Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas break and are all packing pudgy Christmas bellies from eating lots of mince pies and turkey sandwiches.
Today’s post is a little update and some very scary news…
I think I’ll probably grow up to be an adult.
I’m 27 years old, so technically I’ve been an adult for a long time. But I haven’t really grown up.
I still eat ReadyBrek and Nutella for breakfast and often watch cartoons on the news. I can’t cook, and having “adult conversations” about adult topics like bills and council tax makes me feel like a fraud.
The reason I suddenly became an adult is because I have a house! I am the owner of the house! I have the keys and everything!
I’ve been hinting at this whole house buying malarkey for a really long time. Over the past six months, this deal has come and gone so many times that I’m starting to wonder if it’s really going to happen. There were times when I thought I could just move on and never want to talk to another lawyer or real estate agent ever again in my life.
We picked up the keys just over a week ago and excitedly headed to our new home. The garden was overgrown with grass and I couldn’t park my car, so I threw it outside and climbed over the bushes and brambles. I snuck into the house like an intruder and silently walked from room to room, opening cupboards and drawing in hopes of finding forgotten treasures.
The house has been vacant for over three years and looks like it hasn’t been maintained in over 50 years. So when I say a little consideration is needed, I’m being very kind. The place is in ruins.
I first found this house at the beginning of this summer. We had been looking for a home for several months, and anyone who has gone through this process knows that it can be a slow and painful experience.
The moment I saw that house online, I screamed so loud that Sam ran into the room to see if I was still alive.
“I found it,” I told Sam with confidence. “I found a home.’
As soon as I saw it, I knew it was him. It sounds like a typical love story, but I truly believe that there’s more to buying a home than just checking the right boxes. Home has a certain feeling to it that you can’t explain or understand, you just know when it’s there and when it’s not.
Months and months passed, only six months in reality, but it felt like an eternity, and we finally got to own it.
There was a time when I wanted to give up my house. It takes a lot of money, a lot of effort, a lot of time and effort. There are cheaper and simpler homes out there. A home that you can move into right away and have a home built in time for your new baby.
That would be the easy option. However, I have never been one to make easy choices.
Who wants a cookie cutter house when you can have a cottage by the river?
Sure, it’s a cottage by the river with no windows, kitchen, bathroom, stucco, or running water, but it will be the perfect home someday.
One day in the distant future…
^Buying a house next to a river has its pros and cons. Pro: This is at the bottom of our garden. Cons: Known for occasional flooding. But we won’t talk about that.
I’m almost 7 months pregnant (oh yeah, that’s one of the reasons I’m feeling a little more grown up), so I can’t do much when it comes to home renovations. I trim the brambles in my garden and sit by the river thinking about my future plans.
Here’s a sneak peek of what the house looks like so far. You need to use your imagination!
The project I’m most excited about are these last four photos. This is a small villa that we had never seen before purchasing the house. It was surrounded by a fortress of thorns, full of junk, and could not be entered. It turned out to be a little gem and will eventually become my blogging office. It’s surprisingly large and Sam plans to install a wood burning stove, a new bathroom and convert this old workbench into a desk.
I hope to be able to post another update in a few months when I have actual walls and windows that won’t fall right off.