This won’t be a long post—two videos do most of the talking. Click play to watch our final “after” tour of the Richmond house, filmed just before showings began in early March. If you’re curious about how the showings went, you can hear more in this podcast episode. If you want paint colors or sources for furniture, rugs, blinds, and accessories you see in the video, everything is listed here.
Note: you can also watch this video on YouTube.
For comparison, here’s the original “before” tour. It’s striking to remember how different the house looked when we first moved in. Seven years of gradual updates aren’t a quick makeover, but we’re thrilled with the final result—this home has been wonderful to our family.
Note: you can also watch this video on YouTube.
We also filmed a walkthrough after packing up and sending a moving pod to our new Florida house. We’re downsizing dramatically—from roughly 3,150 sq ft and 14 rooms to about 1,400 sq ft and 6 rooms—so we couldn’t take everything. We estimate we took about 45% and left the rest behind.
To decide what stayed and what went, we asked ourselves four clear questions that simplified the process. If you want the full rundown, they’re listed in the show notes of this podcast (you don’t need to listen—the questions are typed there if you prefer to read).
As for the items we didn’t take, we offered the new buyer first dibs. We compiled an itemized list with prices and she chose to buy the lot. Details on pricing and the amount we made are covered in that same episode. Below is the video showing what remained in the house after packing (note: some personal items like our laptops, bedding, and a few plants came with us in the car on moving day).
Note: you can also watch this video on YouTube.
Here are a few FAQs we know will come up:
- Our stair runner held up for over six years but took a beating during a bathroom renovation. We replaced it with the same stair treads we used at our previous pink house to help Burger with traction.
- You’ll notice styled items left on built-ins, shelves, and in bedrooms. Those were extras we offered the buyer, who asked us to leave them behind—so we styled and staged a few things to make the spaces feel complete. We wouldn’t do that without the buyer’s permission.
- We shipped the pod before we moved because transit to Florida takes about two weeks. We packed and sent it roughly two weeks ahead of our actual moving day so it would arrive around the time the house was ready to live in. The schedule shifted a few times, so we couldn’t lock a firm moving date in advance.
To illustrate the transition, here are a few before-and-after photos. First, the office before showings:
And the office after packing. The desk, curtains, deck chair, and light fixture stayed; computers and a few personal items rode with us in the car. We did bring much of the office—shelving towers, John’s desk, benches, and storage—because that room was highly functional for our family.
The living room before showings:
And the living room after packing. We loved many of the pieces we left, but they didn’t fit the new home’s layout or scale. For example, the large rug and our heavy coffee table wouldn’t work in the smaller spaces we’ll have in Florida, and the TV sizes we left were sold at about the cost of replacing them later.
Bedroom before showings:
And now. Some large secondhand pieces—like a beloved oversized rug—simply had no practical place in the new house despite our best efforts to squeeze them in. The new owner promised to care for those pieces and send photos, which felt reassuring.
We sold most beds because the new house benefits from more storage-friendly frames—trundles and drawers under beds will be useful. Every decision considered square footage and function so we could maximize space in the smaller home.
Kids’ rooms: our daughter surprised us by prioritizing her dresser and certain artwork over her headboard. She’s nearly 10, so we gave her input and let her spend proceeds from sold items on pieces she wants for the new room—she’s very excited to pick things out.
The art room was one of our most used spaces and we’re bringing it with us. It functioned as a daily creative hub for the kids, so it made sense to recreate a similar workspace in the new house, tucked away from the front entrance so projects don’t greet guests right away.
In short: we love everything in this house, but we had to be realistic about what would work in a much smaller home. Letting go of items was hard, but also freeing. Many pieces were perfect for this house and will now have a happy new life with the buyer.
We can’t wait to unpack the pod and settle into our beach house. I’m negotiating how many plants can fit in the car—my hope is “all of them,” and John’s answer is predictably more conservative. If you want paint colors or sourcing info for anything you saw, check the post with all that information here.
P.S. If you have questions about paint colors or where we got something in our house (furniture, accessories, blinds, rugs, etc.), this post lists it all.