So the blog has been fairly quiet in the most recent weeks simply because Richard and I have a new project on our hands- our new house. I mentioned in my previous post that we had found a new home and that I would update shortly when everything had settled and after being here three weeks I can finally say that things are almost finished.
We have actually had a couple of guests over recently, so while the house was tidy I thought I would take some snaps of the house and make a blog post all about what lies behind the door. A sort of guided tour if you will. So here is our new home...
The first room is our rather small but perfectly formed kitchen. I would say this was my biggest (if not only) compromise with this house. I love cooking and to me the kitchen will always be an important space. I initially doubted the kitchen based on its size but actually it is a really functional space that I now love. It is basically a box room but it has great cupboard space and plenty of room for all my nik naks.
I think my favourite part of the kitchen has to be these shelves which hold my previously hidden jars. I made these labels and had these at the old house but they were always tucked away in the cupboard so I love having them presented. It's also a great way to see at a glance what I am getting low on.
The kitchen did need a jolly good clean. I actually spent two and a half hours in there, scrubbing and organising cupboards. Let's put it this way, four years worth of grease and crumbs are hard to shift. We still need to paint the wall above the oven which has lots of greasy marks but luckily the estate agents reimbursed us for the paint we bought which is really handy. We are going to paint that wall red to match with our canisters and the other walls an off white colour. I can't wait for it to be finished.
We also have the added bonus of having a downstairs toilet which was a nice surprise on our viewing. Just before we left I noticed the door in the halfway and assumed it was a store cupboard but when they opened the door it was said to be a cloakroom. At the time it was full of boxes for the tenants move so we never got to see it so I was very keen to see what it was like on moving day. It is such a handy thing to have especially when you have guests over.
Next we have the best space in the house- the front room. This to us is a really important space and where we spend the majority of our time so we spent a while getting this right. We have taken a lot of things from our previous home, in fact the IKEA TV unit was the only thing we actually bought for the front room. We were given the coffee table from the school I work at after it was decided it was just too big for the classroom, we were also given the rocking chair by Richards Step Mum and the drawers were from our old bedroom. The sofa is also from our old home until we have enough money to buy ourselves a new one. Although some may say it looks slightly studenty at the minute, to us it is perfect. It's nice to look around and know that we are slowly working towards replacing these pieces for our own things. The TV unit was a great buy and holds so much, in fact we are going to get another unit just like the left hand side of it to hold even more of our belongings. The boxes too are great at hiding all of the odds and ends you don't want out and I love that we can display some of our possessions on the shelves.
I made a feature out of our old coffee table and the same sort of thing has happened with our new one too. I like to put lots of pictures and items we have collected on there as well as a few candles and of course the biscuit tin for late night munchies.
I love this space under the stairs which is now Murphy's own personal little snug. It has all of his toys there, food and his bed tucked out of the way. He loves having a snooze here in the evenings when Richard and I are curled up together on the sofa. I think it is really important for him to have his own place and for him to understand that distance from us is not necessarily a bad thing.
In the corner of the room we have this great space for our new dining table which was an absolute steal off of eBay. I was shocked at how expensive even a basic table could be and found this gem online. I bid on it but was outbid in the last second and was gutted. Luckily for me the seller got back in contact and offered it to me again after the winner failed to pay. I immediately said yes and it was dismantled and delivered to us in a matter of days. This was a bargain at just £50 for the lot after he had previously paid £500 at DFS. The chairs are very comfortable and the table actually has a shelf under the glass top which is currently displaying Richards Star Wars Lego models.
We are also fortunate enough to have a garden which Murphy loves. We viewed quite a lot of properties that didn't have a garden but we soon realised it was essential when we had a dog and were also persuaded by those without one that we would miss it too much. Although it doesn't look like much at the moment it is my hope that in the Spring we will be able to get out there and start digging. I'd really like to start growing some fruit and vegetables, nothing too difficult but something for me to get green fingered over. We have a great bit of storage at the bottom of the garden in the form of the brick outhouse and we are currently storing Richards bikes there along with big boxes that need to be ripped and recycled.
That then takes us upstairs to what I call the 'sauna' thanks to all of the wood panelling around the room. I wish we could just rip it down or at least paint it but that's the thing with renting- you have limited control over elements of the house. We have however made it as nice as we can, using bright teal and aqua tones to lighten it up. It is actually a great size and also has the added bonus of having a storage cupboard for all of our towels and washing basket which frees up room in the airing cupboard.
Then there is our bedroom which has loads of built in storage which is great. We had this at the last property and I think we would be lost without it to be honest. Our king size bed fits in here really well and the room is lovely and bright. The laminate flooring makes it easy to clean up the inevitable hair but is quite chilly in the mornings so I want to invest in a nice rug. I also want to paint the wall above the headboard and make it a feature, which we will probably do after the kitchen has been painted. The room is at the back of the house which makes it lovely and quiet as well as private which is a big bonus.
We are also fortunate to have a spare bedroom which is currently housing all of the odds and ends we don't want in the loft but don't want anywhere else. Soon it will be an extra room to chill out in. It has our desk in so I can do my scrap booking and Richard can do his drawing. We also have an armchair in here and a TV so when it is a bit tidier it will be a nice chill out room for me when Richard has his mates over. It also houses our laundry which means it is no longer in the way and dries so much faster than at the old house.
So there's our new home summed up. We will of course slowly go through each room and decorate it to our own taste and in a far less messy manner than the previous tenants, who managed to drop paint everywhere. As soon as we progress I will be sure to put up more pictures but for now, watch this space.
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