Where do I begin…it all started with having to sell our old farmhouse due to a factory moving in practically next door with a 200 foot smokestack over 3 years ago….we were devastated and in many ways, still are. Then we bought another house but it was a new house, we were unable to buy another old old house due to the market being pretty bare and we were also trying to find a home close to my husband’s job, he was so tired of commuting.

I feel cringy saying this because I know how privileged we are to even own a home, but I am not a new home kind of person, and had one foot out the door while we’ve been living here. We did a lot of upgrades to our new home, and then the pandemic hit and I gave birth to a baby…and well I can honestly say this was the right home for us during all the chaos and quarantining we’ve had to do. I feel so grateful that we have had this home, but the pandemic has really pushed my husband and I to think about what we wanted to do next.

We have lived in our current area for 20 years now. We went to college here, and pretty much never left. Even though we’ve moved several times now, it has always been in and around this area, so we have for sure seen all that we can, but haven’t committed to saying, “this is it.”

I had been working from home for nearly 10 years, but that option hadn’t been one for my husband until the pandemic. He decided to start looking for remote work and after about 6 months found a job that he is happy with, but also allowed us to really take the idea of moving somewhere else seriously.

It is funny because before this was an option we use to daydream about working remotely all the time, we were constantly saving homes and areas and talking about how amazing it would be to move where we wanted to. But when it became a reality suddenly all those ideas seemed questionable and confusing. I don’t typically have a hard time making decisions, but THIS decision felt nearly impossible. Every single idea seemed wrong or pointless, when you don’t have a reason to move (as in for a job) it seems kind of foolish to just do it, at least to who we are now. Me in my 20s would have loved this and not questioned a single thing, but me in my late 30s with a family was questioning EVERYTHING.

We have always wanted to live in New England. We even tried to move there twice, going as far as renting a house there (that was a whole thing)…but nothing ever quite worked out and it never seemed to be the right time. Knowing that already, we committed to New England. We started searching in Maine, then Vermont but after having realtors in both states, and lots of FaceTime house showings, we realized we really couldn’t afford either location and were so disappointed, but the pandemic has made everything even more expensive then it already was…so we started looking near those locations, and found an area we really liked, a happy accident really.

After umpteen offer rejections, we found a house that we loved, the other homes we liked, but our focus was on the location more so than the house, it was something I was trying and totally failed at it because we went for the house we actually loved (again!). The area seems nice too, but we are not that familiar with it – it is close to several locations we were hoping to find a house in, so we feel good about that.

So like I said above, we were focused on location this time because when it came to the farmhouse, we choose the house instead of the location and that really proved to be a challenging experience, especially with how it all ended. We wanted to do things better this time around and chose the location.

When I saw the New England house I immediately asked our realtor to set up a showing for us…BUT then I got to thinking about it and realized that I was doing it it again, choosing the house, so I cancelled, but our realtor wasn’t hearing it and went anyways. She had seen at least 10 homes with us at that point, so she knew I was being a nutter and called us, and of course we fell even more in love with it. However, by this point we had had so many rejections, that we put in an offer fully expecting to get outbid or even be subjected to another bidding war, so we really didn’t believe it would happen.

We were shocked when they accepted our offer (even though it was under asking) and were so lucky too because after they had accepted our offer, they received several full asking, so I am not sure how that even happened, but I am so grateful it did! We have spent over a year looking for a home in New England, and with the pandemic real-estate has been an absolute nightmare (at least for the buyer) so for this to come together so smoothly has felt…well worrisome. I keep waiting for something to go wrong…but so far, things are moving along well and I feel like it was the right decision (eek I probably shouldn’t put that out there in the universe) but I am trying to be more Brené Brown and less me, who thinks every good thing means something horrible is about to happen.

We are so excited about this next adventure, even Wallis…I thought for sure she would be sad we were moving and instead she told me, “all I need is my family and I am ready to see some new places and new things!” WHAT?? She honestly gives me strength.

I will share more about our next old house and all the plans we have soon…I have quit Instagram for good (even though I have said that before) so I will be doing all my restoration sharing here, like I did before. There is something so heartbreakingly sweet coming back to another old home restoration, I feel as I once did and I’ve missed it.