The Move Began - And the Lists

I just sold the house where I'd lived the longest ever - 17 years! - and packed up the U-Haul (twice!) and moved two states over.  I've lived in Maryland, Virginia, and now Delaware.  Now I can say I've lived in each state of the Delmarva peninsula (Del = Delaware, Mar = Maryland, Va = Virginia, get it?).

I decided in February to move to Delaware, so Peter and I spent more than 4 straight months getting the house ready to list.  As I said, there were 17 years at that house.  17 years of 4 kids, 2 adults, numerous pets, and tons of stuff (more on that later)!  I'd had house to-do lists for years, so I knew there was so much to do.  For one, the dining room floor needed redoing.  Yikes!  Don't bring in your plants for the winter and put them on a rug with only a garbage bag underneath - doesn't work:

Also, the kitchen needed a major overhaul as it was yucky when we got there in 1996.  Here's the window seat, which turned into a dog bed for Tucker and Eddie, then Roxie, and now Watson:

The "seat" is actually plywood covered with leftover carpeting from a basement re-do and is sitting on the floor.  I love that you can see several iterations of the kitchen underneath it.  Yup, I had once painted the kitchen (and the family room) that bright blue!  Then it was green, now orange!  And the window sills have the remnants of Roxie who would lie there, looking out the window and chew when she was stressed.  She was a rather stressy dog.  And you know how everyone always hangs in the kitchen when you entertain?   I would always cringe when someone (against my urging) would sit there.  It's like curling up in the dog bed!

So that space definitely needed work.  Lots of spackling, sanding, painting!  And then the other BIG thing was the master bedroom bathroom.  I'd been wanting a re-do for years, but the final push came because the little built in seat in the shower, which was tiled with 4" tiles, had rotted out.  It was disgusting, couldn't be cleaned, had little creatures crawling around.  Disgusting!  Did I already say that?  Well, it was.  Here it is being ripped out:

And here I am tearing down the rest of the tile:

That was my first time ever demolishing anything.  It was a blast.  Early in our relationship, Peter said he'd help take this project on.  He'd totally renovated his home and had the expertise and the TOOLS!  Nothing like a guy who knows what he's doing and has the right tools for the job.

Later I'll tell you more about my year with a plastic walled, deconstructed shower, and the bathroom contractor hunt, but back to what needed doing before moving.  I called a realtor friend and asked her to walk through the house and see what else I needed to do.  Here's that first list:
                 

(looking for that photo-L)

The checks and circles are from May, so you can see what I'd gotten done.  Of course, that was just the FIRST list.  There were many more to come (inside, outside, garage, attic!) but I was finally ready to list the house in July, only a month later than when I'd hoped.

And all the hard work paid off because, thanks to a booming market in Fairfax and a well prepped house, the house was on the market only four days and I got six - count 'em 6! - SIX! offers!

So the story of my move begins.  More later.  I'm just so proud to have a post with photos.  John and Sherry, thanks for the inspiration!