Moving day

We moved in to our new house on Friday, and I'm pleased to say I already feels like home. It is an Edwardian red brick semi detached house, and it is beautiful but in dire need of some TLC.


The move itself went really well, and the removal firm we used were worth their weight in gold. We had move several times before, when renting and then into the flat we bought three years ago, and we had always done it ourselves with the help of friends and a hired van.
However, as we needed to be out of the flat by 1pm on completion day, I decided that we would pay a professional moving service, and I was amazed at how quickly they loaded the contents of the flat, loft and garden shed.


Luckily, despite my worries, we completed without a hitch and we able to collect the keys to our new house from the vendors - it is very close our old flat so it was a short journey.
The vendors had vacuumed, so we could move the furniture straight in, and we had help from family to clean the kitchen and bathroom before unpacking.


First priority was of course to find the kettle - moving is thirsty work!


As we will need to strip wallpaper, we put everything we didn't immediately need in the third bedroom, and set up our bed in the second bedroom. The master bedroom is in the worst condition, due to a leaking roof, so once the roof has been replaced, we will start our renovations in that room.


Once our lovely movers were finished, and more tea and biscuits had been consumed, we started really exploring our new home. There were lots of surprises we hadn't noticed when viewing (it is bizarre to think how little time you get to spend viewing what is likely the most expensive purchase of your life - I've spent more time dithering over a pair of boots!).


The end of the garden is very overgrown, and there is very dilapidated shed and another 20 foot of garden hidden behind the brambles. The ground seems very uneven and there may be the remains of an Anderson shelter under the mound at the end. There are also masses of blackberries, so I'll be making lots of crumble and maybe flavouring some gin.


The master bedroom has some boxing on the chimney breast, which was concealed behind a headboard when we viewed - I'm trying not to get to hopeful, but there might be an original fireplace behind it.


The ground floor doors are not the 70's horrors we thought - the original 4-panelled doors are hidden under sheets of MDF. I can't wait to carefully pry those off. The upstairs doors are hollow veneer unfortunately, but at least I can now try and match their replacements to the originals.


There's lots to do, and our most of budget is earmarked for the new roof, but I'm hoping it will be an interesting journey and a great learning experience.