BIG NEWS

We bought our first house...and it's on the East Coast!!!  For those who don't know, Kevin and I are moving to Bluffton, South Carolina in approximately four weeks.  Kevin and I have been working with a realtor and looking at house listings online for 6 months, but we knew we needed to see the area and the houses in person before we made a decision to purchase a home.  Since Kevin is busy training and can't take leave right now, my loving mother offered to join me in the house hunt (which I GREATLY appreciated!). My mom and I drove from Tulsa, OK to Bluffton, SC after Thanksgiving, and it was a pretty enjoyable two-day drive! 

Honestly, I could hardly sleep the night before we started seeing the homes, because I wasn't sure if I was going to love any of the houses we planned to see.  Much to my surprise, I found our dream house by the end of DAY ONE!  We had seen this house online and loved everything about the actual house, but we didn't want to buy it because the neighborhood was brand new (practically empty) and the location of the neighborhood was farther from Beaufort (where Kevin will be stationed) than we prefer.  So, we didn't seriously consider it but we still wanted to check it out in person.  While touring this lovely home and falling even more in love with it, the builder representative mentioned that the exact same house was under construction and for sale in a different neighborhood that meets our criteria!  After talking through the details/logistics and looking at other houses, Kevin and I decided that the house being built is absolutely PERFECT for us!  We are still in shock that this house is going to be our very own home, but we couldn't be happier.  What a blessing!  I never thought we would find a house that exceeded our expectations, but we really did.  I must say that the BEST part of buying this house while it is still under construction is that we had the opportunity to choose all kinds of interior and exterior design elements, materials and colors.  It was really fun to customize everything to reflect our taste and style.

Here are some photos of our actual house, and below the construction photos are photos of the spec house.  They will give you an idea of what our house is going to look like when it is finished. 



In our house, we're going to have wooden stairs with a wood & iron railing.



We chose a slightly different hardwood color.



I love our kitchen!  We changed the cabinet color, marble and kitchen faucet, so I cannot wait to see the finished product!

The kitchen looks out into the breakfast nook and living room.

Standing in the kitchen, looking into the dining room

Living room, but we aren't going to have a TV nook above the fireplace

Master bedroom

Other side of the Master bedroom

Master bath

Loft on second floor

One of the bathrooms on the second floor

P.S. We LOVE LOVE LOVE having guests, so let us know if you want to visit after we get settled into our new home!  (Our house is just 15 miles west of Hilton Head Island!)