Selling and Moving On With Life!

Last week we closed on our own home that we bought in 2003 and spent much of the past 4+ years in. The closing was fairly easy, but it was the end of a meaningful season in our life and the beginning of new ones.

We had spent those 4+ years living life and growing up. We had our first two kids while living there and saw them start walking and talking. We had hard times and wonderful times. It was life.

The house played a very central role through this time. It was a fixer upper that we bought from a seller avoiding bankruptcy. A wood sided 1920's bungalow in East Nashville with overgrown bushes and chipping paint everywhere. Lots of old trim & windows. Character and charm in every room. It had been through seasons as a duplex and suffered much neglect- but it was "livable"- at least to a young couple wanting a challenge to conquer...

Before/After Photos

We first moved into the dining room while we gutted and renovated the upstairs. This had to happen quickly because my wife was pregnant and we wanted to move out of the dining room! After this we started working downstairs and slowly finished a room at a time. I became a roofer, painter, electrician, foreman, plumber, tiler, landscaper and more!

The final phase began when we moved out of the home last July and were able to gut the kitchen and rooms along the back of the house that needed major work. We refinished floors and had the exterior repainted. There's a lot of me in that house. I became to be good friends with it.

It was quite gratifying to see our vision for the home become reality- to see the job to its successful end, to finish well.

This article may be part of a some kind of grieving process, but it's been a very real transition in our lives. I want to make note of it and remember the emotion, because I work with clients all the time who are experiencing many of the same things. Seasons are changing. They're moving up or moving down. Taking risks or removing risk. Staying close or moving far.

It reminds me again what makes a house a home. It's where LIFE happens!

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com