We're moving again? Yes! Again!!

Yes, it's true. We are moving again! This will be move #13 in 27 years, but THIS TIME, it's MY idea, and that makes all the difference!! 

We started looking at homes for sale in the Rocky Mount, NC, area after Christmas. All four of us were checking out Realtor.com daily, comparing homes we looked at, thinking about how far the drive would be from there to anywhere... then we started looking, engaging our amazing Realtor, Crystal. And we started going to open houses, which was fun too. 

I really loved one house in particular, we visited many times, once with our agent, and as other homes came and went, we decided to put in an offer. But, between the strange behavior of the owners and their agent, the less-than-stellar inspections, and just general sketchiness of everything, we decided to pass, even though I really loved a lot about the house. During the whole process, I kept myself at 80% excited, because I just knew something was wrong. So, now we know why we weren't meant to buy that house... 

Because we found this one. This is my Forsythia Cottage!! 

Yes, slightly larger than a "cottage," at 3200sf, but, wait... it gets bigger! LOL (In my defense, the door IS painted TARDIS blue, and so it's no surprise that it's bigger on the inside, AM I RIGHT???)

Above the garage, is an 700sf unfinished bonus space! And so we are going to be finishing that with a guest room and bath, and then the rest will be the home of Forsythia Cottage Writing & Design!!! I CAN'T WAIT. 

When we visited the house the first time, it was the day after it went live online, and we were the first ones to see it. We were there for two hours and we made an offer. They accepted at 10:30 the next morning, Sunday. Boom. We close on April 18. 

We arrived before our Realtor that first day, but it was 2 p.m., so I knew the owner wasn't there and our Realtor was a minute away... I walked up the driveway, curious to see what was above the garage, because there'd been no photos of that space, and I knew there had to be something up there. This is what I saw! 

This meant the bonus room went across the ENTIRE three-car garage... omg... 
FOUR DORMERS?? 

Then, I peeked into the backyard, something that was also not included in the early photos online (this house was "coming soon" for four days starting March 11, which was my mother's birthday), and my heart stopped.

I walked up the path toward the back of the house as the entire yard came into view. I don't even know how to describe it except to say that I felt like I'd walked through a wormhole and come out in the Pacific Northwest! The home sits on an acre, so the backyard is HUGE, and it's entirely landscaped in these beautiful undulating gardens surrounding a grassy center. 

Pine trees way overhead, followed by holly trees all around... their little red berries adding color to the sky. Camellias, each a different color, were everywhere! Hydrangeas were just starting to kick out their leaves, and I can't WAIT to see what colors they are!!! Kerria japonica, crepe myrtles, and so many azaleas!!! They were all throughout the border gardens... and ferns and daffodils and wood hyacinth, hellebores, euphorbia, and a lovely little white Chinese fringe flower. (We went back a week later and even more plants were coming up!) 

I stood there, trying to take in the whole yard, and I just couldn't. I started walking around, just freaking out, and realized in the back corner there's a little woodland path leading to the far corner... so I'll even have a woodland path? OMG Back there I saw a concrete pad that looked like there was electricity to it... okay... but by this time, everyone was in the house yelling at me to get inside, but my Realtor came out onto the back deck, and I was like, "I'm done!!! This is it!!!!! Get out the paperwork!!!!" 

But, I went inside!!! Now, in the photos online, in addition to no photos of the bonus room, there were no photos of the backyard... and they also didn't include the money shot of the kitchen... so I was dying to see the entire kitchen.

I come in and turn the corner and see the kitchen and just scream. IT IS SO FREAKING HUGE AND GORGEOUS. OMFG!!!!!!!! So, at that point, I was done. Like, really done. I didn't need to see anything else!! haha 

And fast-forward, I learned this past weekend that they didn't include that shot of the kitchen or photos of the backyard on purpose... they wanted to bring those into the description when the house was truly available, but we got there first! 

So, in addition to all of those that convinced me already, is a formal dining room, two living rooms, an owner's suite on the bottom floor, laundry room, and then a staircase up to the bonus room... all on the first floor. The second floor has four rooms, one of which has its own full bath, and then there's another full bath in the hall, so each daughter gets two rooms and their own bathroom. Perfect. 

One of those rooms actually opens to a rudimentary staircase that goes up to a third-floor attic space that's not finished -- but it could be, and then another room opens to an unfinished storage area that leads to the bonus room above the garage (which means the bonus room has two exits, which is cool). 

Out back, I want to put a greenhouse on the concrete pad, and then I'll put in a fenced kitchen garden, and an aboveground saltwater pool. We don't want it to be too crowded in the backyard, but we're all pretty set on a pool, so somehow it will all fit and look awesome.

And I need to get my husband plenty of tools, because this time, I want my TARDIS tool shed. 

We did visit the house again for its inspections yesterday, and we already received the overall report back. She needs a little help in a few areas, but we'll fix all of that, except for what we will ask the owners to take care of. But, honestly, not much could pull me away from this house. 

When I'm there, I FEEL LIKE I am in Oregon. I feel like I'm in the Pacific Northwest. The backyard is LUSH and GREEN, and full of all of the plants I already love. The front yard is just as landscaped as the back, and has a curved driveway leading right up to the front door, just like Rosemary Hill -- just on a much smaller scale. 

Now we will have a home base for all of us so we can finally relax, settle in, and get on with our lives, and THAT is a freaking miracle. We have felt like we have been in limbo this entire past year. Like, the rug was ripped out from under us, we landed somewhere where nothing is familiar or normal, and we have no friends. 

So, we are moving to the much larger town with crazy things like Target and Books-A-Million and multiple coffee shops. Real food I can eat when I don't want to freaking make every single thing I eat, Office Depot, omg... REAL grocery stores... our new home is two minutes from a Harris Teeter. The first time I went in there, I nearly cried. I couldn't believe how clean it was and that the produce department was FULL. Joanns, Sam's Club, and some really good restaurants. 

Raleigh is also going to be only 45 minutes away, which is super awesome, because Raleigh has literally everything. I can get my business going, the girls can figure out what they want to do, and Charley can continue his job knowing his family isn't dying on the inside. 

After closing, we'll first paint bedrooms so those are ready for furniture. We will schedule the movers to move the large furniture, freezer, and the beds, plus whatever furniture doesn't fit in our trucks. We started filling a storage unit weeks ago that ended up only being 3 minutes from the new house, so that's awesome. I've been packing, and now the girls started packing, and Charley packed his extra things already and has been working on everything in the garage. 

We have a few weeks to get the rest of our things down there, and we're doing a lot to this house to get it ready to sell. Then, we close, paint, move, clean this house top to bottom, then it can go on the market. We secured a bridge loan in order to get us into the next house first, so we can empty this house, because there is no way I wanted to try and show a house with six cats and six cat pans. Nope. No way. LOL 

Then we will be in the new house, and this house will go to the next person, and everything will be groovy. 

They aren't native, but I will be adding a few forsythias to the front and backyard. Also, I didn't see any roses, so I need to ask about the deer population, because that is for sure just deer candy. I have one plant here I need to dig up and bring with, I hope it survived the winter. I brought it from Oregon! My moon flower.

Oh! And the neighbor next door has chickens! We heard them the first time, and then this time, we saw one pecking in their front yard! 

I feel like I'm starting to wake up, and that's also a good thing. I even bought an office chair for my soon-to-be office. Woo! Oh, until the bonus room is finished, I'll be using half of the front living room downstairs as my office. But, I will still need a chair! 

​Happy times!!! 

Outside Forsythia Cottage

The kitchen!!!!

The bonus room... soon to be my studio!

I can't wait to transform this room. We'll find a contractor and get started -- insulation everywhere, drywall, outlets and lights, new flooring.... and then we'll carve out a nice bedroom and stub out a bathroom at the one end, then any guests will have a nice, private spot. And I'll someday have a bathroom upstairs too. Maybe we will be able to get the bathroom done with the rest of the work... we'll see! 

​Thanks for reading!! 
Cynthia
Ready to start writing and making art every day!