lighting that we have switched out.
We are really excited to have a wood burning fireplace again! Lawn chairs provided by our very kind neighbors we met the first week we were here.
I went a little crazy and pulled down all the dark floral curtains that were left besides the few we used for privacy. So you will see lots of wood rings laying on the floor that I had yet to pick up!
The first floor includes the kitchen, dining area, living room, master bed and bath, and laundry. Upstairs are the two kid's rooms and a bathroom.
We had bought the house without seeing it in person (which was crazy and scary!). And were blown away at how many trees surrounded around us and the beautiful garden we had (more photos at the end of this post of outside).
The view of our front yard from the stairway windows.
The house was listed as a three bedroom. But when our realtor went to check it out, we found it was actually only a two bedroom with the third bedroom being an open space. The property is beautiful and the area we live in is very nice but the house had a lot of quirks. We think that many of it's downsides are what kept it from selling before we found it. But with some of our DIY abilities, we were able to see the potential of the home.
And honestly we had a hard time finding a home that didn't require a lengthy commute for my husband. This house ended up being just what we needed - with a few challenges to keep us humbled. ;)
This room is our daughter's nursery. We made a make shift wall for a few months using both kid's closet doors and installing them in the room opening. It didn't do much as a sound barrier but it allowed us to close a door for our daughter to sleep.
Since then, we did put up a wall. We still have some work to complete the project but it has now provided the privacy and sound barrier of a wall!
Here is our son's room. We used this blow up mattress for him on our cross country trip for him to sleep in at hotels and it worked out really well.
Here is the bathroom upstairs. It still had glass door rails installed (minus the actual door!) that Brent was able to rip out. We also took down the large cabinetry on the wall and replaced it with one of our own mirrors.
While we miss our extra basement guest space, we do like having the rooms and bathroom upstairs that we can use for when we have family visit. We have put the kids in our room a few times already when we had visitors, allowing guests to have a room with a real bed and their own bathroom.
Back downstairs this is the hallway from the living room that goes to the master bedroom and bath. More curtains lying on the ground!
Laundry is to the left of the hallway. We brought our own washer and dryer with us and gave these ones to my parents.
To the right is the master bedroom.
We don't have central heating and air. So we have a few of these units around the house. You can also see that the breaker box is in our master bedroom! Another lovely quirk! But the view of our yard from the window makes it all worth it.
View from the master of the laundry room and master bath.
We also took down the cabinets on the wall and replaced it with a mirror we brought with us. This simple change made the room feel so much bigger. We plan to replace the vanity eventually.
We learned after our last move to bring a shower curtain with us in our luggage! And extra towels - one acting as a bath mat!
The master has two separate closets. They are fairly small but work well. It definitely has helped us to purge what we weren't wearing!
Onto the yard - our favorite part of this house! We live on just a little under an acre and with it tucked away down a hill, the space has been so great for letting little ones run around the yard safely.
After living out in the country in Virginia, we really wanted to have a little space and replicate that woodsy feel. Without even being familiar with the area, we managed to end up in a smaller town but with much more amenities than we had before. Many of the homes have a little more space with plenty of trees surrounding. And we could only dream of this much space in Sacramento. So while we have a lot of little projects on our hands, this house has truly grown on us with it's beautiful property and ability to feel like home.
There are a lot of storm creeks in our area to help with the flow of all the rain we get. We are fortunate to have one that actually flows right through our yard! It has been a lot of fun for the kids to play in.
The garden is quite immaculate. From what we know about the previous owners and seeing all the things pop up this spring, I imagine it is a reflection of a lifetime of work. It is absolutely dreamy.
The front and the back have garden space with little trails to walk on. I love walking them with the kids and discovering new plants that have begun to grow.
While the house does not have a garage, it does have a greenhouse and shed that we are using for storage. We did not have a garage in California so we are used to it. But for my once mechanic husband who does most of the work on our cars, doing work lying on wet gravel is not ideal! But we are making it work.
This view below is from coming down from the street to our house.
We have a few good sized patches of grass. But oddly we spend a lot of time on the patio. If we get around to putting in a garage one day, it would be to the side of this section of the house.
And we were quite pleased to have porch space again. Not a requirement for us in a home but definitely high on our list of things we love. Especially with all the rain we get, it is nice to have a covered space to enjoy.
While we don't live very close to our neighbors, quarantine has allowed us to meet everyone near us. And such a delight to find everyone is very friendly.
Our yard is full of surprises. Our own little secret garden.
The greenhouse is packed full of our stuff now! But a fun little space if we ever are able to use it for something other than storage!
It really is amazing how green everything is here. Even in December! When we first looked into moving to Virginia we talked about Brent looking for a job for his company in Washington. Nothing happened from that and we obviously ended up in Virginia. But ever since that conversation I dreamed about moving to the pacific northwest. I can't believe we actually ended up here after all.
We love our little patio space in the front and spend most of our time here. Our outdoor furniture is set up and we spend our afternoons playing here when the weather is nice.
Our first week here we cooked some hotdogs in the fireplace. A fun way to break in the new house.
I am excited to share how the house looks now - hopefully soon! Thanks for joining me in our little pre-move in tour!
