My brother’s birthday and mine are a day apart. 3 years and a day apart. Growing up those two days kind of automatically seemed to roll into one great big brother sister celebration. Josh went first, then we did the whole thing a day later for me. We got used to sharing and doing things consecutively. We got part time jobs at Morrison’s one after the other, we both left home in the space of a week one September, so it only seemed natural that buying houses followed the same ol’ shotgun routine. 🙂
Last weekend my (not so little) brother celebrated buying his first house with his girlfriend, only a few doors down from my first house!
I made a batch of very stodgy and sickly cupcakes to celebrate…We drank Prosecco with shots of St Germain (so nice!).
For Christmas I bought The House Rules: How to Survive Living Together by Francesca Leung – a book you can fill in yourself to prevent the typical arguments couples face when moving in together. It’s got everything, from bedtimes to how coffee and tea should be made. (A bit like Sheldon’s Roommate Agreement from the Big Bang Theory in book form) 🙂 Such a fun book!
Phew! The past week has been a total whirlwind; I’ve made cups of tea for more builders and handymen than for myself (that’s saying something – y’all know I’m a confirmed tea swigger), seen more cardboard boxes and packing paper than I ever have in my entire life and now own all the house catalogues. I mean it. Every. Single. One. Feel free to test me on the IKEA brochure, I know it page for page.
It’s been exhausting, but it’s also been incredibly exciting. When all the boxes arrived in the lounge after four months sat in storage, the thought of emptying them and finding a place for everything was about as appealing as a shotgun to the face… but as soon as we started unwrapping things – an epic game of pass the parcel – and favourite mugs, books and ornaments started reappearing from the void it all became worthwhile 🙂
In the space of a weekend we went from empty, echoing rooms full of boxes and without carpets to looking a little more like home. We have carpets now and most of the boxes are gone (we were ripping up carpet rolls and planks of cardboard at gone 10pm one night because we were worried that the bin men wouldn’t take a city of boxes from the curb… that was not fun!) – we’re still looking a little rough around the edges though. No curtains – so packing paper will just have to do…! We also have no TV or internet yet… so it’s back to the dark ages for a couple of weeks, and we have no bed so our mattress is on the floor.We popped to IKEA and bought one of their Strandmon chairs and footstools – which is our new favourite piece of furniture.We went from a tiny cupboard kitchen to one with plenty of space for new kitchen things – like this soup bowl with a handle from John Lewis, which I love!
Wire Fairy Lights are making boring corners seem more homely, and my brother painted us a house portrait as a moving in gift 🙂Sunny’s Mum, Dad and sister came to visit us for Easter Weekend. We ate lots and got drenched in a sudden hail storm on Barry Island.I bought a Palm Tree for the hallway and annoyed Sunny by decorating it like a Christmas tree…. but I like it 🙂
Moving house is both the best of times and the worst of times. When we decided, well over a year ago now, that we were ready to move, I don’t think I fully understood the total upheaval and emotional torture that lay ahead. My mother, in the midst of the madness said that the three most stressful things you do in life are; getting married, having kids, and selling/buying houses. But, as will all those things, the end result is absolutely 100% worth the pain. Not that it’s ever easy to see that when you’re stuck on the sell/buy merry-go-round getting dizzier and dizzier with no sign of getting off!
Phew! The past week has been a total whirlwind; I’ve made cups of tea for more builders and handymen than for myself (that’s saying something – y’all know I’m a confirmed tea swigger), seen more cardboard boxes and packing paper than I ever have in my entire life and now own all the house catalogues. I mean it. Every. Single. One. Feel free to test me on the IKEA brochure, I know it page for page.
