Yes, it’s true! We’re excited to share the news that we are moving! We are under contract on a home about 30 minutes from where we currently live and are closing on it later this month. Of course we’ll share all the details after we close, but we won’t be moving until we sell our current home.
We are officially listing our home for sale on May 13th (a week from today!), but I wanted to share the news now for a few reasons. First–in case you or anyone you may know is interested (the home is in southeast Idaho–Rexburg, specifically, more info at the bottom of the post) and Second–we are going to be doing a lot of listing preparations this week and thought it’d be fun to take you a long for the ride! Even though our home is complete, we somehow came up with a 5 page list of things we’d like to do before listing it, everything from converting the home office back to being the fifth bedroom to patching and caulking baseboards to making sure the home is ready to show! We figured, we shared how we got to this point, every step of the way, and now it’s time to show you how we’re preparing the home to pass on to another family to love it as much as we have.
Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments below and make sure to follow along on Instagram (@chrislovesjulia) this week because that’s where we’ll be sharing a lot of behind the scenes!
A few notes on our home!
It’s a 5 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home on a quiet street with mature trees. It has new…everything. Roof! Furnace! Water Heater! Water Filtration & Softener! AC! Appliances! We will be listing it on May 13th for $429K (furnishings are negotiable but would be on top of that price). If you or anyone you know would be interested in making an offer before then, you can contact our realtor, Caleb Fullmer- Edge Real Estate, at fullmerhomes@gmail.com.
If you’d like to see more, we filmed a house tour video last fall here. Although we’re absolutely taking one final video before moving!
110 COMMENTS
Venita Dimmick
1 year ago
So beautiful! I am so happy for you! Having more space for all of your team to work and come and go will be so nice. We all get to see you work your magic and turn your next home into something lovely. I used to think of all the things I would have in our forever home, but as my kids grew our needs/wants changed, a forever home will always be evolving to be what we need at each phase and how badly we need it. I wish I was ready to make the move to Rexburg and retire, for near the mountains is what this current FL mom/grandma dreams of!
steph
1 year ago
Just catching up on posts. Your home in my area would probably list around 600K, perhaps more. (Near Tampa, FL)
Your home is beautiful and whoever ends up with it is very fortunate.
Katelyn
1 year ago
Your home is beautiful! I am excited to see you guys tackle a new space too! I have a questions that is mostly just idle curiosity. Now that you all are listing your home, if you had it to do again, would you reorder the priority of your projects in order to get to certain rooms first as opposed to others? Will this effect how you work and prioritize in the new space? Thank you!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe were actually just talking about what order we’ll do projects in next time. I was surprised the impact an organized closet had in our daily lives so I wouldn’t want to wait until last to do that next time!
Amy D.
1 year ago
You have a beautiful home! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with your new home!! Best of luck….I’m sure it will see really quickly!
Lu
1 year ago
It is funny how people got so attached to your house… You guys did a phenomenal job updating this house and it will not take long to sell. Anyways, Congrats!!!
Sarah
1 year ago
Am I the only one dyyyyying to see the new house?! Ahhh! Can’t wait!
Whitney
1 year ago
Congrats! I did a quick Zillow search of Rexburg our of curiosity, and it seems like your style is not very common in the area. I’m curious if this will work in your favor or if your more contemporary style will be viewed as unappealing. We just bought our first house in Hartford, and our style is definitely more updated than the traditional/early 2000s style I typically see here (think, cranberry dining rooms and heavy drapes). We plan to be here a long time, but I’m curious if the changes we make for our own sake will be a turnoff to buyers in the future.
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORI guess time will tell! Haha, We can’t be the ONLY people that prefer a more updated style.
Aminah
1 year ago
The reason you see so many houses with that early 90s and 2000s style is not because that is what most people prefer but because most people are not ready to invest a lot of money, time and effort into renovating their houses. Especially since the financial crash of 2008, people have been letting their houses go for quite some time and not kept up with updates, simply because there was no money to do it for a long time. And when there was money, people were careful what to invest it in after the whole housing bubble in the US. You see the same phenomenon here in Michigan where I live and updated houses like the Marcum’s are the ones people have bidding wars over, because they are so hard to find.
Whitney
1 year ago
Aminah, that’s an interesting perspective! Hoping for all of our sakes it proves to be true :) If nothing else, I’m sure it will make someone in the market for this updated style VERY happy to find something that’s their taste!
Jennie
1 year ago
That’s really exciting!! Some lucky family will snatch that right up. Just curious if you will keep all the details of this house(house tour, shop our house etc.) archived somewhere on your blog along with your new house?
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORdefinitely!
Jill
1 year ago
Chrislovesjulia is a diy design blog among other things. If their house is finished, it’s time to move on to provide us with fresh content. It’s their job! New content = blog income. It’s that simple. I for one can’t wait to dive in to see what’s next! Congratulations guys!
Jacqui Stephenson
1 year ago
Beautiful home! I’m looking forward to following your new adventure.
You’d need well over one million dollars to buy a place like yours here in Brisbane, Australia!
Jessica Hughes
1 year ago
Yes!! We are from Seattle and this would be at least 600-700,000 about an hour south- or over 1 mil in town. Gorgeous home and we are excited to see what you do next!!!
Beth
1 year ago
Agree!! Melbourne, Australia here – you’d pay $1.3 – $1.4 million here I’d estimate, depending on suburb, could be higher. I can’t believe how cheap this is!! Considering a move to the U.S suburbs…..
Linda
1 year ago
Congratulations! You’ve definitely turned this house into a beautiful home, move-in ready for the next owner(s)!
What are some upcoming blog posts and videos that we can expect?
As someone who is still figuring out which project takes priority (we’ve been in our home 5 years, and while we’ve completed some projects, we have a wishlist of items we want to complete at our home), I’d love to hear how you plan our your projects, how you prioritize and how you timeline them out.
Again – congrats!! Can’t wait to see the new home :)
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORI love that idea!
Eleanor Oser
1 year ago
Why are you moving 30 minutes away? Just curious! Is it to have more land? Will you encounter more traffic or what? Thanks for sharing! Your home is beautiful and I can’t wait to see the new one!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe would more land and to be closer to healthier food options (restaurants and grocery), hardware stores–it just feels like everything is pointing us that way.
Alicia
1 year ago
Can I just swap out my family pics for most of yours and move in? (You guys are beautiful, so I’d keep a few.) 🤣
Congrats and excited for new adventures!
Lindsey
1 year ago
I am excited to see your new home and what you do with it. Best of luck to you in this busy time in your life!
Cathy
1 year ago
How exciting for you guys! I’ve loved following along with your house journey and can’t wait to see what the next chapter holds!
We’re going to be selling our house in the next 1-2 years to relocate to a better school district for our daughter. So I, too, would love to hear more of your perspective on how much to invest in improving your house if it’s not your “forever home”. On one hand, 1-2 yrs is a decent amount of time (we’ve lived here for 4.5 yrs so far), so I want to get some things done to maximize my time here. And I’ve heard that you should do what makes you happy 8n your home. On the other hand, it seems short enough to where I hesitate putting too much effort/money on it knowing I’m going to sell it. The other factor is that houses in my neighborhood that recently sold haven’t had many upgrades/renovations at all, and the selling prices don’t really justify for much of an upgrade.
Would’ve love your perspective as I can’t imagine there being too many real comps in your neighborhood that have houses renovated to the same level as yours!
Sarah
1 year ago
It’s a little ridiculous how excited I am to see your new house! It will be so cool to watch you design the new place and see how your aesthetic has evolved from your current house. Such a fun ride for us readers! Congratulations on your new adventure!
Theresa
1 year ago
Oh my goodness! Your home is so Beautiful, and it feels like you finally touched every room, and now you’re leaving…whoever buys your place will be so blessed by the beauty you created! Can’t wait to see the new place and see your plans! Congratulations!
Amanda Jones
1 year ago
I don’t get it. I suppose I never will. I was a huge fan pre-April’s Fools joke. I stuck around because I really do love your style. You just posted how much you love your neighborhood and your family being so close by. Then a few days later…oh, we are moving 30 minutes away! That is how the world works though. We are all individuals allowed to make our own decisions. Best of luck on your new adventure!
Anne
1 year ago
It’s like that movie Inception (Leonardo DiCaprio): a seed of an idea just grows and can’t be stopped once it is planted in your mind. Once Julia talked about putting an offer on that other house, I kind of felt like the seed was planted. Was a matter of time :). So excited to follow along the new reno! Good luck with the sale guys!
Jennifer
1 year ago
I’m also in the minority here…I love their style, but that’s a lot of work to put into a home and then leave.
Kasey
1 year ago
Amanda, they have been so open about everything. They shared that their parents who live next door are moving, that the house they were fixing (which is their content) burnt down and that they feel ready to move on. Pretty sure before the cabin fire they had been discussing moving to a new house close to where they are now but the sellers wouldn’t budge.
So, if you or others are feeling offended by the decisions they are making for their family, I’d ask yourself why and if it matters and why you feel a need to say anything about your decision to stop following.
Truthfully I’ve never commented on a post before today but feel riled up by your comment. The Marcums have been so personal with all of us. They have shared sickness and sorrow with us. They don’t owe us an explanation but they actually have given one. So maybe next time you can just bow out quietly rather than announcing you won’t be coming back? It’s rude and unnecessary.
Melissa
1 year ago
I can’t imagine it will be on the market long but i will pass along a piece of advice a friend gave me the first time we listed a home for sale. Make lists of the most important things to get done before a showing based on how much notice you’re given. That way when you don’t have a lot of notice you don’t waste time worrying about where to start. Good luck, excited to see what you will do with the new place!
Lindsey Drennan
1 year ago
Do you worry about someone completing changing all the work you put in? That’s always my fear is of selling my house but them not keeping up the property or changing everything I did. Especially since y’all just got to the point of it all being done!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORI think putting it up for sale, for me, I have to feel proud of what we’ve done and be in a place where I can completely let it go. And we are.
Kelsey Williams
1 year ago
Ahh I love this house but am so excited to follow along on your next chapter! Do you envision this furniture fitting into your next house? Do you think you would be moving if you were still working on the A frame?
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORSome furniture will, some won’t. That’s just the nature of moving I suppose! And it’s impossible to know if we would still be moving if we were working on the A-frame but I think we would. With my parents moving and us feeling a little crammed with our team working out of our home, it just makes sense to move on.
cathryn
1 year ago
Very excited to follow along and to hear all about the new house!! It’s amazing how up until you’re ready to move, your house is your home. But events (like the fire), change your perspective so much on what’s important and once you start thinking about moving, it becomes just a house again and I think the exact same as you said in the post .. its then the time to make the house perfect for the next family who get to live there. Wishing you all the very best and lots of luck packing with the three girls!
Kathy Dye
1 year ago
How big is your lot? Two or three car garage? Would love to drive by (I’m local). Possibly interested. Also, I totally want to know if you are having a yard sale before you move. :)
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORHaha we’ll likely have a big yard sale yes. We’re on 1/3 acre. 2 car garage.
Lindsey
1 year ago
And how will you be announcing this lovely big yard sale? I don’t want to miss it!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORI’ll be sure to post here and on Instagram!
Anee
1 year ago
I am curious to know why you would want to sell your house at this point? You just did your bathroom.. wouldn’t you want to enjoy it for some time?
Good luck :)
Julie S
1 year ago
Oh man! I know there are lots of good reasons for you guys to move that have all come together in this season. It just seems so tailor made for your family and vibe that it’s hard to watch you not enjoy it for years to come. I’m going to miss seeing that lovely house.
Jen
1 year ago
We bought our home for $235k in NC about four years ago and sold it for $461k in February after extensively renovating. I absolutely think you can sell for your listing price given all of the work that was done! Crossing my fingers for a quick and profitable sale for your family.
Tiffany | Pretty Real Blog
1 year ago
Jen, I’m in NC. Hi! 👋🏾
Chelsea Jo
1 year ago
I am so excited!!!!
George
1 year ago
I wish you the best. We’ve had three homes and remodeled each one with the intention of living in our “forever home!”. But another kid or a new job and just like that we moved!
My only thoughts are that the house price may be a tad high. Almost double the price in 6 years even with all the work is a tough sell. I suppose you may try to leverage your internet presence as a selling point tough. Good luck.
Carol
1 year ago
LOL! I live in LA and thought, “Oh my gosh how inexpensive is that!” I guess it’s all perspective, right?
George
1 year ago
I live in NYC and had the same immediate reaction actually about the place being inexpensive. Location is the primary driver of the price, though. I live in a townhouse a third the size of their home and paid $700k and it needed $200k of work.
But, if the appraisal two years ago ( in a previous post from October 2017) was mid to upper $300k (upper 300 being the high end) I do not think it went from that to mid 429k in 1.5 years. I mean, it’s possible. Until the listing is posted we can’t run comps I guess. ;-)
L
1 year ago
So true! I live in Toronto and thought to myself, “wow! So affordable. You could buy 2.5x this house for the same price as an average home in Toronto!”
T Hound
1 year ago
I too thought “so cheap!”
I am in Calgary.. And even our tiny 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 100 year old home was more than that!
Gina
1 year ago
Yes! Agreed! Great price for all that house :)
courtney
1 year ago
I’m in New England and thought the same thing…sadly that sounds like a killer deal for what you get compared to where we live too!
Emily
1 year ago
I’m so excited for you but also sort of weirdly bummed. Like you just finished the house and have poured so much love into. I look at the pictures and just think about all the joy in all the spaces.
Jenae
1 year ago
Wonder what it would cost to just pick your house up and move it to the Chicago suburbs 🤔🤔😜😜 Beautiful home!!!
Marty
1 year ago
I’ve been following along since before you bought this house – and I am in awe of what you’ve both accomplished. I’m not sure I could leave! The kitchen, master bath, and outdoor spaces are all especially incredible, and I am sure the next owners will appreciate the fruits of your labor. Good luck with the transition and move, and I look forward to seeing what you do next. xo
Jessica
1 year ago
So incredibly beautiful. Where I live in NJ this would easily go double your asking price (probably more). Can’t wait to see your next home!!!
Amanda Henninger
1 year ago
I’d be most curious to hear how much you are going to neutralize or “de-personalize” it…if you are going to stage it to sell or just leave it all as you decorate it for your real life. Which do you think is better for selling? Also will you be renovating the new house???!!!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe will absolutely be renovating the new house–for a lonnnggg time hahaha. We have no real plans for neutralizing this house.
Maria
1 year ago
Do you have plans for what you are going to do if the house sells fast? Ours sold in a week, and we debated whether to live with my parents or make a choice fast. We ending up finding a great house, but I always wonder if we could have found a better house if we lived with them for a few months. But no regrets, right?
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe have already purchased another home so we are ready to move whenever this one sells!
Brittney
1 year ago
So does this mean you guys have leads on a house you’re hoping to buy?!!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORYes! We’re under contract on a new house!
Dana
1 year ago
We live in McCall and have been house hunting here. If only we could pick your house up and bring it here – I’d do it in a heartbeat!! Everything you’ve touched has turned out so beautifully and you’ve done such an AMAZING job making your house a home. Hoping that you get over asking price and can’t wait to follow along on the next adventure.
Brooke
1 year ago
This is so exciting! Are you still going to live close to your parents? I know you mentioned they were moving too…can’t wait to see the new place!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe will be within 10 minutes! Not next door, but happy to still be close.
Joanna
1 year ago
So excited for this entire process! I would love to hear any feedback you get from the built in bunks. I love the look but I wonder if they would be a major deterrent prospective future buyers.
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORI’m curious too!
Margz
1 year ago
It’s a lovely home, I bet it’ll be hard to see it go. I’m a realtor and would love for you to share why you decided to list it with a realtor instead of trying for sale by owner. Please I’d love to share that post with some people
I know 🙄 lol
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORA few reasons. First, Our realtor is one of our best friends and we love to support him. But also, we’ve had an extremely stressful year thus far and it felt worth it to take a back seat for this one.
Sophia
1 year ago
So bittersweet! I watch your fall tour of the house when I’m in a cozy mood, haha. What’s the sqft of the home? $425 is a steal in Portland!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHOR3400
Tanja
1 year ago
Sophia, I feel the same way as I live in Vancouver, Canada where you can’t get a detached home for under $1 million. 3400 sq feet, so beautifully finished, the yard… this would be a $3M dollar home.
Patricia
1 year ago
I’m torn; I love everything you’ve done to your current home but excited to see you take a house with more space to fit how your lives have evolved and make it as perfect as this one. I started reading your blog when this one was mostly done. I think you were killing yourselves to make the girls bunk beds during the six week challenge when I first found you.
And we moved from our former dream home to a dream condo that better suited our aging lives. It’s not what you’re leaving behind but what’s opening up to you in the future. Although I do miss all that crafting space in our old basement.
Oh boy, new house,start to finish!
Heather
1 year ago
So so happy for you guys!! I hope you do follow up posts on how you *keep* the house listing ready with 3 young babes! Fingers crossed you sell it soon!
Sydney
1 year ago
I’m wondering if you think it’ll help the house sell to show the office as a bedroom? We too have turned a bedroom into an office and I’m never sure if we should stage a bed in there when we go to sell.
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe do just because that will give it the full 5 bedroom look
Stephanie
1 year ago
I really don’t think you need to turn it back into a bedroom. Rarely does someone need 5 actual bedrooms and home offices are pretty standard in every house now. We sold our 5 bedroom last year and moved cross country and almost every house had a home office whether in a flex space or bedroom.
Bridey
1 year ago
I think in the market where this house is located five bedrooms are sought after. Most people can imagine using a bedroom as an office, but may need the bedrooms move in ready. And can’t call the listing a “five bedroom” unless there is an enclosed closet in all the rooms. (I can’t remember if they removed the closet doors in the office or not. We don’t see that room featured that often)
Alix Davis
1 year ago
Wow, so interesting that a bedroom is defined as having an enclosed closet. I’m in Australia and that’s not a requirement at all. Bedrooms often don’t have a closet and you need to add wardrobes. Personally, I’m a fan of closets. I learn something everyday!
Erien
1 year ago
Good luck to you and your family on this new journey! I can’t wait to see where it takes you!
P.S.
I’m secretly hoping your home sells for more than the asking price! I feel like it’s worth so much more! You guys have done an impeccable job.
Catie
1 year ago
Will you be leaving your pax closets or taking them with you? Entirely selfish question – we just built our own pax master closet and I catch myself wondering if they’re part of the house (since they’re built in) or it we would go through the effort of taking them along.
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORThey are built in and staying with the house!
Natalia
1 year ago
I want to cry because this house in my area (Northern NJ) would go for over a million.
Leah
1 year ago
Same! In the San Francisco Bay Area- it would easy go for that much or more.
Rachel
1 year ago
Same! In Boulder Colorado that’s a $1.1-1.4M house!
Leisa
1 year ago
I live in Auckland, New Zealand and it would easily go for about $1.6 million here (about $1 million USD)
Anne
1 year ago
Bergen County here! Totally. Hoping Julia & Chris get above asking price!!
Sam
1 year ago
So very excited for you and seeing what your next house will be! I’ve loved watching you put your love and memories and time into this home, and know you will do the same wonderfully with your next place. Whenever I get the “is this your forever home” question, I always find it hard to answer. It is A forever home, where we could comfortably and happily live for the rest of our lives, but so could the next house be. I think it’s possible to live in lots of “forever homes.” I kind of think that way about your situation and this house and move. It’s a forever home, but it’s not your last forever home… does that’s make any sense?
Anyway, happy for you x
April
1 year ago
This is so exciting!!!
Would be curious to hear about your return on investment. We put a lot of work into each home we purchase, and have experienced everything from breaking even (thanks, market crash!), to big profit with minimal investment (thanks, market upswing!), to overinvesting in a house with a value ceiling (and here we are!)
And 5 pages of listing prep?! You sound like me ;-) I understand this will provide a lot of good material and tips for readers, but I hope you don’t feel too much stress and pressure to prepare your house. The market is scorching hot, at least where I am. You would still get over asking with holes punched in the drywall and dog turds on the floor.
Emily
1 year ago
I’m also interested to hear if/how you include a hopeful return on investment in your renovation budgets. Did you have a hopeful selling price tag when you started renovating (if so, how did you come up with that price?), or did you just budget for how you wanted your house to look for your family?
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORIt’s only been in the last 5 months that we even thought about selling, so we never really did projects with resale in mind that being said, we purchased it for $235k 6 years ago so the market has improved AND the home has obviously improved so we feel hopeful about the price and our investment.
Jen
1 year ago
We bought our home for $235k in NC about four years ago and sold it for $461k in February after extensively renovating. I absolutely think you can sell for your listing price given all of the work that was done! Crossing my fingers for a quick and profitable sale for your family.
Brianna
1 year ago
That’s so exciting, congratulations! I know exactly what you mean about the surprising list of to-dos that have to be tackled pre-list. We sold ours a couple of years ago and while it was a stunner, we had to make it a bit more “buyer neutral” before listing it. It was totally worth it in the end though. I can’t wait to follow along with your preparations — good luck!
Jan
1 year ago
Congrats on the impending sale and move! This is so exciting, and I can’t wait to follow along the process of making your new house a home. This is such a beautiful home, and the new owners are getting a gem.
Anna
1 year ago
So excited for your family!! Has the Fullmer kitchen reno taken a back seat? I can’t imagine being able to do this and a kitchen at the same time!!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe’re pressing forward on both fronts. Who needs sleep??
Jennifer Gumbel
1 year ago
I’m so interested in the money end of it. How much did you put in, how much will it sell for, and importantly, how it compares to the neighborhood.
I’d be fascinated to see what were true investments and what was just quality of life improvements.
katy
1 year ago
I can’t believe it! I remember when you used to call this house your Forever Home – but I said that once about our previous home too. Life’s too short to commit to forever! (I mean, for material things like homes, not spouses or children, ha!) I can’t wait to see what you do to the new house!!!
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORHahaha totally know what you mean.
Rebecca Levesque
1 year ago
will you ever share a floor plan of this house? I love the flow of it!
Amy
1 year ago
Would love to read a post on how you plan house purchases. I’m curious on final pricing…ex. Original purchase price compared to selling price taking into account all $$ spent on renovations and purchases. Can flipping be profitable?
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORWe’ve never flipped a home (we’ve lived here for 6 years! hahaha) but there are a lot of people that do very well flipping houses!
Tarynkay
1 year ago
But you have to remember that every project in this house also produced content for the blog, and thus income. I have no idea how much they earn on this blog, but it does seem like they are doing pretty well for themselves. If you are a regular non-blog owning person, your strategy needs to be very different.
I don’t think I’d call this flipping at all, though. It sounds like they intended to live in this house forever and circumstances changed which necessitated this move. I think flipping can be profitable, but you have to be able to buy foreclosures in cash at auctions, be your own contractor, have good subcontractors, have cheap sources of materials, and make decisions quickly and once. So pretty much the opposite of what Chris Loves Julia has done.
Debbie
1 year ago
All I keep thinking is that you’ve barely had time to enjoy your master bathroom! This happened to us, except it was our kitchen we had just redone when we moved. So we chose the same cabinets and counters for our new home … we just didn’t have enough time to enjoy it. :-)
Julia
1 year ago
AUTHORNot opposed to copy and pasting our new bathroom exactly! Hahaha.
Natalie
1 year ago
I did that, down to the same freestanding tub, sinks, counters, mirrors, & tile! Nothing wrong with that! 😂
Elizabeth
1 year ago
I thought the same thing!! Love that master bathroom! Congratulations Chris and Julia. Can’t wait to see all the beautiful things you do to your new home!
Rachel Blanke
1 year ago
Me too! That was exactly what I thought when I read this!
Kristi
1 year ago
I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you and your family and your new home! I started following you shortly after you moved into your current home and learning that you are officially moving is a little bittersweet! I’m very excited to see what this new home brings you but I’m so sad to see you move away from all the love and hard work you’ve put into your current home! Thanks for taking us along on your journey!
Maria
1 year ago
This is so exciting! And of course alot of work for you guys (I know as I’ve sold a house before) but thank you for taking us along the way.