Monday 5 May 2014

Our new home (a not so crafty project)

As I mentioned, we moved house recently.  March 13th to be precise and not before time too!  The sale/purchase had been in process since October last year and we felt like it was never going to happen.  In the end it all kind of happened quite quickly and then it was a mad dash to pack and boxes and find a removal company.



Moving went fairly smoothly and I have to say I felt at home right away along with Paul and Abi, although it took Sam a little longer as he said he felt homesick for a few days after.  I thought that when everything was packed from the old house that I'd feel quite emotional but surprisingly enough I didn't!  Rather than feeling like I was leaving 15 years of memories behind me I realised that those 15 years of memories were packed on the truck and ready to move to our new abode with us.

Now, the one thing I will mention is that our new home is not quite up to the standard that our previous home was.  Nowhere near in fact!  Our new home is what you'd call a 'project'.  We fell in love with the house because of the area, the large south facing garden and the fact that we have soooo much potential to improve and renovate it.  But....... it's in quite a state.

The project list

When we first moved in we had no lights in the hall, stairs and landing.  Luckily enough, our friends other half came and rectified this situation for us shortly after moving in so we're now illuminated :).  We had no doors upstairs apart from the bathroom and our room.  But our bedroom door had no handle so not much privacy there either.  The kitchen is a health hazard, with manky flooring, worktops loosely held up, cupboard doors missing, cupboard handles on the wrong side (yes, we've amused ourselves watching many a visitor trying to open these ones), shelves falling down and you guessed it, another missing door.
Landing - no carpet/wall lights not working
Hole in bay ceiling
Hall - dire! Need I say more
Drain broken on driveway
Gutters and fascias from Abi's window 
Just one of the knackered kitchen units
Back of the house - overgrown
I could go on as pretty much every room has something or other that needs fixing (whole in the bay ceiling, radiator falling off wall, toilet leaking etc etc etc) and this is just the inside.  Gutters and fascias to be replaced, ridge tiles loose, pointing to be done plus exterior doors to be fitted.  This is going to be a work in progress.

The progress 

We have made some progress however, as I mentioned above we now have lighting on the hall and stairs and a couple of weeks ago I decorated our bedroom as this was one of the only rooms that didn't need building work completed.  This is now my little piece of heaven to escape to when the rest of the house gets too much to handle.  

Our bedroom - Before
Our Bedroom - After
Paul pulled the remaining dead plants from the back of the house the day after we moved in.  So much better but now there is lots of re-pointing to be done.  This week we had the huge Weeping Willow tree removed from the back garden.  Although it was a beautiful tree it was much too big for a garden of this size so it had to go.  You wouldn't believe how much brighter the house is now and it was lovely yesterday sitting outside with sun shining down into the garden. 

Willow Tree - Before
Willow Tree - After
Before & After - Plants on the back of the house

I painted the garage doors today, not much I know but it looks a little tidier.  Paul has spent time in the garage number 1 laying flooring and getting the place ready for his gym equipment.

Another update coming soon hopefully with news from the kitchen.  I don't know how much longer I can stand it.

Thanks for stopping by! x


Sunday 4 May 2014

A new look and a quick catch up

Welcome to my new look blog, what do you think?

I've had a new logo created by Saffy Loves on Etsy.  She has some beautiful designs which she regularly updates on Instagram and I just love to see her creations.

I thought the new logo called for a whole new layout so I've spent today re-jigging my background and other settings.  I may still make a few changes but I'll see how I go for now.

Today the sun is shining and I've been off out and about with my top off.  No, put them away I hear you cry! You'll be pleased to hear I'm referring to my mini convertible and not my apparel.  Was great blasting through the country lanes earlier with the wind blowing in my face (although I looked my Bridget Jones and Grace Kelly when I finally arrived home).

I currently have a huge infatuation with cabochon jewellery and am having great fun creating lots of new designs.  This seem to have gone down really well on Instagram and Etsy and I've been busy fulfilling orders over the last couple of weeks.  More to come on this in my next post.

A house move

Since my last post we have now finally moved house and are spending time planning all the repair work that needs to be carried out.  We new when we chose our new home that it would be a bit of a 'project' but we loved the position, the lovely large south facing garden and fact that it had so much potential.  There's still a lot of boxes to unpack but we're using our back room for storage at the moment while we renovate the rest of the house.

I promise to post again very soon with house progress and news of my new jewellery creations.

Off to enjoy the sunshine and tea and cake for Niece Sophie's 16th!

Thanks for stopping by! x