Buying a home

Today we dipped our toes into the house buying waters and went to view a couple of houses in East Sussex. For our first viewings we chose the most contrasting properties possible. The first was a 1930s red-brick semi, the second was a out-of-town development of new houses.

Buying a house is not something I ever really ever thought would happen, for both financial and commitment reasons. We're on a tight budget and we've no idea what's out there, so yesterday viewing the differing houses put perspective in our minds about what we do and don't want.

Stepping into the 1930s semi, everywhere you looked there was a DIY makeover desperately crying out to happen. Original fireplaces had been covered, pebble-dash paint was cracking, decades old carpet musting - I'm by no means DIY adverse but this would take £50k and a team of builders to completely overhaul the space. There wasn't one thing that wouldn't have needed changing. Lesson learnt from property 1 - we do not want a huge project. 

In the car, we shot off to location/property number 2. Within seconds of walking into the brand new house I wanted to get out. I hate new houses. Partly because of my distaste for the government schemes they are built upon and partly because of the abundance of magnolia, mdf and plastic. In the UK the government has schemes set-up to allow first time buyers to get the first step on the market. However, the new houses roughly work out at £100k more than an old house. Leading to the poor home owners who sign up for the deals part-owning over-priced property that will take twice the time to pay off and unlikely to ever sell for as higher price. Here are some links to more information about that here: Huff Post Evening Standard

Rant aside. First time house-viewing verdict - this is not something I'm going to enjoy.

xo

The future

It's amusing to watch people react to our decision to move out of London. As if leaving London means disconnecting from the epicentre of all life. Yesterday, the bubble finally burst and my intentions and motivations connected.

Most people assume we want to slow down, grow up. Actually people, that's not it at all. If anything we want to keep life moving. Personally, I've always struggled with settling. Between leaving my family home and moving into our one-bed apartment I've lived in 9 different houses. And as my mother kindly highlighted recently, have clocked up an impressive 5 different jobs since graduating. 

Moving from London is just the next adventure - a chance to try something new. And more importantly it's a chance for us to buy our first home.

Perhaps I should let the master (my all time favourite) D.H. Lawrence explain:
"I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred orange and scrub the floor."

M xo

P.S. Check out R's latest homemade loaf. Yum.

Nesting

In excitement of what's to come, I'm suddenly obsessed by interiors and already nesting. I finally got around to fixing up the terrible sewing job I did in a rush for our cushion covers 6 months ago. After unpicking and re-measuring, using vintage fabric I picked up in the Bexhill British Heart Foundation shop, I remade the removable cushion covers with this easy pattern from The Guardian. 

I also bought these gorgeous hand block printed napkins from Lulu & Nat and these retro placemats from ebay.

And finally, here is the dress I am halfway through making. It's a Cynthia Rowley pattern by Simplicity (2215) and seems to be going ok, apart from the missing invisible sewing foot needed to finish. I'm hoping to complete once I'm paid and can buy said zipper foot next week.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

M xo