New House Sneak Peek: Focusing on the #GoodLife

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Allstate. All opinions are 100% mine.

So the last post I wrote about how we bought a new house was a little on the negative side. Or maybe a lot on the negative side, as I explained why buying a house is a bad idea.  Nevertheless, we, of course, bought a house anyway. Because, really, we aren’t going to let all the risks and trouble and expense of buying a home hold us back from it.

Of course there are risks when you own a home. But there are risks to everything you do. And the rewards are more than the risks. We are so looking forward to moving into our own place. The work (and sweat and tears and time and LOVE) we put into it will be for US to enjoy for years to come, to create the HOME that Jaye (and any future siblings) will remember as where they grew up.

So without further ado, here’s a quick look at some of the good (and bad) about our new house. In general, the pictures look much nicer than the house in real life.

Here’s the view (basically) from the front door. The good: this is the only carpet in the house! The bad: the dining room is carpeted. What genius decided to do that?

And the kitchen. The good: it’s super, super open. This was one of the most important characteristics we were looking for in a house. Maybe even THE most important. The bad: the oven doesn’t work. The good: We are planning to totally remodel the kitchen. I’m so excited to pick out the finishes I want! The bad: We can’t afford to remodel the kitchen for awhile, and it’s likely that the broken oven is too narrow to replace with a modern oven. So we might be crock-pottin’ and grillin’ for awhile.

The big main living room. There’s also a small living area directly across from (and open to!) the kitchen. Jaye will probably have toys in both places. The good: I love this big room. It’s going to fit our family perfectly! The bad: Not much a little paint and better furniture and light fixtures won’t fix!

The lovely porch. The good: I love this covered porch. It’s going to be such a nice extended living area. And nice to be able to set up some patio furniture without worrying about it getting wet. The bad: In real life, the porch is pretty beat up. Some boards are rotten and the paint is peeling.

The main bathroom. The good: It’s good sized! And there is a second bathroom of the master bedroom! The bad: It’s pink, if you hadn’t noticed. And there’s a bunch of leaks and water damage under the floor. The bathrooms are #2 on our fix-right-away list right behind the cruddy electrical at #1.

The laundry room. The good: There’s a laundry room! An entire separate room! And that door leads to a really huge closet. The bad: It’s currently kind of a gross little room. And there’s some water damage around the window sill that the inspector noticed. I’m hoping to follow my own tutorial and install and grout self-adhesive vinyl tile in there before we even move in.

Speaking of moving in, one of the things we had to do before closing was buy homeowners insurance! We decided to go with Allstate because we used them before on our last home and they had the best rates for our new home too. We bought the insurance on our own dime long before I was asked to write this sponsored post, so rest assured that my opinions are honest here!

The idea of taking both the good and the bad, but focusing on the good and not letting the bad hold you back is part of Allstate’s new campaign “Good Hands for the Good Life.” I think Allstate’s new brand vision, Allstate Good Life, is a really awesome (and unusual) attitude and campaign for an insurance company!

So as we look forward to closing on this home and moving in, we are going to focus on the positive because (as the Allstate video below says) people live for good.