AHHHH! YOU GUYS!! I cant even begin to tell you how overwhelmed with goodness I am after all of your wonderful, sweet, encouraging comments yesterday! I love that so many of you have stories about The Merc and I promise I’ll do my best to honor such a special place!! ?

Lets continue our story shall we?

When Court walk into the building he said and I quote “No way. This thing is a piece of CRAP!” I feel like I also need to add that I had disrupted his golf game multiple times the day before trying to talk to him about it. So he was already feeling a little judgy.

BTW, have I told you the story of what happened to finally make him realize that different is awesome? A few years ago he went to watch a fight at a super rich doctor’s house. It was the biggest house in the best neighborhood, something that in his mind equaled ultimate success. When he walked into our house after being there it felt different in a really great way, this house that he was “supposed to” want looked just like all of the beige small houses, it was just a more expensive version. He FINALLY got what I had been trying to tell him for years. Needless to say I felt super validated.

When he walked through the portal to heaven ???? and saw the brick side of the building he thought it was amazing. He loved the walls and the rafters and how spacious it was. I wish I could capture how huge it is but pictures just don’t do it justice. Court loved it, and it was in fact the only positive thing in his mind. Everything else was a negative. (And trust me when I say that unless you have permanent rose colored eyeballs like I do, there were/are A LOT of negatives.)

This was his thought process:

You’re crazy.

How is this ever going to look like a house?

This is going to be so freaking expensive.

Like so much money.

And be so much work.

Why can’t I have a normal wife that just likes to cook and do laundry?

I think its extremely obvious that I have the world’s most supportive husband. I don’t know how, or why but man I’m so thankful for him. When I knew that this was the direction we needed to go he told me “If you really want The Merc, you’re going to have to do everything in your power to make it happen so that I know that you are 100% committed, then I’ll be behind it.”

Which looking at the task ahead of us was somewhat like saying “Well, if you really want to go to Hawaii on vacation you’re going to have to swim across the ocean to get there. I’ll pick you up on the beach after I have a cushy first class flight and eat a can or 2 of Macadamia nuts, then we can check into the hotel and have a vacation.”

I mean, I know that he was probably hoping that I couldn’t pull it off but hello, he’s been married to me for 14 years, he knows how this is going to turn out.

There were a whole list of issues, and problems, and negatives that needed to be addressed and if at any point one wasn’t resolved the entire thing would crumble. In fact I’ve got a whole post coming next about allllll the issues, so if there is something specific you’re wondering about, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it!!

The post What Court Really Thought When He Saw The Merc appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

YOU GUYS!!!! Are you ready to finally meet our new house?! Oh man ALIVE does it feel good to say that. I can’t stop smiling, I’m a dang fool in love.

This post is exactly 171 days in the making.

171 days that I’ve been keeping this as vague a secret as possible in fear that someone would step in and buy it before we could.

171 days of complete life consumption.

171 days of laying awake at night dreaming of years worth of projects.

171 days is a long time.

But now I can share every single detail and I’m not going to stop. Ever.

Lets have a readers digest recap of our house situation, shall we? Its so crazy now to see how everything connected and since hind sight is 20/20 I’m going to show you all the crazy miracles.

Rewind back to Jan 2015 when I posted about my dream project. I found out that my favorite pioneer home was for sale and shared alllllll the feelings about it. Man I loved that house something fierce.

In the post I said “You know the saying If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, then it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never meant to be?” Well this house never came back. It was under contract when we looked at it and sold to the buyer very soon after. This was not our house.

Fast forward a year to Feb. 2016 when we started the process of building a new construction home. (Details on that process here) I designed the house myself, it was such a cool experience to see things coming together.

We had our lot, we had our bids, we had our plans, but it just didn’t feel right. It was like everything was working against us in impossible to overcome ways. One Saturday afternoon in June I was talking to Court about it. We had to decide by Monday what we were doing. I was sitting on the bed, and he was sitting on the floor. I looked at him and said, “Maybe we’re not supposed to build?” As soon as I allowed myself to see that as an option I had the most massive wave of confirmation rush over me. That was the answer. God knows that I’m a negotiator through and through and that if I was going to completely stop this process that I needed an answer that left no room for second guesses. This was not our house.

Buuttttttt, being the negotiator that I am, I tried to figure out why. Was it the actual house? Was it the lot? Was it the price? These questions swirled and swirled around in my head. I looked at new lots, I sketched new plans, I did everything I could to decipher what the possible solutions could be. Then one night that stopped. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning with the clearest thought in my mind. “Wait upon the Lord and trust in his goodness and timing”.

That left me with nothing to do, nothing to do but wait. So I stopped worrying about it.

On Sept. 1 my friend Meghan called to see if I had a phone number for an acquaintance. Meghan was listing a commercial property that needed just the right person to buy it. She said it was perfect for a cool vintage store, a coffee shop, or a restaurant. She gushed about amazing potential and I told her I’d see if I could track down a number. All of 5 minutes passed and I called her back and told her I wanted to see it. Not for any reason other than pure curiosity and a reason to get out of the house.

She gave me the address and when I pulled up this is what I saw:

The Santa Clara Merc.

Pssst, that painted faux rock treatment is ??.

She opened the door on the far right and we walked in to this:

The seller was originally planning on putting in a gallery and art studio (hence the wall situation)

It was old and awesome. I loved the giant shop windows and high ceilings. I agreed with her, this would be the perfect place for a cool shop. I remember telling her that I was sure we could find someone that would love it.

Then we walked through the gaping hole in the wall and I swear the world around me disappeared.

This weird laugh/cry noise came out of my mouth and I fell absolutely and completely in love. This wasn’t supposed to be a cool vintage store or a coffee shop.

This was my house.

THIS WAS MY HOUSE!!!

As I tried to take it all in, I could feel God giving me the ol’ nudge nudge saying “I told you.”

Now, normally I would instantly be worked into a frenzy but I felt so much peace about this. I didn’t need to get all worked up and stressed out forcing this to happen. It didn’t just fall into my lap, it was intentionally placed into my life.

I couldn’t believe that this building existed in Southern Utah! How did no one tell me about it?! Could they not see it for what it was?!

My thoughts immediately went to Court. I had to bring him here. STAT.

He was going to hate me.

The whole reason he hated the pioneer house was because it didn’t have reliable modern convinces like A/C. There was no way he was going to go for something that didn’t have electricity in half of it.

It seemed like it took FOR??EV??UR to get him over there (in reality it was the next day) I could not stop talking about it, and he could not stop telling me that I was crazy. And not in a “awwww, you’re so cute and a little cray cray” way, in a “Mandi, these nice people are here to take you away because you are out of your mind” way.

I made sure that my MIL came along cause she gets me and I knew I would need someone on my team. Court walked in and his exact word were “No way, this is a piece of crap!” Ok so he wasn’t in love with it, I’ll be the first to admit that there are a lot of very obvious negatives. But his hard candy shell cracked a little when he walked into the brick room. He won’t admit it, but I think in that moment (for at least 3 seconds) he was a little glad he had a certifiably crazy wife.

Here’s a few pics with people in them for scale.

Have you made it this far?! Lets pause our story here and I’ll pick up tomorrow! We’ve got to pace ourselves cause this is 171 days worth of stories, problems, miracles, and happy dances!

Tell me how you’re feeling. ARE YOU DYING?!!?!?!? Isn’t this SO MUCH BETTER than a new house?! Who wants to get a Merc tattoo with me?

The Merc | Beginnings

What Court Really Thought When He Saw The Merc

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The Merc: Exterior, Weird Property Lines, Zoning, and Neighbors

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All Of the Reasons We Shouldn't Buy The Merc- According To Court

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Despite It All, Why We Chose To Buy The Merc

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Where We Really Are In The Merc Reno + Video Tour with Court!

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The Sort Of Terrifying Reason Why We Haven't Started Construction On The Merc

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Phase 1 Floor Plans for The Merc!

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Phase 2 Floor Plan for The Merc!

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Exterior Elevation Plans for The Merc

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Dive into the Interior Inspiration for The Merc!

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The Merc Renovation HAS BEGUN!!!

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The post Our New House…MEET THE MERC! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Well, those months turned into a couple more months, a new architect, intense structural engineering reports, a new contractor, daily calls with my real estate agent Meghan (who is the BEST btw!) loads of prayers, and finally DUN DUN DUUUUUUN a contract! And the best news…We are set to close a week from today (!!!!)

Our house sold so fast it kind of made our heads spin. We moved everything into the storage unit(s) and moved ourselves into my in-laws basement. (Which has kind of put us out of project mode, but man oh man, is that going to change!)

Its been so hard to figure out what to share without compromising the situation. Its one thing to tell friends and family about your plans, and something else entirely to alert the entire internet (though I am 100% convinced that we are the only people crazy enough to tackle this renovation) not to mention its just generally a really touch and go scenario anyway.

But its been even harder not talking about it because man alive I’m SO FREAKING EXCITED!

So. If you’re the praying type, we could use it. If you’re the fasting type, we could use it. If you’re the good vibes type, we could use it. If you’re the show up and help demo type,  we could use it. And if you’re the bring Girl Scout cookies type, WE. COULD. USE. IT.

Stay tuned!!

The post Finally A Mini House Update!! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Guys!!!!

So sorry to just leave you hanging like that! (If you’re new to this series you’re going to want to start here!) Ok just to recap. We were building. We had a lot, we had our plans, we had bids, it was time to pull the trigger but everything was so complicated. It was like at every turn we were hitting a wall. I’m a fairly optimistic person so I live my life in the best case scenario frame of mind, I’m famous for saying “its fine” cause I really believe that about everything!! But the second I said “Maybe we’re not supposed to build” and had the most clear YES!! answer to any prayer I’ve ever prayed I knew that building wasn’t right. (Did I mention this was going to get a little spiritual? Cause it is.)

I also think that God knew that I need the answer to be 1000% unmistakeable because I had to unwaveringly move forward, away from this situation. This situation that I’d invested 6 months of my life into making happen. This situation that I wanted with every fiber of my soul.

The next 6 weeks  (July-Aug 2016) were spent trying to decipher what that answer meant. Did it mean we weren’t supposed to build at all ever? or just right now? Did it mean we weren’t supposed to build that specific house? Did it mean we weren’t supposed to build at Stucki? I looked at it from every angle and analyzed it to.death. I researched every development in Southern Utah, I talked to new architects, I thought about what was next from sun up to sun down and all through the night. This is when I was deepest in my postpartum, I felt like I couldn’t make a decision and didn’t know what the next right thing was.

Until one night.

Court was out of town and when he’s gone I don’t sleep exceptionally well, every noise wakes me up. So during a fitful night of sleep somewhere around 4:00 in the morning I suddenly woke up with the clearest thought in my mind. “Wait upon the Lord and have patience in his goodness and timing.”

Wha????

I mean I know I’m not the most patient soul, but huh??

The thought was so clear and the peace was so strong that I stopped. I stopped worrying about it, I stopped looking for what I thought my answer was. I stopped trying to control things (which is reallllllyyyyy hard for me.)

I know that the answers that I received during these months needed to be clear and strong so that I was left without doubt. I needed to move forward with blind faith and believe that whatever was supposed to happen would.

So needless to say, we are not building (sorry for those that were so excited about the homeshow!) but we’ve got a secret something in the works and after months of due diligence we are nearing the contract phase, so THE SECOND that I can talk about it I will be shouting all the hairy details from the rooftops. I didn’t know that we’d be moving out of St. George, or that a place like this even existed. All I can say, with no exaggeration, is that every dream I’ve ever dreamed has manifest itself and I know why I was told to wait and to trust.

Annnnnnd now I’m getting all freaked out that someone will be able to decipher that cryptic message and snatch our dream house out from under our noses. So if you’re feeling all Robert Langdon-y please don’t! We love it!!

Oh my gosh! I just realized that this whole series started when we listed our house and I haven’t updated you at all on that!

Our house went under contract after 3 days and we are set to close on Jan. 4th!!! We’re moving in with the inlaws (which I am SO excited about cause I have the best inlaws of all time ever). Its going to be a giant familyfest…for at least a few months anyway. My inlaws are building as we speak and I’ll be sharing everything here (yay for those hoping I’d be blogging new construction!!) Even though its not my personal house, I’m still in the nitty gritty details of it and it is going to be FREAKIN FRAKIN AMAZING!! I need a series name, do you have any ideas? I’m thinking This is the House the Inlaws Built but is that too long? Maybe just The House the Inlaws Built? Something to ponder. Once their house is done, they’ll move in and we’ll stay in the old house as long as we need to.

So thats our game plan for the next little bit. Stay tuned!!

The post House Saga Part 5: Now What. appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

If you need to get caught up you can do that here!

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, the elevation! It was so cool to finally be able to see what the outside of our house looked like! We went back and forth for a while ironing out the details of the exterior and making sure that everything in the floorpan was exactly what we wanted.

This house was my inspiration. I loved the colors, the wood details and the knee brackets.

One of the most eye opening things was that people do things like have beige houses for a reason. Living in such a harsh climate, things that I love (cedar shake I’m looking at you) just aren’t practical, or require serious maintenance. I would love a fair amount of stucco in the world to die, but it can’t. Cause cement board is 3x as much.

I think there is this thing that happens when you’re building a house that I didn’t realize was a thing until we got to this point. You have your non negotiable right? And then you have the things that you really really want. And you think that its ok to put a little extra money into things cause you can pull it from somewhere else, right?

Getting bids back showed me that there aren’t really that many places that you can pull from. I don’t know about you guys but I want to splurge on the things that I can see, and cut out the things that I can’t. Well the things that you can’t see sort of can’t be cut out. I can’t be the only one that experiences this phenomenon right?!

Another huge wheel that was in motion at this point (that I haven’t brought up yet) was our financing. If you are uncomfortable with money talk, feel free to scroll past this part!

Also, I’m openly sharing the financial side of this because so many of you requested it. Obviously talking about $$$ is a little unnerving so I’m sharing it in the hopes that you’ll be kind and respectful.

About 6 months before we decided to do this (so July/August of last year) we went in and met with our mortgage guy. We knew that it was eventually coming and we wanted to be as prepared as possible to get the best loan rates and know exactly what needed to happen rolling into it. We’ve done a fair amount of damage to our credit and knew that we would need to put a larger than normal downpayment to get a good rate. We wanted to be prepared (which is really hard for someone like me who lives by the seat of her pants.) He recommended that we didn’t get a loan over $416,000 because then it would be classified as a Jumbo Loan and there are a whole slew of hoops to jump through with that. So anything above $416k was our responsibility. We had about $150k to put down (after our current house sold). The blog also provides a really unique situation where I can collaborate with different brands and reduce the materials cost of some things. So we had a little bit of wiggle room. The bids in full and the lot price came back at over $600k. That meant it was our responsibility to come up with $184k+.

Thats a crap your pants moment. It wasn’t impossible, it just would have taken everything we had.

For the next lifetime.

And possibly my children’s lifetimes.

Its fine.

The biggest hurdle that we ran into though was that we couldn’t get a normal construction loan for the house. The lot that we wanted to build on wasn’t recorded yet (and wouldn’t be until Jan 2017) and you can’t get a loan for a piece of land that doesn’t exist on paper. Our only option was to go down the private funding road. The downside of this is that the rates are higher 7-11% and its a lot more complicated (I don’t know a lot of people who have $500k just hanging out).

I feel like up until this point I’ve touched on the actual events, but emotionally I was struggling with it. It seemed like every turn we were hitting a block wall, everything was doing the opposite of falling into place. You know the confused feeling of “is this not working because its not right, or because I’m not working hard enough to make it happen?” I felt that a lot. A LOT. So I would double down my efforts and it still wouldn’t work out. This was so much more than just a house. Not only am I putting my family’s home on the line but I’m putting all of our financial stability and my entire business into it as well. Everything was riding on this.

I remember so clearly sitting in my bedroom talking to Court one Saturday in June. We had just had a meeting with the developer and the builder and finally gotten all of the info that we needed for the private investor. The timeline was almost impossible. In order to get the loan we needed to put $184k (anything above the $416k that we had been prepared for) into an escrow account, which meant we needed to sell our house. STAT. Even if it sold that second and had no hiccups and the fastest 30 day closing of all time it was still a month before we could start the loan process with the investor. Then another 30 days to close on that. Then before we could actually start building we had to get permits and all of those fun things, which our builder was estimating being another 3-4 weeks. That meant that the house couldn’t actually start being built until End of Sept/ beginning of Oct. and because we were putting it in the homeshow it needed to be 100% finished/staged and perfect by mid January. That meant that all of the projects that I wanted to do, all of the cool Vintage Revivals touches, all of the tutorials that I wanted to share weren’t possible.

I was SO frustrated.

Back to my bed, I was sitting there talking to Court, running over the numbers and feeling all the feelings when I said “Maybe we’re not supposed to do this?” That was a thought that I hadn’t allowed myself to entertain at all. The only thoughts I had were along the lines of “THIS WAS HAPPENING I JUST NEEDED TO WORK HARDER.” As soon as I said “Maybe we’re not supposed to do this?” I had a huge rush of tingling confirmation hit me like a flood from the top of my head to the bottoms of my feet. That this was my answer. This was the answer to all of the prayers I had prayed. This was the answer to why things kept going haywire, this was it.

It wasn’t right.

So what does that mean?!!?

To be continued….

The post House Saga Part 4: Finances + Reality appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Hey guys!! Ready to dive into this house selling/buying/building saga a little bit more?!

We last left off at the end of March with a rough first draft floor plan from the architect. I was wildly obsessed with the idea of doing a pitched roof/loft style master so the story and 1/2 maximum requirement in the CC&R’s at Stucki Farms were sort of perfect.

Sidetone: For those that are unfamiliar let me explain it just a little bit more. A story is considered where the plate line is. So if your house has 10 foot ceilings, you’ll have a 10 foot plate line which means if there is a second level to the house its roughly 1/2 of that height.

If we’re diving into the plans that he originally sent over, I LOVE LOVE LOVED the Hearth Room off of the kitchen. I love the angle, I love the space, I love the vaulted ceiling, LOVE IT ALL. The biggest problem was that we needed another bedroom added. This is the original plan:

I made a list of all of the changes, redrew lines and sent it back. (I even color coded it, red for sq/footage that I wanted taken out, green for where it was added.) I changed the garage configuration and most of the room sizes.

Here’s a before and after overlay so you can see all of the changes without spending years analyzing it.

So mid March I sent this off and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I’m not the most patient of souls so waiting on something that I was SO excited about was tortuous. After quite a bit of back and forth relaying info we (the architect, the contractor, and myself) met and hashed things out for an hour. It was significantly more efficient than trying to describe something through email. At the end of April we finally got back the second draft, complete with my second floor master suite.

There were some weird moments in these plans, like the empty spaces in the master bathroom (behind the toilet and sink) so we started the back and forth process again, and again it was finally sitting down at his office talking through the issues and working on things in real time to get it to where it made sense.

Meanwhile I’m happily designing my dream home with little to no regard for $$$. Because I just want to know what the things that I want come back at before I settle for something I don’t want.

I think this is a HUGE trap that most people find themselves in. There are the things that they want and they rationalize spending more on the things that they want by cutting things out elsewhere. But you know what? Elsewhere isn’t really a thing. Unless you’re cutting square footage elsewhere is this place where piles of money go to die and disappear. Its insane that you easily can spend $500k on a house and still not get what you want. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself…

The beginning of May I finally saw the face of my baby. The elevation!! This is the closest thing that I’ve ever felt to the sensation of looking at your brand new baby for the first time. You know them, you love them, but you don’t know what they’ll look like until they are there. Ya know? We’d spent months planning the floorplan and the guts of the house and now I was finally able to see what it actually looked like.

To Be Continued…(dun dun DUUUUUN!)

The post Building My Dream House + Plans: Part 3 appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Man I just love you guys. All of the comments and feedback on Part 1 of this series just made my heart leap with joy. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!

Lets pick up where we left off, yes? If you’re new to the series, you’ll want to start here! (Just as a reference point, the timeframe was Dec- March) We decided that buying and updating wasn’t really the best option for us, not when I wanted to rip everything out so that I could customize it. It just seemed like a waste of money.

I also really really REALLY want to drive home that just because something isn’t right for me, doesn’t mean that its not right for anyone. We all know that I’m sort of a unique bird.

Ca-Caw!

Court and I (mostly I) started looking at building. There are loads of new construction neighborhoods in Southern Utah. The most popular are ones that have set plans and then you come in and choose different finishes. These houses tend to be more inexpensive per sq/ft because they build loads at a time and have some serious systems in place to sort of assembly line it. Court really loved the idea of the square footage and I really hated that there was very little room for customizing, and that there were only a handful of flooring options to choose from. These neighborhoods are so great, especially if you have kids, because they are FILLED with families. Such a great option for so many, just not right for us.

It didn’t take long to find our place though. The neighborhood that I jumped with both feet and my whole heart into is called Stucki Farms (pronounced STOOKEY) Its on the outskirts of Washington Fields. The developer is one of the most creative, kind men that I’ve ever met in my life. Stucki is special. The thing that I loved most about it is the community that they are creating. There are lakes dug, and trees going in EVERYWHERE. There is a community farmhouse and pool and gardens and I LOVED it. It is the closest thing to Kohler that Southern Utah has.

After talking with Karl (the developer) we decided that if we were going to build and take you guys along for the ride on the blog that maybe it would be a good idea to be able to take you along in real life too!! We decided to put the house in the home show. That way you could follow the build and then come and tour the house yourself! So fun right?!!

This gave us a hard deadline for completion of Mid January 2017 to have it ready for the Parade in mid Feb. We met with a builder and started the process of designing plans (this was Feb. 2016). The development that we chose to build in is called The Homesteads. The style of the houses is Craftsman, though they are a little more desert craftsman than full on colorful bungalow craftsman.

We reserved our lot and were ready to get started!!!

When you are designing a dream house where do you even start?!! I started with windows. All windows, all the time. Court jokes that I’d be thrilled to live in a box made of black divided light windows, and you know, that boy just might be right! There were a few non negotiables that we had.

• windows
• high ceilings (obviously)
• not open concept (cause the last thing I want someone to see when they come into my house is the sink full of dishes.
• theater (this was Court’s)
• no carpet

When you are inside the house I want it to feel like a loft. We met with the builder (Gerry from Slate Ridge) and put together an inspiration board, which he then took it to an architect to work on a floor plan.

At the same time, my inlaws decided to build (not in the same neighborhood) so all conversations all the time revolved around the houses. It was SO EXCITING!!! Finally at the end of March we got back the first set of plans, I was 85% in love with them (which is way more than I had expected to be!)

To be continued….

#sorry

The post So We Weren’t Buying A Beige Nightmare…Let’s Build! | Moving Part 2 appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Hey friends!! Ok so, our house hit the market last week and I’m ready to open up and chat about everything that has gotten us to this point. Its been a whirlwind to say the least. I guess the beginning is a pretty great place to start? Buckle in, cause this is going to be a long story.

I first need to start off by saying that its been really hard to not talk about and I’m kind of over keeping things shushed. Over the next few posts you are going to get a lot of backstory to catch you up to speed and then all of my secrets will be out and we can be best friends again. I hate having to stay mum about stuff, especially stuff that is interesting and can help other people on their journey. I also want to say, this is not a Surprise! We bought a secret house! situation, its still very unresolved, raw, and up in the air. Are you ready to join me and be my support team?

I’m about to spill my guts, hope you’ve got a catchers mitt.

As backward as this sounds there is nothing more perfect to me than the potential of an unfinished space. Anticipation of the inspiration that will launch it into action, and the process of creating something new are my favorite addictions. For me, its not about the finished project, its actually not about the project at all. Its about who I become while I’m working on it. DIYing saved me in the most literal sense of the word. I am the best version of myself when I’m neck deep in a creative problem.

Last October we decided that we were ready for something different, the boy wonder was coming to join our family and I was itching for a change. Our house is wonderful and adorable and was pretty much done, and I love living in a creative construction zone (it just feels really good to my heart.)  So we started this whole moving/house hunting process, and I kept it secret for fear of something not panning out and looking wishy-washy and amateur-ish to millions of people. I didn’t want to say “We are doing this _______________” and then a week later say “Actually we are doing this __________________” and then 3 days later say “Both of those times I was lying, we are really real life doing ___________________”. But the reality of the situation is that THAT IS THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION. Its emotional and hard and extremely touch and go for everyone. No one wants to look a fool to their friends and family (let alone the entire internet) or jinx it, or spill the beans too soon. But, I should know by now that you guys are way more supportive than to judge me for that. Remember this gut spilling that happened mid Nugget reno?

p.s. As I’m typing this out it seems so lame to be scared of that.

Sidenote: I think keeping all of this stuff inside and secret from all of you was a huge contributing factor to my depression. I was in a really broken place and the potential backlash from internet strangers (that normally isn’t an issue for me) was just more than I could emotionally handle. My biggest fear was that you guys would think that I was fake and that we were moving just to continue to create content for the blog and would hate me and my house and my family and all bloggers ever for it. I’m in such a better place now and can see how skewed the fear was. So is that the case? Nope. But man, isn’t the blog a great perk? It means I have all of you to take the ride with.

Back to the story, we decided as a family that moving was a pretty great idea. So we did what most people in our situation do, we started looking at houses. I know that Southern Utah is not known for its trendsetting ways but man alive, if I see another MLS listing with beige walls, beige tile, beige stucco, and granite countertops I.AM.GOING.TO.LOSE.MY.FREAKING.MIND. Its the craziest thing, the houses all look the same whether they are $150k or $1.5 million. I mean, obviously the quality and size is different, but the finishes are all the same! Its maddening!!

I combed through every listing for months and every time felt so blah about it. I wanted something special that had soul (remember this guy I loved?!) Court wanted something that had been built in this century and had A/C.

He can be such a killjoy.

You guys know that I talk openly about everything, so though I understand its a little taboo to talk about money, I feel fine about it, hopefully you do to! To get the square footage that we wanted (3000-3500) our purchase price was going to be in the $300k-$500k range. Naturally I looked at everything from $1 million down to $200k (cause why not maybe I would find a long lost uncle that was loaded?) It was a huge bummer to see that we needed to spend $400k to hit our square footage goal but would then need to completely update everything on top of that. Travertine is NOT my friend.

The next (and obvious) option was to build. This is where the story gets really long so I’m going to end this post here and we’ll pick up at this point in the next one.

To really make this series as informative as possible, here is what I need to know from you. What things in the house selling, hunting, building, buying situation do you want to talk about? I really want this to be something that you can chime in below with your experience so that its a great reference point for anyone in the house buying/selling frame of mind. I’ve got my experience but you’ve also got your experience and that is valuable information that I would love to use my platform to share. How deep should I dive into it? Is money too weird to touch on? What about getting lending? Do you want to know my credit score? How about my blood type? Thoughts?

The post The Raw and Real Side of Moving When The Entire Internet Is Watching | Part 1 appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I can’t believe that I’m typing this.

Our house is for sale!!!! QUICK someone pass me a paper bag!!

Not going to lie, it feels a lot like I’m launching myself off a cliff with no idea how far down the ground is, or where we’ll land…with my family in tow. But every fiber of my being is telling me to jump, and not just jump but JUUUUUUUUUMMMMMP! So jump it is.

I love this house. I love that its a place where creativity is celebrated. I love that its unlike any other home in Southern Utah (or the world for that matter), I love that every single thing in has been intentional and documented. This house has changed the course of my life, and I love that it can be someone else’s now.

So. If you are in the market for the most special house in all of Southern Utah, please come and check it out! We are having an Open House on Saturday from 11-1 and I would love to meet you and give you a personal tour!

I can’t wait to dive in and start sharing this process with you, so stay tuned!! Until then, you can check out all of the details on Be At Home Utah and feel free to reach out to Meghan with any questions!

See you Saturday!!

And just incase you are wondering; no, we’re not moving to Canada.

The post OUR HOUSE IS FOR SALE! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.