<![CDATA[And so it begins…]]>To be honest, it wasn’t long after we moved into our big stone colonial in 2006 that we started to think about what would be next. Why, you ask? Well, either we’re just real estate obsessed or we just knew it was time. But I think it’s also a bit that we chose a home that didn’t challenge us enough.

We fell in love with the house because all of the big stuff had been done (hallelujah, right?). All that we needed to do was some painting and a lot of landscaping – could we BE any more lucky? (read that with the Chandler Bing voice, of course!). Getting those little things done dramatically changed the house for the better, but it didn’t keep our attention long enough that we felt like we still had the opportunity to put our stamp on the place.

As 2013 began, it became more and more obvious that the time had come. In December we completed our last improvement – the addition of cabinetry around the refrigerator. For some reason the previous owners didn’t finish this off and it always felt a bit like the refrigerator just sat on that wall – a stark, hulking presence. Now it feels finished. See the before and after photos and you get what I mean!

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But putting your house on the market is no small decision. Everything has to be considered! And in light of the real estate market’s plummet in 2008-2010, we weren’t so sure it was going to even be feasible to list the house. So we met with our realtor and the conversation went a bit like this:

Grays: We need to get at least “x” for the house? Do you think it’s possible?

Realtor: I do think it’s possible – it’s a great house, great location, it will show wonderfully. I think we should go for it!

Grays: Ok, if you think we can do it, we’ll go for it.

This was March 27.

On May 7 we accepted our offer. Oh yeah, you read that right.

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