Johnson's Journey in Life

November 5, 2016

Most Recent House Projects

The first thing we did was paint our bedroom dresser and nightstands! They were a really dark brown color to begin with. Half way through, I was loving the project and was super pumped to start on re-doing our kitchen table and chairs. But then I was all sanded and painted out and haven't touched it. I did attempt to begin it months before we moved in. As I took a sander to it I quickly realized... it's not real wood. A huge bummer. We were given this table by Eric's grandfather and have had it for almost two years! But we never realized it wasn't real wood? We are super observant. So now I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. I did a lot of googling and watching videos and there's definitely a way to do it but it's going to take a lot of steps and technique. It is it worth it? It's a sturdy table with six chairs and two leafs. What I envisioned was a table with white legs and a grey/brown top. The chairs would be white and I was going to recover the cushions with a pretty fabric. Hmmmm.

I count getting blinds and shutters as a project because it's literally taken weeks. We knew we had to get window coverings since we were moving into a brand new house. Why I waited to start looking into it AFTER we moved in? I do not know... We lived in the house for almost 3 months with no window coverings. #flashingalltheneighbors We first decided going with Home Depot would be quickest and least painful way to get it done. Wrong. It took them a week to come and measure all the windows. Then another week for them to give us that estimate. Eric and I knew that shutters cost more, but we were hoping to have them in the downstairs windows. When Home Depot gave me the estimate for the shutters at $1,700 I wanted to throw up into the phone on them. I quickly thought I need a second estimate and ended up googling local companies and choosing the two with the best ratings. I called them up and surprise, surprise... they could come out the NEXT day. So the next day the consultant measuring the windows ask what we're thinking of getting. I told her, honestly, I must be naive to think we could afford shutters, but if it wasn't too much trouble to give me the estimate for blinds and then shutters, just to see. She said "I knew we were less than Home Depot, but I didn't know by that much!" I couldn't believe the difference of almost HALF the price. I ended up getting a third estimate. That third estimate quoted me even less for shutters! We for sure wanted to go with the second company for blinds and a sun blocking shade. I was so impressed.. the second company said they would price match what the third company estimated the shutters for and knocked $150 off the price of shutters! Shutters ended up costing over half of what Home Depot estimated. Once the order was placed, blinds and shutters took a total of 6 weeks to be custom made and installed. But the price is well worth it!

Here is a picture of our current living room with shutters! I need to get to work with decorating.

Next is our backyard. The HOA covers landscaping in our neighborhood. But the backyard is up to us. Which I don't mind! We were stuck between deciding on spending some serious money and putting in turf (really nice turf is all over St. George) or real grass and we put in a small sprinkler system. We have an idea, 5ish years down the road, to rent this home out when we move somewhere else. Because of that, turf would be ideal for renters. But for right now, we ended up putting in real grass and a sprinkler system. All for about $350.. much better than 3k. And it looks beautiful!! A neighbor recently asked "Do you just love your grass? Do you go lay in it every day? I would". Maybe I'm taking my yard for granted and should lay in the luscious green grass every day. 😂

August 25, 2016

House Update: From the Beginning

Ohhhh HAPPY DAY!

We closed on our FIRST home! We moved to St. George April 1st and closed August 1st. That was about 3 months too long ;) but so worth it because we love it! We have been in it for almost a month! Right now it feels like a nice, new house but not yet our home because I have yet to hang any pictures or really decorate :/ I know it will take time but we have been so busy with work!

Now, from the beginning. We started looking for a house in January after deciding October-ish that we were ready to consider buying a home. I say we were considering it because it felt like an extreme adult thing to do which was a little scary. I was sure that we would be told to rent the rest of our lives. The opposite happened and the next decision was to stay put in Rexburg for the next 3-4 years as Eric needed to finish school or move on? With me done with school, we considered the different options for Eric to finish school which led to the decision for him to finish in St. George!

Picking the place that you are essentially going to go into a large amount of debt for and have to live in for how ever many years is scary! What's the area like? What is the neighborhood? Is it safe? What's the commute like to get to work, friends and family? We looked all over the St. George area at different pros and cons. When we made the final decision it felt so right and peaceful. I had to remind myself of that feeling for the next 3 months because we picked new construction 😁 We were not the "builders", but we did put a deposit on the lot just as the townhome was being started and were a part of the entire process. Which was nice because we got to pick out carpet, flooring, paint etc. But there was so much dealing with the realtor, the builder, the contractor and all the subcontractors. Not ideal. I don't think we will ever actually build a house because of the stress and miscommunications. Ex: when the contractor takes a 3 week vacation and NOTHING gets done. In my books, he would of been fired. But again, we were not the builder.

SO many nightly trips were taken to look at the process over 4 months. Some nights it was very exciting and happy and others frustrating that there was no progress. That all will seem like an eternity ago soon enough. For now we are happy to be in our new home that we love. It is so perfect for us. We love the city, the feeling of it being spread out and not congested with people. We love our mountain views and how close we are to outdoor actives. I love that the commute to my work is 4 minutes! We love the neighborhood, our next door neighbors and our LDS ward.

Now for some pictures!