Now that we’re wrapping things up at our current house and we’ve spilled the new house beans it’s like we’ve finally given ourselves permission to LOSE. OUR. MINDS. So yeah, this new house video tour is full of chirpy excitement that only a home in your dream neighborhood can produce. Forgive me. It’s not a good look. And watching it produces the same embarrassment that my way-too-enthusiastic mom elicited back in high school. Which confirms that I’m turning into her. Uh oh…
Woop, there it is. The first set of stairs we ever owned, and the house that’s attached to them.
A few notes:
- I’m not awkward at all in the beginning.
- We used John’s phone to “time stamp” this video thanks to Googling “today’s date” on Friday when we filmed it. We’re nothing if not high tech around here.
- Drinking game: count how many times I say love.
- Keep an eye out for John’s finger coming into frame to tell me which direction to walk (yes, he holds the camera and I walk next to him to chat since his description of the house would be three sentences mixed with long silences and if I held the camera you’d lose your lunch).
- Sorry about the audio getting odd in a few areas (empty rooms have weird echoes and it turns out the bathroom fan upstairs is crazy loud on film).
- I sing about stairs. My life is officially a musical.
- Ahhhhhhh! I can’t think of any more. Did I mention we’re crazy excited?!
Oh and please bear with us when it comes to questions about our plans and the ol’ to do list that we’re compiling. We promise we’ll whip up a floor plan post and share our new masterlist with all of our To-Dos on it as soon as we have those laid out (we’re still in that changing-our-minds-every-second phase). It might be a little while before we’ve fully segued into the full new house mindset since we still live in our current house and definitely have a lot of stuff on our plates with selling it, getting packed up, and moving.
And now, I’ll end this with a completely understated “AHHHHHHHHHHH!” and another big wet kiss for you guys. So excited to share this next chapter with you. Also if you’re my mom and you’re reading this, I’m not that scared of turning into you. Except that none of my shoes will fit anymore…
So exciting! cannot wait to see what you do with the placE! so many possibilities!
totally forgot to ask in the first place, but if you dont mind sharing, what are those speaker-looking boxes near the doors of the rooms?
Those are an old school intercom system (radio + intercom) but they don’t work anymore.
xo
s
My parents have those in every room in their house! There is even a turn table connected! The house they live in my grandparents built in 1967 and the intercom stopped working when I was a kid, so probably about 15-20 years after they were installed. My dad fixed the radio part when they moved in though and made it where you can hook a cd player into it (this was pre-iTunes) and my mom loves it when she is cleaning. :)
That’s so smart!
xo
s
until very recently the radio still worked! ;-)
Congrats on the new home journey!
We returned home from volunteering at Ironman St. George (and visiting family) to the US Collegiate Cycling Road Championships in our town. Incidentally, those championships are coming to Richmond next year.
That’s amazing! Can’t wait to check them out!
xo
s
I can’t wait until I’m home from work so I can watch this properly!! Haha I guess I’m sharing your “chirpy excitement” :)
Me too!! I love house snooping. I’m on MLS every day dreaming of when I can finally afford a house! In due time….
I tried to watch it on mute with the closed captions, and it was unintentionally hilarious! Lol. “Uh…this room is where we’re fighting crime. The potential future nursery.” I love a multifunctional room. Crime fighting slash baby sleeping all in one. Can’t wait to get home from work and watch it for real!
LOL. You know, for our superhero baby…
-John
I have been refreshing your page all morning for this post!
I can’t wait to get home and watch the video.
Also, random side note, Sherry! Have you seen the happy chic jonathan adler line at jcpenny’s!?!?! AHHH!! Totally affordable adler…best day ever when I walked in and saw it all last Saturday!
Can’t wait to check it out!!
xo
s
Ok, that house has some amazing bones. yeah, the mauve and blue trim are scary, and wallpapered light switched make you go huh?, but it really does have a nice layout. Really excited for you guys, can’t wait to see what you do with it.
Aw thanks Tracy :)
xo
s
Ditto to what Alissa said!
Holy Blue Trim – bet you can’t wait to get that all white and crisp! Could only watch w/out audio – so you didn’t seem awkward at all Sherry! ;-) Can’t wait to watch it w/ audio later!
Haha, I think with the audio on you’ll be blushing for me in no time…
xo
s
“Holy Blue Trim” is exactly what I thought watching this!
I’m so happy for you guys!! The house seems to be laid out really well. I can’t wait to see how you transform it. :) Congratulations!
The house has great bones! I’m so excited to see what you guys do to the place. I almost feel like I should buy a house and start a renovation right along with you! Almost.
Also, I feel the same about having a window over the kitchen sink! Right now we’ve just got a mirror and it ain’t cuttin’ it. And a bona fide pantry! Another must-have on my list. Last thing: awesome natural light! You guys picked a good one.
Okay, I’m done. Excited to see what the next few months bring with your new place!
LOVE IT. So. much. freaking. potential. I may have already mentally two toned those kitchen cabinets. Just sayin’ Also, jealous of the upstairs laundry, and I LOVE the retro intercom system (jk/lol!) You guys will love having an upstairs- we love being able to go upstairs at the end of the night and they day is done. Congratulations!
Love it! can’t wait to see your plans with the fireplace wall…we have one of those two and we’re kinda stumped about what to do with it!
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see you make this house a home, too. We moved into our current home almost four years ago, and we were just as giddy with excitement.
WOW. I LOOOOVE IT! This is like my dream house too–two stories, classic look, but needs a lot of loving! So glad we get to see what you make of it. :)
wraparound deck TO DIE FOR! hello, impromptu plays, BBQs w friends, HS dance photos! :) :) can’t wait to see what the yard looks like, too. exciting times!
I love before and afters. It spurs me on to finish more projects. Thanks for your blog. It is one of the highlights of my day:)
So I LOVE the house!
Although I am a little confused as to who would want to spend the amount of time it must take to cover a light switch with wallpaper!
Wooohoo!! Thank you for this! Love the possibilities!!
I love it!!! Can’t wait to see what you do with it! I’m so excited for you guys :D
Love it! Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
This house is crazy-full of potential! I can’t wait to see everything you’ll come up with.
What a dream come true! I imagine it must feel wonderful to have all of your hard work and careful planning pay off. The house is beautiful and so full of potential, and I can’t wait to see all the marvelous changes you have in store! Congratulations again!
Also, is that an intercom system? Is it functional?
It’s a really old radio/intercom but it’s broken (the radio faintly works when you hold the button but when you let go it turns off, haha!).
xo
s
Love the tour! Had to comment on the intercom…we moved into a 70’s house that had an intercom system. Turns out the guy we bought the house from installed them, and when I asked if it still worked, he assured me it did, that he even installed gold contacts, which last longer than the silver ones. Fast forward to after we moved in, and we find out that it does indeed work, but that it runs on BATTERIES! That still makes me laugh!
Hilarious!
xo,
s
I had to laugh when I caught a peek of that intercom system…my in-laws had one in their smallish ranch house that really didn’t need one. But the kicker was they remodeled the bathroom and instead of covering it up when new drywall was installed, they had the contractor leave it. “It’s a selling feature!” they kept insisting. I noticed when they were selling the house they had it listed as a feature! LOL! So ‘fess up, you know that’s what sold the house for you, the sweet intercom system!
Hahahaha!
xo,
s
Ahhh!! So excited for you guys! It definitely reminds me a lot of the “before” of your sweet first house.
Question: Does this house have a basement? And also, is your new deck really, really huge? Or did the camera add 10 ft? ;-)
Congrats!
xo
The deck’s huge! John is giddy that it’s already built (no more permits, haha!) but it needs some serious work to get it back into shape. And there’s no basement but a giant attic with steps (you walk up, so there’s not a pull down ladder) and an attached two car garage (we plan to use one side as a workshop/tool storage area).
xo
s
Love the house! Do you have a basement, or a “stand-up in” attic for storage?
No basement but there’s a giant stand-up-in attic that you access from stairs (not a pull down ladder) so we’re psyched for that upgrade (ranch attics are typically really height-challenged, haha).
xo
s
Ooh…that sounds cool! Does it have the potential for a loft room someday or is it just storage worthy? And where do the stairs lead from? Couldn’t see any upstairs in your video tour (or were they behind a door?). Sorry for all the questions….just nosy! ;)
As much as I love your ranch–and am kind of sad you’re leaving just as it’s all fixed up so nicely–I think you’ll love having a 2 storey home for a change. It’s so nice to have separate living and personal areas. I don’t think I’d ever go back to one floor living (although never say never I guess)!
So exited to see all the changes to come…thanks for sharing!!
Aw thanks Tara! We definitely could make that into a fun movie room or bunk room down the line, it’s just super unfinished so for now it’s at the end of our list because it has such a ways to go :)
xo,
s
I seriously can’t wait to see what you guys do to the kitchen. My kitchen has a very similar layout and I am at a loss…
Ah ha! Half bath IN the center hallway. Of course! I hadn’t even considered this possibility. That’s where our basement stairs are (with the half bath at the end of the hallway, smack in between kitchen and family room), so I had neglected to consider the no-basement option. I’m very excited and envious that you can open the family room and kitchen up to each other more. And now that I know where your half bath is, I’ll be able to sleep again at night ;)
Love it! So much potential. I see a lot of cans of white semi-glass paint in your future, though :)
Do you have a basement in this house too?
There’s no basement but a giant attic with steps (you walk up, so there’s not a pull down ladder) and an attached two car garage (we plan to use one side as a workshop/tool storage area).
xo
s
Our family room has the random wet bar too! Needless to say, one of our summer projects will be removing it and turning it into storage.
I’m loving the old school intercom system between the rooms. My Aunt Mary had those in her house when I was young and I thought that was the coolest thing. I told my parents that when I grew up and was rich, I was going to have those in my house so I could call to my maid to bring me breakfast in bed. Yep – still waiting on those dreams to come true!
Hahah!
xo
s
Hey guys! I am SO excited for you and this new house! Especially because it looks something like most houses here in New Hampshire and I am going to LOVE going through all the changes you do!
On a side note: My boyfriend proposed to me two days ago on top of a mountain with a lake on it! (rightfully named Lonesome Lake), and after the initial shock I said “OMG, we’re SO Sherry and John!!”. The best part is… he knew what I was talking about!!!
Hahahahahahah! That’s so sweet Sara! Congrats!
xo
s
I’m so excited for you guys!! I would be overwhelmed. I keep asking myself “How will they decide what to do first?” Can’t wait to watch the progress on this house :)
That is a lot of work! I love the tile by the front door.
Good luck on your new adventure!
this is so exciting! i can’t wait to live vicariously through you guys as you fix this house up.
Woot! Can’t wait to see how things go!
Do you have a basement?
Nope, just a walk up attic (with stairs, not a drop down ladder) and an attached two car garage (we only have one car, so the other side will be a workshop/tool area :)
xo
s
SO exciting! It looks like it’s got great bones, despite that mauve/colonial blue/dark wood/wallpaper thing it has goin’ on.
So excited for you & all the love this new house is going to get!! Seems like this is yet another example of the old real estate addage: location, location, location!! Thanks for producing such an awesome blog!
Looks awesome, guys! I am super pumped to watch it transform from “strangers who never updated” to “John and Sherry” style. :)
You guys are going to have so much fun!!
No Basement???
Nope, no basement! We’re so excited to use the second garage (which is attached instead of separate entry) and the walk up attic (it has stairs instead of a drop down ladder) for storage :)
xo
s
I too am shocked about not having a basement! It’s a MUST in Iowa (tornado shelter) but I forget that sometimes they’re unnecessary in other parts of the country.
So excited for you guys!!!
I’d also like to see some of the exterior in the video, or even the views from that awesome huge deck! Maybe in another video?! :)
Oh yes, we’ll make an outdoor tour for you guys soon :)
xo
s
Eeee!!! So excited for you guys!! Can’t imagine how giddy you must be if I feel this excited after my darling daughter decided 5:30am was morning time! :D It really has great bones and I can’t wait to see how beautiful you guys make it!
Haha, Clara woke up early this morning too! Must be something in the air!
xo
s
Oh. my. goodness. This house has me lusting! the potential! I can’t wait to see what ya’ll do with it! I had so many ideas just watching the video! haha
Gorgeous house Jon and Sherry! I can’t wait to see what you do first!
AHHHHHHHHHHH SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS!!! Can’t wait to see how you work your magic :)
2 questions (sorry if you already answered them):
1)Have you decided where to celebrate Clara’s bday?
2)Do ya’ll do the whole paint the rooms back to neutral colors when selling so people see a blank slate? That sounds so annoying to me and deters me from wanting to spruce up our house with any color.
Just curious…
We’re writing up a bit post about C’s party for tomorrow and we also have a post about how we’re doing showings (and what changes we made) but we definitely don’t believe in repainting rooms back to neutral – I think some people just might love a colorful room more than a cream/white one, and in our first house we sold it with a bright blue and green nursery so that helped me get some confidence :)
xo
s
I was sharing in your excitement and happen to sing when I love something also! I can definitely see the potential in this house and man is that alot of painted trim and doors! Maybe there is a paint sprayer in your future? One of my favorite things is how how the upstairs hallway is not straight. But really I love it all!
Yes I love that hallway upstairs too! The fact that it’s not straight and the lights hanging down all down the hall (not necessarily those lights, but the idea of them) are so charming to me :)
xo
s
Oh, I totally dig those hallway lights! Of course, I haven’t seen them up close.
SO much potential! Absolutely beautiful house; I would be scared off with so much to do but glad you guys weren’t! Thanks for letting us watch from the “sidelines”, can’t wait to see all you have in store!
Love the new place, guys! So excited to see all the potential it has! Do I see an intercom system throughout the house or does each room just have it’s own thermostat? I grew up in a house that had an intercom system and I always wondered what you could do to um, get rid of it :-)
That’s an old intercom/radio! It doesn’t work anymore at all, so it definitely has to go! Will keep you posted :)
xo
s
Totally agree! My parents house (one I grew up in) has it too and I’ve always been confused by how to get “rid” of it too.
Ahh love it! I was so sad to leave your old house and now I don’t even care “whatever old house, see ya!”. Can’t wait for new transformations!
Hahahahah!
xo
s
Love! When you have time, we need to see a floor plan! And maybe photos/video of the basement and yard?
Oh yes, we mentioned at the end of this post that all that stuff is coming. We’re just scrambling with getting this house sold, planning the move, etc :)
xo,
s
AHHH! I’m so excited to see what you guys do with the place!
I kind of like the separate sinks in the master bathroom- means one person can be using the toilet/shower and someone can still use the other sink without having to wait or deal with shower steam. Oh what I would give for that in my house! Of course we only have one bathroom…..