Mitchell's New House

It's been several months now since Mitchell bought his first house. We've been dying to see it, but he kept saying, "It's under construction!" I get it. When you are excited about your very first house, you want people to see it at its best. His home is older, so he has a lot of plans and ideas. It took him awhile to get the place painted and cleaned to his satisfaction. 

Well, last week he invited us over for happy hour. 

I thought the house was cute as soon as we pulled up. He has a nice yard with mature trees. 

When we stepped inside, we discovered that Mindy and Justin were there. Stephanie and Nicky arrived a few minutes later. We didn't know he was hosting a "full on" family happy hour! He gave us the tour. As you can see, his living room is really nice and big. Don't let the lighting fool you, the walls are not pink! He has some colored lights over the cabinets in the kitchen.

His kitchen has already been remodeled. It's really nice. He has replaced the dishwasher and stove. There isn't anything that needs to be done in here. I didn't take any pictures of the bedrooms. He has 3--one will be a guest room, but it's empty at the moment. He plans to turn one of the bedrooms into his office since he mostly works from home. 

His house has a bit of a "frat boy" vibe going on. But, I have to admit that I was happy to see this Schlitz light hanging on the wall. Butch and I had this light from about 1972. We used it ourselves for many years. When we moved into this house, I didn't want to use it anymore. I didn't think it was "classy" enough. I didn't know we even still had it. I'm thrilled that Mitchell's using it! Apparently, our grandkids might want our stuff! He took quite a few things we had in the attic. I wish he'd taken everything!! He did take all the rugs. He has nice hardwood floors. The bedrooms have old carpeting that needs replacing, but that's not in the budget right now. He did get them cleaned--upon my recommendation. I always had the carpet cleaned whenever we moved into a new house. Even if you can't replace it yet, at least you know it's clean.

The backyard is nice and big. The deck needs some work. Well, actually, it needs to be replaced! Mitchell stepped through it soon after taking possession. Then, a couple weeks ago, his girlfriend, Emily stepped through it up to her thigh! Greg is going to come into town to help him rebuild it. Butch has offered to help too. 

We were sitting there talking for about 20 minutes when I finally said, "Well Mitchell, you invited us for happy hour. Are you going to offer us something to drink?" He said, "Oh yeah, I have wine, whiskey, milk or water." That's quite a selection! Everybody passed on the milk!

We brought some housewarming gifts for him to open. We are so proud of him--a young guy with his first home. He's done so much already. Of course, he's also learning that homeownership isn't always easy! One thing after another! But, I told him that real estate is the best investment so he's already ahead of the game at 26. Way better than throwing money away on rent. 

I can't wait to see what else he does with the place. He's planning to do some landscaping this fall. It will be interesting to see if he takes an interest in gardening. We'll see!