If you love before and after photos of houses, this post is for you.
When Nathan and Meagan moved into their house four years ago, they had two children and plenty of room. But now with four kids, things got a little crowded and they decided to look for a larger place.
After the decision was made, Meagan and Nathan immediately got busy with all the work involved in making their home look as appealing as possible. They were blessed to have the assistance of Meagan’s parents, sisters, and their husbands who jumped in to help with cleaning, fixing, and sprucing up. All the work paid off because after just a couple of days on the market, their house sold.
Now comes the exciting task of finding a new place to live in a relatively short amount of time.
Here are a few photos that show the house when they first bought it compared with the house within the past few weeks. They have done an amazing job! (Edited to add: the after pictures you see are after a lot of their belongings were moved to storage and they had the house staged to make it more appealing to buyers. Once they move to their new home, all of the stuff will come out of storage and their home will once more have the lived-in look.)
Backyard before and after.
Front of the house before and after.
Master bedroom when buying the house.
Master bedroom now.
This is one of the bedrooms when they moved in.
And now.
The refurbished nursery.
Dining room before.
And after.
Nathan invested many hours of labor and gallons of sweat into laying the pavers for this backyard patio. It turned out great! (Steve even got to help him a bit when he was in Florida earlier this year.)
Kitchen before and after.
Andrew just turned one.
Here he is with his whole clan at church after the service where he was dedicated.
And lastly, I just had to share this conversation between Noah and Madison as posted by Meagan on Facebook.
Noah: Madi tomorrow is a big day you’re going to kindergarten! But I’ll show you where to go. I’ve been in kindergarten before.
So there you have it. The Florida Smith Edition.
What about you! Do you have any stories of selling or buying a house, getting ready to be sold, or anything else related to that exciting but stressful process?
Becky,
Wow! Nathan and Meagan certainly did a great job with the house. It looks terrific! Glad that it sold so quickly and I hope they find just what they are looking for and that it’s in their price range.
Happy belated birthday to Andrew, love 💕 his photo, he looks like such a happy boy (I would say happy baby, but he IS a whole year old 😉).
Noah and Madi certainly have a special bond, they are just too cute. Listening in our their conversations must be such fun!
Hugs to all of you,
Stay safe and God bless,
Linda in Pittsburgh
Linda,
Yes, anytime you have two kids talking to each other, it’s usually priceless–and funny! Thanks for the well wishes for ALL the Florida Smiths
Nathan and Meagan’s house looks great. No wonder it sold fast plus being a starter home really helped.
I had a townhouse in Tampa. I listed it on Monday and it hit the MLS on Friday. By Saturday evening, I had two offers. When I left Louisville, I had to go through a realtor as it was a job relocation requirement. I had actually sold the condo before i even met the realtor. Unfortunately when I left KC in 1993, it took almost 4 years to sell my house. I had it rented for 3 of those years. HUD had come in and bought several houses in my area and the property values dropped.
Phyllis,
Wow. I can’t imagine FOUR years to sell a house! Glad you were able to rent it for part of that time.
Yes, the fact that theirs was a started home really helped because there seems to be a huge market for that right now, at least in Florida.
We sold in a buyer’s market. When very few houses were selling at our price range with a number of them fire sales. It was a horrible, traumatic experience that haunts me yet.
You have to declutter which means basically clearing out everything other than bare necessities and what stages the house. For us, that meant moving nearly everything out and buying cheap stuff just to stage. All of that is fine for just a few days or even weeks or months. We did this for two years with the realtor pressuring us constantly to lower our price, how unreasonable we were being. We had the realtor with the best rep and sales in the area by far, too. We did get close to full ask right before we capitulated and was going to lower price. I think we had price too low actually, as people looking at our type of house were looking at slightly higher price points. I know several people that did that. Our buyers were ore approved quite a bit more than for what our house went and were looking only at the higher priced houses and just happened to look at ours because they were in the area looking at a more expensive house.
I’m so glad that the young Smiths did not go through what we did. And what you and Steve did back when you sold your house. They had it easy, great luck, and I hope they find what they want in a larger home in a seller’s market. We’ve bought in those, and had to choose among 3 houses—that was it.
Excited to see what they find!!
Catherine,
I can’t imagine what you and your family dealt with for TWO YEARS! That is a lot of stress trying to always stay ready for a showing and living with a lot of your stuff moved out of the house. I can imagine there was some happy dancing going on when that house finally sold.
You have a good memory to remember what we went through with selling our house 11 years ago. We lost a lot of money due to the market at that time.
I’m thankful Nathan and Meagan were able to sell at such a great time.
The FL Smith’s home is beautiful. I love how it is decorated. I bet they’re excited to find a new home! That’s always fun.
Oh Madi… I’m glad she isn’t looking to start any drama! How cute!
God’s Blessings!
Krista,
Yep, Madi girl is opting for the low-drama path through kindergarten. Gotta love it!
What a fun and happy post!! I’m a big fan of home reno shows and the Florida Smiths did an AMAZING job on their home (and I love how huge the master bedroom is!)!! No wonder they sold it so quickly. I can’t believe the youngest Smith is already one. It’s precious how Noah is the protective big brother, and I absolutely love Madi’s plan for Kinder! I hope you are feeling well. I always look forward to, and enjoy, your posts.
Sue Ellen,
Thanks for such a cheery comment; it made my morning.
Glad you enjoyed the tour of the Smith house; they really did an outstanding job, especially considering they were wrangling 4 kiddos at the same time!
I love to watch shows about remodeling and the first thing they always say is “declutter.” And many times, paint is mostly what is needed. They did a great job and to hear how fast their home sold. Wow!
Our second home, when we went to look at it, the owners were home. Asked the real estate man if they knew we were coming – they did. There were nudie pictures on the walls and the wallpaper in the dining room had nude ladies in champagne glasses (he owned 2 liquor stores). The lady was bathing her child in the bathtub so we couldn’t see much of the bathroom. We did purchase the house and the first thing to go was the wallpaper. My sister came over to help and she said she would clean the bathroom, which was small. I thought the tile was a taupe color – no, it was light grey. It took her 2 hours to clean it. In the kitchen, The sink looked like they had washed greasy pots and pans because after they drained the water the sink was grease. The stove was a gas stove and the wells were filled with grease, along with the drip pan in the oven. Needless to say, I did a bit of crying because at the signing they told us they had cleaned the house.
Know that Nathan and Megan will make their house a home. Noah and Madi, what a great way to share with each other.
Sharyn,
That story about your house is unreal! I can’t imagine how disappointed you were that they didn’t clean; sounds like the real estate agent needed to lean on them a little harder. But what a great feeling to get everything clean and spic and span and make it your own. Definitely a feeling of accomplishment.
And yes, declutter is definitely the word of the day when it comes to real estate and renos. I love decluttering, even though we’re not moving. Such a good feeling to have only what you really need and love. I’ve got several places in the house right now that are desperately in need of it!
Wow! They did a really great job on their house and yard! No wonder that it sold so quickly!
Noah and Madi’s conversation literally made me laugh out loud. They are SOOO cute!!
Lee Anne,
Yeah, Noah and Madi are pretty funny together. So much fun to overhear the conversations of children. They are better entertainment than any TV show!
I don’t get it!! Where is all their stuff in these pics??!!
How do you live in a house and clear it out to sell?
Clueless in Wisconsin… lol
(Ruth)
Ruth,
Good question.
The pictures you were seeing were after they had moved a bunch of their belongings to storage and had done “staging” on the house which a process focused on making everything as eye-pleasing as possible for people to come and see it. They had 7 or 8 showings in just a few days so they had a challenge with gathering up all the kids and making sure everything was tidy before leaving.
Once they move to another house they’ll get everything back out of storage and it will look more lived in again.
Their previous home was much improved! I hope they find a new home soon. Moving is no fun, but it is decorating a new place! I am still working on that here.
Cindy,
Yes, decorating is one of those things that is both fun and challenging. I hope you enjoy the process!
They have done a fabulous job on their house. now to find a new one, I hope they find the perfect home soon. Oh, kids are a delight aren’t they? Will you be affected now by the water coming in from the latest hurricane? Take care!
Wendy,
Thanks for the compliment on Nathan and Meagan’s house. I’m very proud of them.
We haven’t been affected by the storms in Manteo but about half an hour away, there are roads underwater going out to Cape Hatteras so they are working at getting that road re-opened. It’s the only road there is so people are stranded. I’ll be relieved when hurricane season gets over!
You won’t believe but we had to move AGAIN! This is #6 in 7 years. You’d think I’d be getting better at the process but not so much. Once again our landlord decided to sell and so we had to find a place. We had a sweet deal to stay in the house up to 3 more months but this area has very limited rentals come available so we had to jump when we found one that just so happened to be on the lake that Steve, Brooke, Madi and Bailey walk all the time. But God…… We are so very blessed!
I love seeing all your news! I miss you guys! Take care!! Love you!
Tammy,
Wow. You are a moving professional! Even though you say you are not good at the process, I can only imagine the little tips and tricks you have picked up along the way. How lovely to be on a lake. I’ve always wanted to live on the water.
Hugs to the whole family. We miss you, too!
They did a beautiful job on the house and yard! How I love the conversation between the two littles!
Guerrina,
I know, right? Noah and Madi were a hoot!