...And We're In!

- October 15, 2025

We got the keys! We have a house!

It's been a long journey, and as I have said before, it's a little weird starting over, but the family consensus is that we are excited for our new home and we all feel like we will be happy here.

Of course, there had to be some drama, because otherwise, buying a house would've been dull, right?

Basically, Storm Amy wreaked havoc on Helsingør. The awning was ripped off the puzzle store (Yeah. My new town has a freaking PUZZLE STORE!!), streets were flooded, boats were smashed in the harbor, the record store had to close, and, sadly, one of the rooms in our new house flooded.

Lasse, the poor seller, called me on Saturday morning a week and a half ago saying that water had poured into one of the pass-through rooms between the old part of the house and the new part. The ceiling was ruined, the walls had begun to wrinkle, and the water had seeped into the laminate flooring. He immediately called Damage Control Services, who came out, dried up the standing water, and left a dehumidifier for the weekend.

On Monday, Lasse was first in the queue with his homeowners insurance company, and fortunately, they agreed to pay for everything. They sent someone out to assess the damage, and it was clear that the sheetrock, the ceiling, and the flooring needed to be torn out. On the bright side, the flooring under the laminate was OK (um...and it seems to be hardwood...yay!). Lasse brought out two people to figure out the root cause of the ingress, and they both identified it as some holes at the bottom of the terrace door above the flooded room.

A week later, the holes were fixed and the contractor had torn out the laminate flooring and walls...and we got the keys to our partially demolished home. That's not as dramatic as it sounds.

See? It's fine.

Anyway, their insurance company will pay for it all and we just have to coordinate with the guys doing the work. I'm sure that was a stressor that the sellers didn't need right before they handed over their home to new owners, but I'm really glad it happened before we took it over because I don't know if I could've handled it as smoothly as they did. I think I'd still be trying to figure out who to call.

* * *

Today, we headed over to the house to get the keys and read the utility meters at noon. A representative from the real estate company met us there, as did the sellers and their kids. It was a little emotional. I mean, they were handing over the place they'd lived for like the last seven years, and you could tell the kids were a little broken up about it. They gave us a loaf of rye bread so we would never go hungry in our new home, and a bag of salt to ward off the bad things. It was a lovely gesture. In case the salt doesn't work, there's always the sticker though.

Zac brought champagne for us and fancy Faxe Kondi for the kids. Once Harrison got the cork out, we had a beautiful toast to our future home.

We didn't want to waste a trip, so we brought all the records with us, as well as some cleaning supplies. When we said goodbye to our home's former owners, we all spent some time wandering through the rooms and just assessing, planning...whatever.

I decided it was important to find a place where I wouldn't normally stand and just stand there. There's a comedian, Atsuko Okatsuka, and she has a joke about how you should just go stand in like every square inch of your home because you pay for that space, and sometimes, you never ever set foot in it.

I own this corner.

* * *

We went back for some more things, changed our clothes, and got to work. The sellers cleaned, of course, but Zac and I are neurotic and we wanted to do a really thorough deep cleaning before we really settled into the house. The kids were good sports. Khloe kept Harrison entertained and Kaden helped move things and wash walls and stuff. Zac took the kitchen and I took the big bathroom. We worked for like five hours and still didn't finish, but we felt good about the work we did.

Before...and after! OK, I made progress on one tile, but still.

So, our new adventure has begun. I'm sure there will be more to come. I mean, we've never owned a Danish house before, and we've certainly never owned a home that was 100 years old before, so this will be exciting.