As you may well know, the hubs and I just moved from Alaska to North Carolina last August.
What a blast. What a hoot. It was a glorious drive down and we are LOVING Charlotte.
It’s a city that feels like a town. Super chill. Plenty to do. Great traffic.
So….WHY ARE WE MOVING AGAIN and WHERE?
Long story short…
Just moving across town. Lol. Exciting!
Here’s the scoop.
Several things happened in a row that were quite coincidental and serendipitous that led to this decision.
We’ve just been renting the house we’re in now. There’s no way we would have felt comfortable buying a house without knowing the area or if we even wanted to stay here long term.
We had planned on ALWAYS renting. I mean… it’s so easy. You just send in your monthly rent, keep it clean, and you’re good to go.
We had no intentions of buying.
And then…We had a random conversation one day and realized it was time.
We made a decision.
We wanted to buy a house. We both agreed. We were ready.
We looked on realtor.com for a few days, found some houses we liked and took off driving around town.
DAY 1: We found it.
Done.
We knew we wanted that house. No question. It was modern. Clean. Pristine. Brand new. All gray and white interior. And virtually no HOA fees. Hallelujah!
Long story short, 6 weeks later we had closed and were first-time homeowners.
It was a bit of a whirlwind.
We listed most of our furniture on Craigslist at a deep discount and it sold lickety split. Boom, bada bing. And met the coolest, sweetest people in the process.
And so we are finishing out our lease at our current place, packing one room at a time, and will begin the actual moving process mid-August.
I won’t deny I had a few sleepless nights due to the realization that we now have a delight called a mortgage… for the next 30 years. Egads. Let’s not think about it, shall we? 😉
Here I am just hanging out in my new craft/work room. The furniture is the staging furniture, not ours, but it’s just gorgeous.
We will be downsizing quite a bit and my new crafty space will be about 10″ x 10.” But the ceilings are enormously high so it feels big.
Did I mention we are excited?
You probably won’t even notice much of a difference as we’ll still be listing yarn and shipping during the move. There might be a day or two where things come to a halt, but I’ll keep you posted via email.
So if you have any brilliant packing tips or just simple helpful tricks you can give me, please do.
When we moved from Alaska, we gave everything away and came down with only the essentials.
This time is different. We have furniture. We have a boat load of yarn. Oh my word. I should show you the many boxes. We have mattresses, clothes, etc… goodness.
And this move won’t be the last. I grew up with a builder for a papa, so we built and moved a lot and I loved it.
But for the next several years… we’ll be home.
I shall keep you posted, but wanted to fill you in real quick on the news.
Buh-bye now!
XOXO
Chandi
Congratulations!!! Such a beautiful space to live, create and love!!!
Congrats Chandi’s. Your new home looks looks lovely.
Your new house looks beautiful!! As long as you have room for your beautiful yarn, everything will be fine! Every time we move I say “this is the last move! Not my favorite thing and I can’t think of any tips to give you right now!
Congratz on your move – how exciting and wow the place is sooooo clean and sleek. I can see a new yarn color developing in your head 🙂
Lovely home! But, what makes a home a “home”, is the people in it! Gorgeous! Enjoy and congratulations! P.S. When you go to the closing and “sign your life away”, don’t look at the amount you will have paid total on the loan (including the interest). Just ignore that figure! 🙂 Look forward to your tutorial videos and yarn pics in this gorgeous space!!
Congratulations on the new home! It’s lovely. 🙂
Look into renting a pod!! We moved 20 miles across town several years ago and used one. They deliver it to your driveway…we had 30 days to pack at own pace and then they picked it up and delivered it to the new house. Think it ran us right around $300. Worked perfectly for us!
As a child we moved a lot. sometimes movers helped, but after they packed the full garbage can and put it on the truck, Mom had much less delight with the help.
When I have moved I always found it better to rent a truck with loading ramp for half a day to move mattresses, big furniture, etc. even with hiring college hunks moving junk company the last time. it cost less than $300 to have them move all the furniture and most boxes. because they were doing the lifting I was able to leave everything in dresser drawers. When there were small things I just put paper over the top of the contents. Everyone says keep an inventory of each box. that is a daunting task. I just write the contents on the side of the box and put the room on big and bold. Sounds like you may be able to take some time to move, not do it all in one day. that would be a blessing. When your mortgage payment doesn’t go up every year like rent, and you can subtract the interest from income taxes, the daunting mortgage may seem like the best decision ever. Congratulations and good luck. Anyone who invents the fabulous products that you do, can do this without missing a beat.
Way to make us wish all the more that we could be Chandi!!
Congratulations to you both Chandi!! I am so excited for you!!! My only tips are to use a ton of plastic baggies for the small stuff and mark your boxes. We bought different colored tape that goes across the boxes on our last move. It showed which room it went to by the color without even looking inside 😀
Just think of what all that colorful yarn is going to do for your workroom! Wonderful to have that background to display them against!
Chandi,
Take photos of what you’re putting in boxes. Put photo on outside of the box. Makes it much easier to “find it”
cindi
Congratulations. I know what you mean about moving a lot. My dad also was a builder. We moved all the time. Then I married my husband and moved 3 times in 6 yrs. I finally told him I am done. We built our house and stayed put. Lol. Enjoy your new home.
Congrats to the new house and joining the rest of us in paying a mortgage. What part of the Charlotte area did you move to? We have family in Charlotte and some surrounding areas! We also have a Kia Dealership in Gastonia,NC. If you ever need anything just holler
Congratulations! The place looks beautiful!
Congrats Chandi and hubby! !! Your new home is beautiful and I’m sure you will be very happy there! !;)
Congratulations! 🙂 It does seem huge and daunting at first to commit to a mortgage, but you can always pay a little extra each time and make that 30 shrink. 😉 It’s nice to have the freedom to do whatever you want with your own home, and my husband still loves to tackle home improvement projects. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!
LOVE it! Congratulations on finding such a stunning home!
The new place looks awesome! Thanks for sharing these parts of your life with us. I feel like more than a customer, I feel like a friend. So I know when I place an order, I am not ordering from some faceless company, I am ordering from someone I know in a way. Congratulations on this new chapter of your life.
What an absolutely beautiful place! Congrats!! I moved once when I got married 37 years ago . Boy do we have “stuff”. Trying to downsize without moving is quite a task. Enjoy your new house!!
Thanks for sharing your big move! I know you are excited-Moving to a new home is so special!
Received my new yarn yesterday and I’m so in LOVE- can’t wait to start something new. I know my sister will love hers too-birthday present-a surprise.
I can feel the need to keep shopping, I just love your yarn and patterns
Patricia
Congratulations on you new home. It is beautiful!
It’s lovely, Chandi. I’m very happy for you!
Congrats on the “new digs” That kitchen looks so BIG! Clearly mark your boxes, use bedding for protecting glassware/breakables, and stuff small things into shoes….
Very happy for you. It’s beautiful, enjoy, enjoy!
What fabulous news! The pictures look amazing!! It looks like it was meant for you (and hubs of course)!
I agree with Kendra…Rent a POD! It was so much easier than doing the truck rental thing! Put everything in it and take your time,. They will then take it from one driveway to the next when you say and you have as much time as you need to unpack! We just did a one month rental and it was perfect! I didn’t have to stress about trying to do it all in one day and get a truck returned! Congratulations on the house!
Beautiful home. Fill it up with love!
Oh my lord that place is gorgeous!!! I am sooo exited for you. But always remember..no risk no gain. Go with your gut and your future will be bright.
To make packing a lot easier for you you can send me all your yarn! Lol!
Your new digs look great! Congrats!
Congrats! One tip that really helped us last time we moved is this: Use saran wrap for EVERYTHING! For instance, take your silverware drawer out, wrap the whole thing tight with saran wrap and pack it. Nothing will move around, nothing will break, when you unpack, you just cut the saran wrap off, and it sticks to other wrapped pieces! We did this with our dining room table and chairs, it was GREAT! And CHEAP!
Congratulations to you and the hubs, your new home is gorgeously beautiful!!!
Congratulations on the new house! So excited for you! 🙂
That house is beautiful…and the tiles for the bath??? GORGEOUS! Simple tip: label everything/all of the boxes w/ what you have packed inside. It will make moving a lot easier. All the boxes can go to its room/location and unpack from there. Or if you wanna take a breather…just unpack as u look for the items and having the boxes labeled will make that searching a lot easier.
So happy for you and Hubs on your new home! You will love it and in no time I can see beautiful flowers and landscaping around your home! (More inspiration for your yarn)! So many of the replies are right on. I would much rather do business with someone “I know”, then faceless big business. Best of luck to you and Hubs in your new home!??
How fun to own your first home. And it reminds me somewhat of my grandaughter’s home in Charlotte as well. You are both of the modern age.
Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations! Its a big step from renting to owning. Pay it off early. I lived with my yarn in totes the last 3 years, ugh! Great way to move them, lo and behold I now have quite a bit of the same yarn. In need of boxes, liquor stores have great heavy weight ones, bigger boxes grocery store produce section, big square boxes catch some of your local stores on delivery morning. It will be worth it, enjoy your new house! It’s beautiful.
Oh, Chandi, that place is gorgeous!!! I love how much light it has and how contemporary and uncluttered looking! Love the tub. It does look very large, so I’m really surprised to hear that you are down sizing. Have many blissful years there!
Congratulations! The house looks awesome. Love the colors too. Can’t wait to see how you bring colors into it. It is exciting for you and for your followers too. Keep your camera handy and share as much as you can with us, your friends.
Congrats! Wishing you the best.
Best wishes to you and your husband on your new mortgage! It’s exciting to be an owner and you will see that when you file your taxes – yay! And what’s more rewarding than hard earned money buying you exactly what you want?!
Good luck, happy packing, and enjoy your new home.
So excited for you! Your home is lovely and can’t wait to see how you make it your own. Enjoy!
Well, well, well !~! What a marvelous read for a Sunday morning. First Huge Congratulations !~! Buying a home is a major deal and you and hubby are so deserving of goodness in your lives.
The only advice I have is as you pay your house payments each month toss in an extra 25 or 50 bucks when you can. You knock payments off the back end of your mortgage really quickly. Every extra dime you send in goes to the principal and, bubba, it goes down quickly. We knocked over two years off our last mortgage by sending in a bit extra every month and twice we sent thousand dollar chunks when we got windfalls. It was a ten year (yes 10 years) mortgage so we saved a TON of interest.
I’m so happy for you. Owning a place is quite different from renting-both good and not so fun aspects but you’ll get the hang of it and I look forward to seeing the place after you’ve had it for a few months.
Beautiful, airy space… perfect for the creative juices to flow… Love your new home… Live if good 🙂
I know you probably did this before you left Alaska, but pitch or sell everything you don’t absolutely love. It’s a painless way to downsize, especially if you haven’t used something for a while. Depending on the amount of time you haven’t used it, you may not miss it at all!
Congrats on your new home. It looks beautiful and I am sure that you will enjoy making many wonderful memories!
Congratulations Chandi, how wonderful that you found a house on the FIRST day – so lucky. It’s a beautiful place for an artist to make your very own.
Don’t worry about that mortgage – at least you’re not giving your money away to someone else in rent, you’re building equity for yourselves. Been there, done that, hard work but we now OWN our place. Feels very different – I’m sure you’ll love it.
If it’s not too private, do send us some “after-the-move” pics, I’d love to see how you decorate it.
Some good tips from other folks but my main one is – take lots of deeeep breaths and do it slowly and peacefully.
We’re hoping to move from northern BC to a southern BC island soon so I’m watching these comments avidly too and will try to take my own advice LOL!
Wow felicidades! So happy for you. And what a gorgeous house! All the best to you.
Congrats!! So happy for you!
Congrats Chandi! Charlotte is so beautiful, I am also contemplating a move from New York to Charlotte. My niece is living in Mint Hill, my brother and his wife bought a house in the Lake Wylie area. I been looking for a job and hope to find one soon! Who knows, we may be neighbors!
That would be amazing! : )
Hello Chandi
Your new home is gorgeous Love the colors. . I think you should take your time and do one room at a time and do it the way you would like it. It will be all painted and done be all done before you know it. Can’t wait to see some pictures. Are you going to start a family soon or in the near future? Have fun and enjoy your new home. Best of luck.
TerryLee
Your new home looks beautiful. It has that contemporary feel. It’s remarkable that you found it the first day. I have only moved a few times since Dec 1976 when we moved from St Louis to Aurora, IL so I don’t have any valuable suggestions. Mark the box on sides and top. Note what room to put it. Taking a picture of each filled box is a great idea. Wrap mirrors and pictures in bubble wrap. Mark what it is. Don’t rush around and try to keep calm. It will work out. Tell your helpers where to place the furniture. Anything valuable should be moved by you or hubby. Have water available for the helpers. Don’t offer anything else to drink. Invest in a case of bottled water. You don’t need to feed them!! Good luck in your move. Carolee
Congratulations Chandi! What an exciting time in your lives, becoming homeowners. I wish you and your hubby many happy wonderful years in your home. It is beautiful, enjoy it to the fullest, and I thank you for being so creative and sharing your beautiful patterns and yarns! God bless you both! ?
The house is lovely! There is so much light and looks so white and clean! Congratulations! The feeling is great to buy a house, isn’t it! Me and my husband also bought a lovely house and now we are packing and preparing to move there forever. The idea of paying mortgage for 30 years is a bit disturbing, indeed… but I guess that there is no other way. I wish you all the best! Thank you for sharing!
Hi, just found this site.
Your home is beautiful. You also live in a lovely state.
Does hubby help you with the yarn or do you do this by yourself?
Whatever, all that is shown is gorgeous.
Enjoy your new home.
Fondly,
Phyllis
Thank you. Yes, my husband and I work together. Wouldn’t have it any other way.