We are selling our house and moving to Lehigh to live on campus as, what I’m fondly calling, a “Family in Residence.” Lots of other schools have Faculty in Residence programs (among many, there is this one, and this one), but Lehigh is just starting this in earnest. We will be the first Professor family to do this. We’ve made a two-year commitment; we’ll move in time for the fall semester to begin; and we’ll be truly living — full time, and for real — as a family of five, on campus. We are super excited for this opportunity for our family. There are many aspects to this for us– including all the great stuff we’ll get to do, and people we’ll get to interact with, as well as a radical downsizing and change of lifestyle. We are moving out of a large house into a tiny (800 square feet!!!) apartment. Yes, go ahead, call us crazy. But we’ve put more thought into this than you could possibly imagine and we are ready to embark on this next grand adventure for our family! The upshot (for now… believe me, there will be much more blogging on this topic over the coming months!) is that we’re selling our beautiful house. We just officially put it on the market Monday. Do you know anyone who wants to buy a great place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania?!
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It’s a 2 year commitment, but you’re selling… hmmm. Preparing for life drastically downsized? Haiti, perhaps 😉
No– we truly have plans to move to Haiti! (have definitely considered it, but it is not in the plan for us anytime for the foreseeable future).
Wow how exciting and selling the family home…a little sad.
Beautiful home I went and had a look just for the heck of it reading your blog I feel like I’m a visitor in your home and have seen it already.
Whats a mud room? We don’t have these in Australia.
Cheers to your next new and exciting adventure.
Lisa
What a fabulous new chapter and Grand Adventure for your family!! I wish you all the best as you prepare for it and for this new chapter as well — can’t wait to hear all about it!! It sounds like a very positive move and can already imagine you all enjoying campus living to the max!
– Kate
Oh my goodness, what a big adventure! (I love adventure) After all the happy pictures we’ve seen at your house, I’d imagine many readers would want to buy it just to continue the joy!
My sister and her family lived in an apartment in New Orleans. They called it “submarine living”. Everything had a place and had to be put away in order for it to work.
Congratulations!
Hi Erin, Thanks for your support! If there is one thing I’m good at it is organization!!! I’m a MASTER of it! 😉 So, I’m hoping that will help us to be able to successfully do this radical downsize! (but ask me in a year how we’re feeling about that!!! LOL!)
Wow, you have such a beautiful home! However, why not rent the house while you live there or until everyone is accustomed to living in the apartment? It might be really tough on the kiddos….
It might be tough on the kiddos, but it might be awesome for the kiddos. We are hoping for the latter… and our kids are RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED to do this! Believe me, they (Kyle and Owen especially) are pushing us in this direction more than the other way around. We are not at all interested in being landlords or holding on to a huge house that we’re not committed to for the long run… so, no, definitely not renting (as long as we can avoid it– hopefully we’ll be able to sell in this tough market).
Oh my gosh, 800 sq ft with three kids?! I live with one other person and 2 cats (and not very much stuff) in 650 sq ft and it can be challenging! I hope you all like new change!
Yes, CHALLENGING is right. Not sure if we’ll succeed at it, or fail big time. But we’re going to go for it and give it a try. We are ready to downsize in a radical way.
Nice house! We’re just one county over but galaxies away from the price range. Sounds like a grand adventure. I used to live on campus at Bucknell when I worked there but I didn’t have kidlets in tow at the time. It will be fun to read about the experience from your perspective
Wow, this is so interesting. When I went to Kutztown our Dorms all housed Housing and Res life people and their families. It was interesting & fun to see their kids and pets grow up. I will be very interesting to read about this experience. Even if it is for only 2 years, the kids will always be able to say, “remember when we lived at LeHigh and ….” Oh they will have stories to tell!
Best of luck!
Wow, that’s a whole lot of house for an awesome price! Where we live you are lucky if you can get a 1 bedroom condo in that price range. Your home is so beautiful, and I wish you all the best in selling it. I love your pool and you guys did an awesome job putting together such a detailed website! I am sure it will make another family a lovely home to create lasting memories,just as it did for yours.
I’m curious, what are the pros of moving on to campus with the family, aside from no more commute (yay!) and free room and board? Also, will living on campus mean you have responsibilities to the students around the clock like an RA does?
Wow! that sounds like an AMAZING opportunity for all of you. I lived in 300 Sq feet in Manhattan for a decade (granted, not with 3 growing kiddos) and I never felt cramped (of course, NYC was my back yard). Even with the space I had, I didn’t use it all to its full potential and it kept me from accumulating. Kudos for taking this plunge and I can’t imagine it won’t be a great experience for you all.
I had a feeling something radical was coming with your earlier post about going through all your stuff and pitching it. What an exciting new chapter! I am soooooooo curious to know your thought process around this move. What motivated you to give up your plush life in the country? I’ve always looked at your prose and the photos of your home and property with a bit of “now that is the American dream” perspective. Wondering if this is a step toward moving to a big city (NYC?) or simply a step unto itself.
Sarah, We don’t really know if this is a step to something else, or a step unto itself. We are going to simply take the step, and then see what the next chapter holds when we get there. I can assure you that nothing specific is planned for the next chapter as of now. ~hbj
Wow! I was so surprised to see this on your blog, but you will be AWESOME at being an on-campus family! So cool! What a great adventure for all of you-can’t wait to read all about it!! Congratulations!
Good luck! Sounds like a really interesting shift for you all. I hope you can bring the kitties.
What a wonderful adventure and opportunity for your family. My kids have grown (almost and the oldest and his daughter have moved back home) but we have always thought downsizing would be great. We toss and purge and then seem to just accumulate more stuff. I love that you are doing this and all the reasons make so much sense. We have always lived much smaller than friends and they wonder how we do it…it isn’t that hard. A place for everything and the big backyard of a college campus. Enjoy!
I’ve been reading your blog for a while and the first thing I noticed, after looking at the pictures of your house, is that I’ve never seen many of those rooms. Maybe it just so happens that nothing Kodak worthy occurs in those spaces, but it seems like your family spends a lot of time in the kitchen or out and about. This post has been extremely enlightening as my husband and I make our final decision about putting an offer in on our first house. We imagine ourselves having three kids and have been questioning if 1.300 sq. ft. will be enough space in the future. We love the house and location (1 mile from a college campus), which are both more important to us than having extra rooms (that will inevitably get filled up with extra stuff). I can’t wait to hear about your move!
!!!! Amazing! I downsized almost 4 years ago when I moved into a 400sq studio apt. When I relocated to the East coast, I downsized even more. Right now, most of my possessions fit in a small walk in closet. I seriously consider my purchases this way because if I can’t fit it in my closet, I don’t need it. Quarterly, I do a purge. The one thing I cannot downsize is the number of shoes I own. Must have shoes. Anyways, congrats to your family. I look forward to reading about your adventures. On a totally different subject – – the boys are going to be 8(!!!) soon?!? They were little babies when I started reading your blog. Time flies….