new house Archives - Nancy J. Cohen

Moving into a new house requires lots of hard work. Our home improvements are slowly raising our comfort level day-by-day. The window treatments, most of which have been installed, greatly help our sense of privacy. My office is shaping up, although I had to order another bookcase to replace the built-in shelving I’d lost from the other house. It’s taking a long time to reorganize my papers but that’s essential to feeling in control.

My husband’s office space is great. He has his own computer desk and has put his music equipment in there. Adjacent to it is a guest bedroom with a Jack and Jill bathroom in between. Upstairs is another guest bedroom that will be a great boy’s room when our grandson stays over. We’re putting all the toys and kid’s books up there and have made the other upstairs bedroom into a media room with our CDs and DVDs. I don’t plan to go upstairs too often, but the kids will like it.

We have a list of projects for the handyman. We’ll need him to hang our mirrors and paintings among many other items. And these are only the inside issues. Outside are three towering trees we want to get removed plus landscaping, gutter cleaning and sprinkler repairs to do. Once we clear the garage of all our packing boxes, that space needs fixing up. So we won’t be done for quite a while.

Our new location is great. We are close to shopping with most of our favorite stores and restaurants nearby. We’ve had our first Covid vaccines and met our friendly neighbors. We even made an excursion one day to a strawberry farm. And of course, the best reason to be here of all is that we’re near our family. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just wish we could be there sooner rather than later.

Moving into a new house is a daunting task. It can be more difficult than leaving your old place. Packing to move involves shoving stuff into cartons and sending it off to your destination. But at the other end, you have many decisions to make. You have to decide not only where everything should go but what you need to do to make the house comfortable for your needs.

There’s a reason why we forget what it was like to move before. Like any traumatic event, we’d prefer not to remember the details. Here we planned ahead to have new carpets installed and the painting started before we moved in. The to-do list kept me up at night as I kept adding items. If your house is brand new, you don’t have many of these issues. If it’s a resale like ours, often the owners will have left window treatments and lighting fixtures that can be desirable. This house is twenty years old and hasn’t seen much in the way of renovations. We know the a/c units need replacement, but since they are working, other things must take priority.

Window treatments are number three after carpets and paint. While we kept the blinds, out went the original valences and drapes. That left us with no coverings on the living room window, family room sliding glass doors, patio door in our bedroom and two guest bathroom windows. At night, we have nowhere to go for privacy except our home offices and the master bedroom, and the latter is thanks to our daughter mounting a temporary blackout drape on the door. We won’t feel comfortable until these openings are covered, among other things. But then at least we’ll be able to go somewhere else to read at night if we can’t sleep.

What’s next? Stay tuned for the continuation of our moving adventures. And thank you for listening. It is cathartic for me to relate these details, and it helps me get back into the writing mode.

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