Tuesday 1 July 2014

LIFE: House Keys and a [Blog] Break


The papers are all signed.

The keys are in hand.

The mountain of boxes to be moved keeps piling up.

But .... finally, finally, finally we have our house. 

Our very first home.

No more renting - yeeey. 

The keys, the walls, the front door, our garden are the results of two years of improving credit scores and saving, of messing up with the first house we tried to buy and getting it just right the second time. We signed the papers a mere six weeks after viewing the house - which when you consider all the paperwork is very quick. 

So before I leave y'all for a short July break during our move and settling in, I'd take a look back at a post I did in March

Back in March I outlined our four main must haves, we pretty much hit the nail on the head;
  1. 3 bedrooms - yeap it has that, granted one is a walk through but that's perfect for converting it into our vinyl room. 
  2. Basement - it has one and it's 3/4 finished which is a big deal and a big help
  3. A decent garden - possibly a teeny tiny bit smaller than what I would have liked but it has a wonderful deck, a great old tree and a magnolia tree in the front, and it has been cared for over the years - I can't grumble too much
  4. At least 1000 sq feet - I don't remember what it is bang on, but it's certainly larger than 1000, has a huge kitchen, two living rooms and with the basement, plenty of room to grow into
Over the next couple of years the house will be our project, things here and there need updating, some redecorating, one bathroom is stuck in the 50's the other in the 70's although saying that the 70's wallpaper is really funky, funky enough I want to save some of it. There's the American love for wood panelling in places, it needs some new windows and such but it's bones are sound.

Oh and it has a fireplace, for an actual proper wood fire although it probably needs a date with a chimney sweep.

I was expecting to be internetless for weeks (as is often in the case in the UK when you move) but actually the cable guys coming the day after the moving day - which is grand by me. While I plan to have the next two weeks off this blog - from the publishing part at least, you'll most likely still see me commenting and certainly still tweeting. I just need a break from the publishing - we all do at times. Hopefully I can come back refocused and revived for the 5th birthday of this space without the stress of stats and numbers.

So enjoy the next two weeks - get outside in the sun, have some summer shandy's, start up the barbecue and relax.

32 comments:

  1. Massive congratulations to you! And how fantastic that it's almost perfect (you've got to have a little work left to do!)
    Enjoy your break and your shiny new home, take a million pictures of vinyl room please!
    M x Life Outside London

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  2. Congratulations and how exciting! I hope the move goes well and you make many happy memories in the new (massive) home x

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  3. How exciting is this!!! And a garden? You're such a lucky girl!
    :)
    ~ Samantha

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  4. Eeeeeeeeeeeek. Have a wonderful time off from blogging and moving into your new place. I am very excited to hear all about it. Now, go, enjoy the shandy! x

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  5. Aw, I am glad to hear it's all getting there - I wish my house hunt was going better :(

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    1. Aw it's certainly a trying process that's for sure. Hope you have some luck soon.

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  6. Congrats! I'm excited for you so I can't imagine how excited you must be! A place all of your own. Sounds perfect to me! :)

    Sorcha x Bright Field Notes

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  7. Woo hoo! Congrats Rachael! Hope you are really happy in your new home for years to come. Enjoy your time off from blogging and settling into your new home! Most of all, enjoy having a garden - that's something I really miss living in my little flat!
    Debi x

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    1. Oh it's so nice to have an outside space. It's a little more unruly than it was back in May but we've found out there's plenty of raspberry bushes, tonnes of lilies and sweet peas. There's a lot of work to get it back into shape but it'll get there. Uncovered some old seashells, welcome plaques and wind chimes just poking through yesterday!

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  8. Congratulations! And good luck with the move.

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  9. Ahhhh congrats Rachael and Joe! Hope everything goes well with the move, I'm looking forward to meeting your new home once you're settled in! :)

    Jess xo

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  10. Congrats on the new home!..I loved hearing just a little bit about your new house & I can't wait to hear more!?
    I hope the move goes well :)

    -sarah xo

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  11. I'm over the moon for you guys! Congratulations! I hope that your new home will bring you so many happy memories x

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  12. Congratulations on your house! It's been about two years since we bought our house and it really is an amazing feeling!

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  13. YAAAAY!! So happy for you! Ooohhh a fireplace, that's sounds awesome! So great that everything is as close to as you wanted it. Hope everything goes well with the move and look forward to your return, although there is no escaping me on twitter!

    p.s if you take too long I might just unfollow you ;)

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    1. O man, i gotta make sure i'm back on time. Until then I shall endeavour to tweet you daily lol

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  14. Yaaaay! Huge congratulations on the new home! Can't wait to see more of it! Have fun settling in. Oh and I might be a little late but I love the new blog design!! X

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  15. Very happy for you Rachael, this is very exciting! Good luck with the moving and settling in. I hope when you come back you will have some before-and-after pics to share with us :) Hope you have lots of fun during your break!

    Jessica
    the.pyreflies.org

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  16. I am so jealous of the whole having a place of your own thing. Congratulations!!!

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  17. Congrats on your new home!! That is so exciting. I can't wait to see photos of it. I am so jealous. I want to stop renting so badly, unfortunately, I still don't know where exactly I want my home to be.

    Anywho, best of luck with the move! And enjoy your break from blogging :]

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  18. YAY!!!!!! Oh I'm so pleased for you!

    I can't wait to see ALL THE PHOTOS!!

    Good luck with them move. Hope that everything goes as smoothly as I possibly can.

    Congratulations.

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  19. Congratulations! Now the fun part comes: planning, pinning, decorating, shopping/hunting for treasures for your home. And it's rare to find everything on your must-have list, so you guys did good! Of course, your combined list is more reasonable than any I've ever seen, so it wasn't hard to please you both! -Jess L

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  20. Enjoy the big move and looking forward to having you back on the blogging scene when you are all settled in! :)

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  21. Exciting times! We are hoping this is us in a couple months :)

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  22. Congratulations, fantastic news! x

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  23. I am so excited for you!! Congratulation!! And see after the break!

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  24. Yay for the house! It sounds amazing, so pleased you have found somewhere perfect for you :) And it's nice that it needs a bit of work, means you can really make it your own :) x

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  25. Yay, congratulations! Good luck with the move and I look forward to seeing all the pictures later on! :-) xx

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  26. So excited for you! And excited to see this house - I need to see the wood panelling and 70s wallpaper!

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  27. Congratulations and good luck.

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  28. Congrats on getting your lovely new house all signed and sealed! I know that moving is really tough but it'll be so worth it when you're all unpacked and getting settled ^_^ I can't wait for us to move into a new place, even though I know it's going to be a real chore! Can't wait to see lots of pictures!

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  29. Congratulations on moving into your home. I think it is really cool that you have 50s and 70s era decorations!
    Amy at Amy & More

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