The Home that Sunset Maple Built

The year was 2016. I had just made some big life changes: quit a career path that up until a couple months before, I thought I would never leave, decided to move 1,000 miles away to be closer to my then-boyfriend and grappled with the indecision of getting my own apartment or [gasp] move in together. Money talks and the financial freedom living together would give both of us ended up winning in the long run. Good news, he's now my husband so that one worked out!

Ryan had bought a place 6 months before I moved up to Chesapeake and had made zero changes since purchasing. It still had the stock cabinets from when it was built in 1994 -- some kind of two toned pink-brown MDF monstrosity that was wrapped in plastic, 12"x12" pinkish-tan tile that was improperly sealed and flaking up in parts, somewhere between baby poop and mud-colored walls and overall dysfunctional storage and use of space.

The first time I saw the place, I cringed.

After several deep breaths and a few pep talks, we got to work. The kitchen was the first to go, followed by painting every. single. surface, then a fun tongue and groove ceiling in the open-concept Living/Kitchen (to cover up popcorn ceilings) and a multitude of other small but significant projects.

Two months after moving in, we brought home a 6 week old golden retriever that Ry took "puppy leave" for to help the lil guy get acclimated. Cooper promptly and without delay began chewing on all of the new baseboards I had just installed, digging in the yard (Ryan's pride and joy), and last (but certainly not least) several bodily fluid incidents that I have almost as much time trying to scrub from my mind that was spent cleaning the floors, trim, and WALLS.

Six months after moving in, Ryan proposed. (A good story for a different time)

Two years after moving in, we got married and a year after that... brought our baby girl home to the home I once despised.

I found myself cursing that house so many times over the years.... but still found myself in tears when we sold it in 2020.