We’re Moved In!

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks in our new home! It’s been a whirlwind getting moved into our house and I have SO MANY UPDATES for y’all! I cannot believe how much has happened in such a short amount of time.

We are truly running on fumes and adrenaline at this point to keep the momentum going so we can get unpacked as quickly as possible. I cannot even describe how gratifying it is every time I unpack and break down another box! We still have so many left to unpack, but the stacks in each room are starting to dwindle and I love finding a home for every item!

This update might be kind of long because I want to cover all the things, including some local (non-sponsored) services we’ve used so far that we’d recommend, links y’all have requested and lots of progress photos!

First up, moving day.

Moving Company Recommendation

Matt was in charge of getting quotes and meeting with various moving companies for a full pack-up and move. He ended up getting 3 quotes and picked You Move Me because he really liked the rep he met with and the quote was half the price as all the others. And y’all, we were SO impressed. The pack-up was way better than we would have done (they provide all the boxes and packing supplies) and they packed our entire house in two days and then moved all our boxes and furniture into the new house in just a few hours on the third day. It was worth every single penny and saved us so much time. Our move crew was very professional, everything was packed securely (we only broke one lamp in the entire move), and they worked SUPER hard and fast. Highly recommend this moving company.

We moved into our new home while it was still very much under construction — and NO, I do NOT recommend doing that. While it wasn’t ideal timing, we had a really fast closing on our old home and we needed a full weekend (couldn’t move during the week due to work/school) so we could get the kids’ rooms deep cleaned, unpacked, and decorated to make the transition as seamless as possible for them. A huge shout-out to mimi and grandad for keeping the kids during our move weekend!

The state of the first floor on move-in day…

The first few weeks in our new home have been so exciting! And also much harder than I anticipated. With lots of our things still boxed up or living in massive piles in the garage, not having a full kitchen, and figuring out the new logistics of getting the kids to and from their school (40 minutes away) and sports, it’s been tough. But each day is getting better and we are slowly getting into a good routine.

We’ve received the warmest welcome to the neighborhood and have met lots of families with kids the same ages as ours which has been really fun. This neighborhood is swarming with kids and we absolutely love it here already (summer is going to be especially fun!).

We are really lucky that some of our longtime friends, Bobby and McKinsey, have connected us with new neighbors and families too. And it’s been so wild and exciting to be neighbors with them — again! Years ago we lived one street apart from each other and spent a lot of time together. They moved out to the burbs in 2015 and have been raving about their neighborhood and trying to convince us (well, me I guess. Matt was always on board.) to move out here ever since. And 8 years later…it actually happened! In fact, they found our home for us before it hit the market. Anyway, it’s been absolutely wonderful being neighbors with them again, only this time we’re on the same street, and have 5 kids between the two of us who have enjoyed bouncing back and forth between houses!

Despite hating the drive to and from school, the kids have adjusted quickly which is a huge blessing. A few weeks ago Caroline completed a vision board assignment for school and one of the goals she included was to make 3 new friends in the neighborhood by summer…and I shared in my weekend rewind that she’s already paling around with FOUR third-grade girls by week 2 of living here. And Thomas can be seen flying by our house on his bike with 3 little friends too. I cannot even describe how much that makes my heart swell.

Alright, a few scenes from inside our home over the past 2 weeks…

Construction projects are moving a little quicker now which has been GREAT. Since we moved in we’ve had most of the cabinets, hardware, countertops, half of the appliances and tile backsplash installed which has been super exciting. Depending on what work is being done in the kitchen each day, we have even been able to start cooking some meals at home which has been a super nice break from takeout!

I still don’t have a stovetop or oven yet, so I decided to purchase the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro and absolutely love it so far. It’s an air fryer combo too, so I am able to consolidate two appliances into one! So many of you have raved and raved about this appliance (a lot of you mentioned you rarely use your big oven anymore) and now I totally get it! I’ve been dying to get this countertop appliance for a while, and not having a stove or oven was the perfect excuse to finally order it (and honestly, it’s already paid for itself with the money we’re saving from eating out!).

Mold Remediation & Air scrubber recommendation

Before I move on from construction, I wanted to share another service provider recommendation for mold remediation and air quality. When we started taking down walls a few months ago we uncovered a major mold problem. Mold is literally my worst nightmare and we had to put constuction on hold for about a month to get it inspected, a protocol drawn up by a NC mold expert, and then remediated.

Rueben (from Cardinal Restoration) and Linda (from Environmental Services Group) were the two names recommended to us again and again so we had them both come out. I cannot sing their praises high enough. Both are experts in their field and helped us tremendously. Linda drew up a 76 page protocol and Rueben beautifully remediated it. I could share so much more about the mold process and all the things we are now doing and have put into place to prevent future mold, but that’s a story for another day.

Anyway, despite having the house deep cleaned before we moved in, we moved into an active construction zone — and the dust, dirt, and debris was overwhelming. I called Rueben and he immediately came out and dropped off a commercial grade air scrubber machine to help us get rid of some of the air pollutants. We have been running it 24/7 since he dropped it off and it is loud as hell, but it has made a HUGE impact in our air quality. I would highly recommend renting one of these if you are going to live through a renovation or are moving back into your home right after a renovation.

Home Security

Sorry, one more service provider recommendation! I told you this would be long!

If you are looking to install a home security system, switch to a new service provider, or update your equipment, you HAVE to call Josh with Safe Home Security. One of my local readers recommended him to me back in 2020 when we had our security system majorly upgraded at our last home and switched from CPI. Since then, his team has also installed all of the security equipment for Matt’s office…and now our new home too (including the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors)! My jaw hit the floor when the installation was complete and I saw our 4K exterior camera footage for the first time (you can see an example of the camera quality HERE). It is wildly impressive. The monthly monitoring fee is super cheap and I am so happy to be able to control our door locks, security system, and garage door from my phone again. Oh, and there’s no contract unless you want to pay for your equipment over time. And he will take over your existing contract if you want to change security companies.

Alright, I think this post is long enough! More home updates to come on the kitchen and some other renovation projects we’ve been tackling.

Hope you enjoyed a peek into what life has been like over here lately.