Our New Home.
We bought our very first home back in 2008. Just 6 months after we tied the knot! We were so excited. We moved from a tiny basement suit off of 17th avenue downtown and started a new chapter in our marriage. Two years after we moved in, we were blessed with our first son, Carter. Two years later, we had Bentley and just last fall we welcomed little Penny to our family and home.
In this home, we have made some wonderful memories. We loved that the park was so close. We love that the bike paths were right behind the house and that there was K-9 school all within a 5 minute walk. We loved the ice rink too. It may seem silly, but some other small things we loved about the home was the glorious step-up from the entrance of the home to the kitchen and living room area. This was a saving grace for us in the winter and spring.. because it would keep all the rocks and dirt at the from entrance and not trekked throughout the whole house.
Bah! I am going to miss our washer and dryer so so much! And the glorious pedestals that they sit on!
The thing we will miss the most about our first home is for sure the neighbours. They are AMAZING! We will miss them like crazy and wish they could all have come with us. Marty and Jocelyn have become such great friends. Marty was always watching out for me and the kids if Brian was at work and we always knew we could trust them. Our neighbour Vilma is incredible. My kids actually call her "Grandma Vilma". She has such a kind heart and sweet spirit. We will miss having her beside us so much.
It has been an amazing home. We had been contemplating selling this home for a couple of years and in fact just 6 months ago, we were certain we were going to stay and create as much equity as possible for as long as possible but the reality is that we had just outgrown the home. The boys bedroom was great for one boy but for two it was a little squishy. The thing that I disliked the most was that there was no fenced backyard. Because it was a town home, there was just a common area which is not very convenient with small kids and a dog! They wanted to go outside all the time and in all honesty, it just wasn't always possible for me to take them. Laundry needed to be done, Penny needed to nap and chores had to be done. We all longed for a backyard.
When we got our tax return in March we decided to finish the renovations we had started over the years. The house was quite dated when we first moved in and we gave it a little "face life" you could say. By the beginning of June, we decided to give ourselves a deadline and list our home.
I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for the amount of help and support we got. Friends and Family watching the kids here and there while we finished renos was a huge help! My mother in law was over everyday and into all hours of the night trying to get as much done as possible in those few glorious hours while the rest of the house was sleeping. It was insane. The list of things to do seemed never ending!
We had friends store stuff for us while we staged the house for listing. My parents stored probably 20 rubber-made bins in their garage for us to open up our storage in the basement for showings. We fixed holes in the walls and repainted, changed all the doors, electrical plugs and switches. We cleaned out EVERYTHING and in all honestly it was completely crazy with three kids. They were good but by the end of renos I could tell they were as over it as we were. They were grumpy and exhausted and just not acting like themselves but its done, and we are grateful!
The amount of support we had was unreal and we honestly couldn't have done it without everyone who helped. You are all amazing. THANK YOU!!!!
These pictures are from when we moved in to just before selling.
When we first bought our townhome, it was just two bedrooms, but we (with the help from my uncle) made it into three!
We met with our Realtors (Jade and Asheton Coultman) and can I just add that they are AMAZING!!! Seriously, I would recommend them to anyone! I was a total stress case the whole week it was listed and Asheton answered my calls everyday and never made me feel like I was bothering him. We knew they had other properties they were working with but always felt like we were the only ones. Honestly they were amazing. When we signed our contract with them, they had the cutest little contract for the kids too... it was adorable, it said "Make your bed everyday".. "Help Mommy and Daddy".. "Put aways your toys".. etc. If they honoured their contract, Jade and Asheton would get them each a $25 gift card to Toys R Us which was great incentive for them!
By Friday June 19th we had a "Just listed" sign on our front lawn. It was active on MLS on June 20th. The first weekend of it being listed was dead. Nothing. Zip. I was totally discouraged. But come Monday, we had multiple showings a day. We got our first offer on Saturday and Voila... SOLD!
262 SHAWINIGAN DRIVE SW from Brian Reed on Vimeo.
See the listing at:
http://www.maxwellrealty.ca/listing/c4017645-262-shawinigan-dr-sw-calgary-t2y-3b4/
The conditioners were dropped a week later and her possession date was July 24th. We immediately put an offer down on a home we had been eying and had to jump through a few holes to get it, but it worked out. We did it! Our posession date was July 20th. And lets not forget that we had booked vacation in Kelowna from july 11-18th. So it really has been a bit crazy over here but it all worked out and we are happily in our new home!
We love everything about this new home of ours. It was built in 2010 and is literally just a few houses down the street from the elementary school where our children will go! Our new home is almost 2200 square feet, has so much space and beautiful big windows! We now have an ensuite and a bonus room! And most importantly, WE HAVE A BACKYARD!!!!!!! My heart is exploding with gratitude! It still seems too good to be true! We got it for such a great price and could not be happier!
We do not yet have enough furniture to fill it and our table looks like a kid table in our new nook but we do not care! We can take the next couple of years to furnish it the way we want. When you ask the boys anything about their new house, the will immediately say "AND I HAVE A NEW BACKYARD!". They are so proud of their backyard even though the grass is a disaster and seriously needs some TLC, they have great size yard and a huge deck and we are all pretty excited! I am excited to give it some new paint colour in the fall, hang all of our photos and eventually fill it with some awesome new furniture, but until then, we are still completely content.
We have lived here for just a week now and we are all unpacked and settled. We truly feel so blessed. We are excited to begin this new chapter in our lives together, to raise our kids here and to make some amazing memories together along the way! Since it is a lake community, we are so excited to check out our new gated lake and I am sure we will be there often. We have had neighbours from all around us come and introduce themselves to us and everyone seems so nice. Seriously, this must be too good to be true...
We are excited to call this beautiful home ours!