A New Home & Me Made May 2 Week Roundup

Happy middle of May! It's been awhile since I blogged - and if you follow me on Instagram, you'll know why! Three weeks ago we officially moved out of Hoboken! I've talked a little about it before but I wanted to share our first home-buying experience. (Please feel free to skip on down to my Me-Mades)

In the beginning of last year, Drew and I decided that it was finally time to move out of our apartment. Hoboken had been good to us, and we were fortunate to have an affordable 2 bedroom apartment and a garage parking space (which is SO hard to come by), but we were ready to move on from the party town into a quieter space with a yard, and room to grow as a family. When we started looking at homes around March of last year, we were clueless and quickly learned what we had to do to find a home in our price range and in our dream area.

We found a realtor at an open house, and unfortunately, she "didn't have time for us" and didn't want to show us any of the houses we wanted to see. It was about a month of working with her that we wasted, and by May of last year, we were starting to get into the height of the market. We found another realtor, who we fell in love with, and she would send us 1-10 houses every week - and we would see 2-5 each weekend.

Drew and I fell head over heels for one house, and put in a bid over asking price. Because of the demand, we lost the house to a higher bid and our hearts were completely broken. We had felt like we were already searching for so long, and even met the owners of the home, that it was such a huge hit to us on a personal level. After another few months of looking, we found another house we loved and went through the process again. We actually went well over the asking price, and thought there was no way we could lose, but once again, we were outbid.

The winter months were very depressing, and we barely saw any homes, and we were getting very discouraged since we didn't want to go through another spring/summer and compete with more families looking for homes. In early February we found another home, and immediately bid well over asking. We lost our third home and at this point, we were getting used to the rejection and were afraid to fall in love with another home.

That's when a little yellow home with a white picket fence came on the market. The pictures were amazing - but we knew that pictures don't always tell the whole story. We went to the open house and fell hard in love, but still talked very cautiously about our feelings like somehow loving it too much would be bad luck. This house checked all the boxes on our list: a cute backyard, space for a sewing studio and space for Drew to have a "man-cave", with plenty of room for entertaining. We put a bid in and expected to lose - it felt too perfect of a house for us to get.

A few days later, we got the call that the house was ours. We were so excited! Closing took two months, but before we knew it- we were homeowners. It's been a long, LONG process, but we are so happy with our home and we learned more than we could've imagined. Over the course of a year, we went to see over 70 homes, and saw more than double that in online listings.

Finding a home was a process, but now it's time to actually fill it! We finally bought a dining room table, and our bed frame should be delivered later this week. Today we found a beautiful dinnerware set and last week I got my first watering can! (it's the little things that make me so happy) We still need to find living room furniture and dressers, but we are slowly enjoying the process of finding pieces we love.

So that is why things have slowed down a bit on the sewing front. My machines are unpacked, but since we are doing a little construction in my future sewing studio, my temporary space is all disorganized.

I've been trying to keep up with Me Made May this year, (as it is my fourth year participating) but without a dresser, and always doing work to the house, I don't want to ruin my me-made pieces and find myself wearing the same things over and over. Here's a little two week roundup:

Day 1: Ginger Jeans & Seamwork Oslo in my future sewing studio. We plan on ripping up the carpet and tearing down the wall that splits the attic in two. I hope to get skylights for more natural light, but they may have to wait a while.

Day 2: Closet Case Patterns Kalle Shirt in our garage! The previous owners added a bar in the garage and this was the back wall - perfect for photoshoots!

Day 3: Cactus Print Lou Box Top & Ginger Jeans in our sunroom, in my cactus corner =]

Day 4: Cranberry Anorak (not pictured) & Handmade Backpack in our backyard! I'll have more info about these backpacks soon!

Day 5: Closet Case Patterns Ebony Dress in front of our garage!

Day 6: Closet Case Ebony Tee, Kelly Anorak and Ginger Jeans at a craft show!

Day 7 & 8: Not photographed- Handmade Leggings and Tanks.

Day 9: Seamwork Ariane & Handmade Cardigan in our (furniture-less) living room

Day 10: Ginger Jeans & Refashioned Vest - this was a piece our realtor gave us!

Day 11: Ginger Jeans repeat - stuck on the side of the road.

Day 12: Closet Case Ebony Tee - unblogged

Day 13: Embroidered Peplum - didn't get to photograph me wearing the past couple days

Day 14: Ginger Jeans repeat. I feel like I post these so often- but never the insides. Here's my fun pockets!

Day 15: Handmade Floral Leggings and my denim jacket from middle school - not even kidding - I think I got this jacket in 7th grade. I just love the dark wash, even though the sleeves are too short, it's that perfect worn in feel that makes it too comfy to get rid of!

Obviously Closet Case Patterns are my go-to. I just love the way they fit and the ease of styling. I do have three pairs of Gingers so I swear I'm not wearing the same ones every day!

I have definitely been defining my style more over the years, and have been weeding out the pieces I don't wear, but overall, my goals for Me Made May remain the same: continue making more wearable pieces, and hunker down on basics! I always find myself needing to make tshirts but when it comes time to actually sewing them, I always find a different project to make. Some things are just so boring to make - even though they are items I need the most.

Are you participating? How has your Me Made May been going?