We’ve signed contracts for the new house, signed a contract of sale for the current home, and we have home inspections and appraisals to complete. Once that’s finished and when all goes well, we’ll be moving. Everyone seems very happy and they all want to congratulate us on our move, but I’m still hesitant and not sure why.
Although my house is in tip-top shape and should appraise well, it’s just not done. And if it isn’t done, it isn’t done. So, I’m not all agog with excitement just yet, but honestly it’s all there bubbling just beneath the surface.
When people ask me where I’m moving to and ask about the new house, our common answer is to say we are downsizing to a bigger house, and we are. Our current home has about 1800 finished square feet, while the new house has 4500.
You gasped, didn’t you.. I heard you gasp!! That’s the typical response. It runs through everyone’s head. Why the hell are these two empty-nesters moving to a bigger house?!
We like space? The final frontier? I dunno. I think the difference is that the house we currently own has a bunch of bigger rooms, but not a real good flow for the living space. The new house has smaller bedrooms, but a better amount of open living space. That and there is a lovely loft for my office. I’m liking that part. My work can be upstairs, out of everyone’s hair and view and I can go up there and not worry about it. In some ways, I think my work is too accessible right now. It’s in a bedroom just next to mine and it takes nothing to climb out of bed and drop right into the chair. Maybe climbing the steps to a loft will help me to separate my “life” from my “work”.
We also like a home that brings the outside in. Our new home has lots of windows and sliders and I’m looking forward to opening them all up to the spring breezes.
And finally, we love the people we love and want to be able to have them over and enjoy visits from our children with their spouses and our grandchildren. We are dubbing this house “Camp Nini”. A large enough place to have kidlets come and play, in a safe yard, with a play house and a pool and some tree swings. Heck… I want to swing on the tree swings. In fact, just writing this makes me realize that I’m falling into the normal thought process of aging and what’s “right” for a certain time frame of your life. PHOOEY!! I’ve never been like that and I refuse to be so now.
I’m going to have fun in my new house. I’m going to revel in the open-ness of it. I’m going to enjoy the space. I’m going to run through it playing hide and seek with the kids. With the tile floors, water battles won’t be a problem. I’m going to mold this house into a place that screams “SHARON LIVES HERE”.
(And hubby, too.) I’m going to love this place and enjoy it and when I’m done, I’m going to pass it along to the next person who sees the value in a bit of extra space.
Snippets and Tidbits 
Thank you for this post. My husband and I will soon be empty nesters and, after much thought & discussion, we have decided we want to move into a bigger house. It seems backwards, and I want to be sure we are making the right choice when it comes to downsizing vs. upsizing. Our reasons are pretty much the same as yours, and as others I’ve been reading about. I’m starting to get excited about this new chapter in our lives!
Hi Alahnna! Thanks for stopping by. It’s been a year (almost) since we bought the larger place and I can tell you we haven’t regretted it one little bit. I’ve had more company, entertained more, relaxed more and enjoyed my home more than I could have ever imagined. If your gut is telling you to “go large”, I’d say trust your instincts!
~S