I met my husband, Eric, one summer at a friends birthday party. His friend was dating my friend and they both invited us to the party. It was quickly clear that we were in it for the long haul. It was over five years later that he proposed. We lived about an hour away from each other, and we really weren’t sure where we wanted to live once we got married. I was adamant about finding a place to rent or buy before the wedding so that when we arrived home from our honeymoon, we would arrive home.
It was New Year’s Day, 2013 and for some reason, I woke up after a long night and decided to start house hunting online. I found what I thought was the house of my dreams and immediately made plans to visit in person. Unfortunately, my heart was broken when I found out that the builder had already accepted an offer. Thus begun our house hunting.
Eric really wasn’t into the house hunting, preferring to rent. He didn’t want to be tied down to a house that we had to maintain. His argument was valid, but we couldn’t find any rentals that met all of our needs and was within our price range. After convincing him to “at least look” at houses, Eric and I started the overwhelming and daunting process of finding our future home (all while we were planning our wedding). A lot of our house hunting was discouraging and we were convinced we were going to come home from our honeymoon and continue living in separate places.
My parents finally convinced us to look at a house in a beautiful neighborhood that we were sure we couldn’t afford. When we saw the pictures, we called it the “adult” home, because it was much more than a starter home to us. Our original plan was to “buy something under our price range, live there for a few years and then upgrade”. I know, I know, this is what everyone says they will do but then never do. Because mortgage rates were so reasonable while we were house hunting, our parents convinced us that this house was the right choice for us. We were completely underwhelmed by the house and scared of the price-tag, but ultimately, we agreed that the area and the neighborhood were too good to pass up.
We closed on the house a few months before our Wedding and lived on the floor in the living room for a few months. About a week after the honeymoon, we finally moved the rest of our furniture into the house and so began our Suburban Renovation. From there, I started blogging about Home Interiors and DIY projects and eventually added a Fashion and Style section, which prompted my blog rebrand to The Glamorous Gal.
I hope you enjoy my blog!
6 Comments
Gale
September 9, 2014 at 2:24 pmCan't wait to see how you will transform your home!
Kristen
September 9, 2014 at 3:52 pmThank you! We can't wait to see how it all turns out too! Stay tuned, because I have a lot more projects to share!
Delaine
December 12, 2016 at 7:11 pmLoved this. Which suburb? I’m from New York too.
Kristen
November 25, 2018 at 6:29 pmWe are in Huntington!
xoxo, Kristen
Christine Walters
October 30, 2019 at 10:11 amJust stumbled upon your instagram and love your style! I grew up in the Huntington’s area and my new husband is from Larchmont. We live in the city now but are trying to find a new suburb to call home! Your story of new build inspires me because that’s what I want too! Love seeing your journey.
Kristen
October 30, 2019 at 10:22 amWelcome! That is so funny…we are definitely living parallel lives (Westchester/Huntington)! We had so much fun renovating our home, so if you find your perfect suburb, don’t be scared to take on a reno! We are still making tweaks and adding to the house literally every day, so it is definitely a process! Good luck girl!
xoxo, Kristen