Some News
Garrett and I have some news…
After 7 years of living in, fixing, and loving our Farmhouse, we’re moving. We have so many emotions about this decision - excitement for what’s next, sadness at leaving so much we love behind, stressed because moving! - but we are confident this is the right move for our family. So later this month, we’ll be listing this beautiful/magical/wonderful farmhouse for sale and moving.
screen door, paint colors, work apron
Are you surprised? For Garrett and I this decision feels both like a total surprise and a long time coming. We’ve made no secret of missing the walkability and connectedness of living in a town or city, and have thought about moving a few times over the years (we shared more on that in this 2020 post). Garrett and I have had many long chats about the merits of in-town/in-city living and would inevitably say in a wistful voice, “wouldn’t it be nice if the kids could walk to school?”
But for all we’ve thought of moving, we’ve also thought of staying. The charm of this house and country living can’t be understated: it’s pure magic. Sleeping to a chorus of frogs. Room to run around and explore. A cute-as-a-button chicken coop and giant entertaining garden. The peace and quiet. We love this property and home with our whole hearts! It’s been nothing short of a magical spot for our kids to grow up and exactly what we had hoped for when we left Seattle 7 years ago after a decade of busy city living.
The surprise part came this summer. We hadn’t been looking for a house, but one morning over coffee, an old house found its way to my inbox. It was a fixer, walking distance to K-12 schools, and had so many of the things we look for in houses… Lots of natural light. In my Goldie Locks square footage range. Alley access. A good layout. A large, private lot with room for a treehouse and garden. For ‘house people’ like Garrett and I who’ve become quite particular when it comes to real estate, the house looked like a unicorn. We went to see it that same day.
We’ll share more about our new (old) home soon, but suffice it to say we’re excited. A tiny bit daunted at the work ahead (every single inch needs work), but mostly excited. From the moment I walked inside, I knew this was the house. If we were going to make the change we had been considering on and off for years, this was our shot. Within a day we were under contract.
For the time being, we’re working on wrapping up a couple projects at the Farmhouse and will share those here and on Instagram. We’re starting to think about packing and listing and the real estate market. And of course somewhere in there is our cute rental remodel, The Poplar Cottage. We don’t know exactly how it’s all going to work out, but we’re moving forward with excitement and the confidence that this is the right move for our family. The details will fall into place.
Many of you have been on this Farmhouse journey with us since the very beginning and I wanted to share this news as early as possible. It’s been hard news for some of our friends and family to hear - a home really is like a member of the family - and our kids are still processing. Garrett and I, too for that matter. For the past 7 years so much of our time, energy, and resources have gone into this special home and it’s hard to imagine our life without it. But we’re also excited for this new project. It’s a fresh start! And we get to begin this one with all the skills we’ve learned over the past 7 years fixing up the Farmhouse.
I like to think of homes in terms of a book and our Farmhouse has been a really big chapter - a beautiful, fulfilling chapter full of young kids, time outside, beautiful home projects, tending chickens, and learning to garden. It’s a bit hard to turn the page on such a wonderful story line, but here we go. We hope you’ll join us on the next chapter!
If you know anyone that would be interested in our Farmhouse in rural Ellensburg, WA, please email hello@thegritandpolish.com.
More soon!
”How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” - Winnie the Pooh
