The last time I blogged we were in the throes of the house sale. To give a quick update, we agreed sale and purchase, 'disagreed' slightly with agents (not ours I hasten to add), haggled with purchasers and vendors alike, 'disagreed' with agents a little more, chased solicitors, did the job for solicitors, narrowly avoided disappointment on a couple of occasions and finally dragged the whole thing kicking and screaming through to exchange of contracts a week ago! Phew.
I think I have managed to keep my cool throughout the whole process so far...give or take the odd moment. I'm getting better at that in my old (ish) age I think. I have to credit to a large extent a friend for that, who, on a more serious note, is courageously standing up to a serious illness at the moment whilst raising 4 young children and supporting a fabulous husband with a demanding job. Her continued strength and positivity in the face of a horrible illness reminds me of how trivial and unnecessary our moans and groans can be at times. A house move is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
So now we begin the big pack up of the contents of our cottage. We are moving to a '50's detached house, so rather a large departure from what we have become used to. It's an exciting prospect for me though as it is certainly a project! What attracted us, apart from the area, was the plot and the potential that the house offers.....spacious accommodation, albeit
rooms that need a degree of re configuring, knocking around and changing to suit the needs of our young family. What also excites and challenges us is that we have to do this on a relatively small budget (actually...there's no 'relatively' about it....it's small!) as we spent most of our savings on the purchase.
To a large extent our current house was an easy one to re vamp. It's a traditional cottage in a central village location and although I guess I could have gone ultra modern it somehow didn't feel right to do that.
Not being a fan of '50's décor, I'm not so sure with our new house. My initial reaction was modern all the way.....high gloss kitchen, minimalist, wood floors throughout, clutter free. I spend a large part of my spare time engrossed in interiors magazines and love the look and idea of ultra modern kitchens....but then pondered in reality whether it would actually suit our lifestyle and my rather fickle nature when it comes to interior design. I get bored quite easily and worry that such a radical look may be inflexible. I then saw a fab kitchen in one of the magazines (part of the room is pictured on the front cover below...) that was a classic handcrafted solid wood painted kitchen but given a modern twist, incorporating modern appliances, white work surfaces etc. That may be the route for me. I like the idea of mixing classic with very modern and my children are itching for a blackboard wall! As long as they hoover up the chalk dust on a regular basis!
All these decisions we face again! Appliance choices, flooring choices. Gas hob? induction? I love this part and this is where my husband comes into his own! He is the master of research and finding the best deals on appliances and who recommends what and why! Thank god! I tend to look at the superficial, 'does it look right' bit and he solves the nitty gritty technical bit!
My intention is to chart the ups and downs of progress in my blog and share choices and how we are doing relative to budget etc. along the way.
