Steph's New Homeowner Story

by Steph

My first house

In 2013, I moved back to Tallahassee to be closer to my family and especially my two young nephews (and now niece). I had been living for 7 years in apartments in Orlando. I knew I wanted to buy a house when I moved back. 
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One of my best friends’ mom is a realtor so I knew I wanted to work with her. I called her and she walked me through the whole buying process. She was so kind and honest with me. She worked very hard to help me find the perfect home.

Early on I fell for a house. It was newly renovated (put some lipstick on) by a company and it showed wonderfully! I loved everything about it but my mom was not so sure. She pointed out to me some of the issues and concerns I might have down the road. A lot of the finishings and appliances were done cheaply even though they looked great.

My almost house

My almost house

I moved on to see other houses but I still had my eye on that house. Then my realtor took me to a house right down the street from my parents and work. Great location. I had actually walked past the neighborhood many times as a kid. My realtor warned me ahead of time that it was a short sale (and she explained to me what that meant) and that it hadn’t been lived in for a year and had been on the market even longer. The utilities were not on and the owner didn’t do anything to fix up the house before she left.

Living/Dining/Kitchen before

Kitchen before

The laundry room...wow

Dirty carpet and walls

Garage before

Signing the contract for my home!

I didn’t know what to expect, but what I found was potential. I saw past the dirty walls and carpet, I saw past the crazy wallpaper and old finishings. 

I loved the open concept, tall ceilings, and layout. It needed work, but I would have the chance to make it my own! I made an offer that day. Being a short sale, it went back and forth many times and took three months but I finally closed on my home! I named it Nature’s Path (long story why) but I love it!
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During the three months of waiting, my mom told me I needed to start following blogs for home ideas. So I did just that! I found a ton of decor sites with some great project ideas.

When I got into my house, I realized I had great ideas for decor, but the house was no where near being ready for that. I needed to paint, get floors installed, get trees cut, replace electrical outlets, get a new front door, etc. I tried finding blogs on these topics- something for the new homeowner and kept coming up short. I relied on my mom’s experience and a friend that had done a lot of home remodeling growing up. Together we got every wall and ceiling painted in the first 4 days of getting into my home!

We used the old carpet as a dropcloth

Coming together

Progress

Had to paint all the ceilings

It’s been a few years now and I have gotten a lot of my projects done, but I always have a dream list of what else I want to try. I often look around my house and it warms my heart. I feel so blessed to live in a great home and make it my own. I don’t plan on this being my forever home, but it will be hard to sell Nature’s Path one day.

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