Do It Differently Personal Training

Ikea opening in Merriam, KS was the catalyst for change. Visiting their model spaces with minimal square footage and maximum efficiency, we finally admitted that we really wanted something smaller than the HMS Juniper. When we bought the house, we thought we might have four kids…that’s right, four! Or maybe three. Hmm. Yes, three. Or, well maybe two. Yes, two! Perfect. Two is the perfect number for us and being outnumbered felt terrifying. The world was built for a family of four (thank you Rhonda for pointing this out; dining in booth seating, owning an economy sized-car, buying yogurt in four packs, playing a game of Trouble).

We were all finished playing house (thank you for that perfect phrase, Ritu). We tried desperately to find something smaller…less yard, less square footage, and more freedom. That should be easy, right? We really put in some dedicated time on this search, and eventually gave up. We weren’t ready to leave the community and all it had to offer, and we simply couldn’t find a smaller place. Ugh. HMS Juniper wins again.

We decided to finally move-in to our house, like really move-in and purchase a few things for the HMS. One thing was this large print from Ikea…we hung it in the dining room, and we now refer to it as the portkey.

The same day Ben painstakingly centered it on the wall, I thought I’d give the real estate listings one last search…and there it was! The Chateau. We’d driven, walked, jogged, and ridden our bikes past these places hundreds of times and never noticed them. Ever. We immediately requested a viewing, and another, and another, and another with a contractor, and then made an offer before selling our house (inhale with fear). Offer accepted! Now it was time to sell the HMS. It’s amazing how great your house looks once you are putting it on the market…almost good enough to stay. There are those moments when you wonder if you are making a mistake. Should we stay here and just rent out our new purchase at The Chateau? Nah…let’s do this!

HMS sells quickly, and we continue purging on Craigslist and begin planning renovations. Oh, and looking for a temporary 3-month lease while we renovate, move, and get used to living in smaller quarters. With much of your stuff in boxes, purged, or sold, it feels like you are living in a hotel. Simple and light, nothing to babysit. It really makes you analyze what’s in the boxes once you move back into your space.

So, here we are! In the Chateau for almost 9 months now…the kids are sharing a room which is time limited. The honeymoon stage of bunkbeds will only last a little longer. The next, and hopefully, final wave of renovations will begin in the next few months while we make another bedroom and bathroom in the basement of our “condo” (which is really more like a townhome).

It’s not how most people would chose to live, when there is ample square footage to be had in an affordable housing market, but it’s feels closer to right for us. We fully expect that both of our children will buy 6000 sq ft McMansions when they are adults and blame us for traumatizing their childhood!

Here’s how it looked when we bought it. Hudson was disappointed the day we picked up our keys because he thought all of the cool furniture, in particular, the stuff in the room with the orange sea-grass wallpaper, was staying.

Here’s what it looks like now, except not right now, because we sort of cleaned up this particular day.