First Home Style

I moved into my new house in January and since that time, I have been slowly decorating and making feel a bit more like home. well, today I can finally reveal my kitchen dining room area. My dining chairs I got for sale for $119 for two. The dining table is actually a writing desk that I purchased from Amazon. However it arrived damaged and the company sent me a replacement desk that also had broken pieces and damages to it. I think we've hidden it well, but you can't really tell that it has broken in places. It's a small space with a comfy feel. Let me know what you think.

I’ve finally moved into my first home.  I’m bursting with excitement and happiness to share all my design and décor ideas that I’ve been pinning from google images and home décor magazines for many years. I am now the proud owner of what I’m calling my “urban cottage”, a small three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch house in New York.  I’m so excited to make this home my dream home.   For the past several weeks the cottage has been under renovations. Within days after closing we realized that there was leaking behind a wall in one of the bedrooms (which wasn’t noted on the home inspection report).   Apparently, there was an issue with the gutters and instead of falling away from the house when it rained, the water was seeping through cracks in the brick façade. Thankfully we were able to identify the source quickly and fix it. Initially, the renovation work was estimated to take about five weeks, however it’s ended up at nine weeks. And as I’m writing this now, my kitchen is st

Despite closing on my home last month, I haven't yet moved in. When I first made an offer on the house, I did not think that I would begin renovations immediately. I knew the house needed some updates.  But I could live with an outdated, functional kitchen for a while. once the sellers vacated the property, I was finally able to assess the property without their furniture blocking and cover any damages.  I hired a painter who was also a licensed contractor who noticed that all the walls in the house were bulging. The second bedroom where the children slept had a leak which caused the baseboard to rot and the wall to swell. The house was inspected twice and at no time did the inspector report rotting baseboard and leaking in the walls. I was not happy. Would knowing all these things deter me from purchasing this house? probably not.  However, the last thing I expected to do so soon after spending almost ten years of savings on closing cost and a down payment, was start a

This morning I woke at about 4:00 am and couldn’t return to sleep. I was too happy knowing that in just a few more hours I would get the keys to my new home.   All that was left to do was sign a bunch of papers and this charming home would be mine. Well, I didn’t get the keys to my new home. Last night was the final walk through and to my surprise the sellers were still in the home and hadn’t packed a single thing.   They informed me that they needed more time and that they hired movers who would haul away their belongings on Monday. What? I was trying to be super understanding so I smile and nodded. However, my internal voice was screaming. At the closing, my attorney tld me that I would be compensated for every day that the sellers remained in the home.   On Tuesday afternoon, I will meet the sellers at the home where I will complete another walk through and then will be provided with the keys. Still, I bought a house, a house that I will not have access to for several days.  

I am busy. That’s what I keep telling myself. I have a lot going on. I have my 9 to 5, my side hustle, making time for friends and family, trying to get a handle on this new healthy lifestyle of meal planning, finding enough time in the day to work out, checking emails and text messages and writing that screenplay that has been dancing around my head for the greater part of the last twelve years. Oh yes, and I am also in the process of purchasing my first home in Brooklyn. I have a lot on my plate and I have many people and things vying for my time and attention. But that’s not an excuse for neglecting this blog, for not blogging more often than I have been. The truth is my emotions about this house have been so up and down that it literally makes me sick to think about it.   I am excited. I am happy. Being a homeowner is something that I have longed for for ten years. I got really close to purchasing a coop apartment five years ago and did not experience these same emotions.   I

Home-buying can be emotionally draining and stressful process. More than the process of searching for a home, making an offer, waiting for the seller to accept or counter your offer and then applying for a mortgage, I’m finding the financial to be the most stressful of all. For years, I have diligently saved and deprived myself certain luxuries in the hopes that I would someday become a homeowner. But now here I am writing the check for down payment, handing over what took me the greater part of two and a half years to accumulate. And then after that, there is the closing cost which is another huge chunk of change. As we get closer to the closing day, I find myself in a mini-panic. The money that I’m using to pay for my down payment and closing cost could actually afford me a three-bedroom, one bath with a finished basement and back yard in Pennsylvania. I could have bought a home in Pennsylvania for cash! It’s a little vexing that as a first-time home buyer in Brooklyn, NY, my home