I’ve never done a house tour before. I’ve certainly posted my fair share of progress pictures over the years but it’s never been what I considered “picture-ready”.
Actually, who am I kidding? It still isn’t.
But I was recently tagged by the lovely Jude over at Making A House A Home to join in a blog hop, to show off my home and answer a few questions. I loved the insight into her gorgeous house and if you want some serious home envy, I’d recommend you go and check her out right this minute!
So now it’s my turn. Grab a brew for my updated house tour and probably the longest rambling I ever did add to this blog. I’ll try and keep my summary of each room brief!
(Click on the room name to go back and see all our house progress posts, if you’d like to read more!)
Kitchen/Diner
One of my favourite rooms of the house although decorative touches are yet to be added. In 2011, there was no kitchen at all. In 2013 it was a hole in the back of the house. And now? Well I think the pictures speak for themselves.
Lounge
The first room to be decorated once we moved but has since been used for storing equipment whilst other rooms were under construction. Yes we have a tumble dryer in there waiting to be installed in the kitchen. Yes there is a lot of baby stuff floating around. It’s a dumping ground if I’m honest. Joe has just installed coving, the room is being wallpapered next weekend, we are replacing the couch this month and the carpet is having a deep clean when I go on maternity leave. It will transform VERY soon.
Hallway/Stairs/Landing
Recently plastered, it’s due a base coat of paint, we’re going to need new spindles on the staircase and carpet is expected in October, if all goes to plan. Oh, and we’ve ordered a new swanky front door! ETA November.
Bathroom
Fully renovated in 2012. It hasn’t changed much since then apart from the addition of baby toys and a bit of limescale. It’s desperately due a refresh and deep clean (another one to do on maternity leave!) but we’re still happy with the room. Beats washing your hair in a bucket in the garden as I had to in late 2011.
Bedroom 1 – Our Master Bedroom
First decorated as soon as we moved in, it was a quick fix – a place to hide when decorating elsewhere. The walls may have a lick of colour but I think we’d love to give this room a new start from next year. And I could do with some wardrobe doors…
(Anyone else notice the baby snowsuit additions? Ahhh so cute!)
Bedroom 2 – the Guest Bedroom & Office
Recently re-decorated in 2014. Still so in love with the paint choice we made in here. Again, the to-do list includes wardrobe doors and decorative items such as lampshades and pictures. All in good time though…
Bedroom 3 – The Nursery
SO in love with this room. I’m going to do a proper reveal soon as I’m still organising piles of clothes and my hospital bag is sprawled across the floor. But I’m so pleased with how it’s looking, considering when we found out we were expecting a baby, this room was a big ball of dust and storage boxes.
So that’s us!
I know it’s a little taboo to show off your house looking a state online. I probably could have tidied a little and styled it somewhat, but the truth is, this is what our home looks like, and anything else would be inaccurate.
It might not be the prettiest house you ever saw, but it’s real. It’s lived in. And it’s what we see everyday whilst decorating the whole thing at once. Decorating and renovating ain’t pretty. It’s a long hard slog of living in boxes and watching where you step for fear of needing a tetanus shot from old skirting. And I said from the beginning of blogging that if I was going to document it, it would be honest.
So on to the questions!
1. What am I working on?
I think the images above do most of the talking and I don’t think I would consider a single room finished. So to answer your question, everything. We’re working on everything. Getting every room to a standard that it safe for a child is top priority. If you could see our house at the beginning of the year, you’ll see that actually, it’s really come along and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved so far.
2. How does my work differ from those in my genre?
The blogs that I love to read are the ones that show possibility of a home, whether it be through extravagant wallpapers or quirky items from an independent designer. However, this isn’t us. Not yet anyway. We’re probably not going to win any design awards anytime soon but a good chunk of my audience are people I actually know, who are starting out in their first home and looking to know that it can be done alongside working full-time, or raising your kids, or having a social life. And so, I document everything. It’s not always the big reveal you get with a ‘before and after’ post but if I left updates until rooms were ‘complete’, quite frankly I don’t think I’d ever update this site! For me, it’s not just about the destination, but the journey. Oooo that was deep!
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I began this blog as a way of documenting our progress. That fact remains. I get asked what I’ll blog about when we’ve finished renovating, and to me this isn’t an issue because a house is never finished! We’ve got a baby on the way and I’m sure we’ll be making many more changes not just structurally, but now for safety purposes and maybe looking for wall coverings that can withstand sticky fingers as opposed to just looking nice. I also document because I like to. I’m a reflective person by nature and find comfort sat in front of a keyboard talking to myself.
I’d also like to help.
When I started blogging early on, I wrote about using Frogtape to help me keep straight painting lines. Someone slagged me off on a forum for that post because it’s an ‘amateur thing to do’. Well I tell you what, I am an amateur, and there is nothing wrong with that. I didn’t know what Frogtape even was before buying my house and I bet there are others out there also asking “obvious” questions. That’s why I document everything, even if to some of my blogger friends it is old news. If it’s been new to me, I reckon it’ll be new to someone else too, and I’d like to think I’m making that task a smidgy bit easier for someone somewhere.
4. How does your writing creative process work?
To be honest, I don’t have one! There have been times we’ve gone weeks without writing anything, and it’s certainly not because there isn’t anything to say. What’s nice in this downtime is that I’ll probably do a lot of window shopping onlne. On blogs, on Pinterest, and I like to do inspiration posts from time to time. I’m enjoying finding out what I like and what I don’t. We’re at an age where we still buy very much for practical reasons, and making sure we have everything we need. We’re still yet to have the house fully double glazed so we’re not quite at a stage where buying beautiful items for our kitchen shelf is a priority – although I’m hoping we’ll reach this stage soon.
As everyone does, I’m sure we’ll reach a stage in our life where we have enough disposable income to spend on things we love, some things that are just a little bit extravagant, and really indulge in our surroundings. We’ll get there, but the time is not now.
I work full time, and this is written for us. For our family. And for more than absolutely anyone else I write it for my husband. He works so hard. I can’t tell you how hard he works. And he beats himself up about it most of the time. He’s terribly modest and very hard on himself. I suppose, in my own roundabout way, this is one of my funny old ways of telling him how proud I am of what he’s achieved here.
So, who is next?
Hey, did you make it to the end? By gum, I’m impressed. That was a long read!
And who is next? I’d love to tag Sarah from www.sarahakwisombe.com to do this. I love Sarah’s taste in interiors. I think mine is actually pretty similar, except where I might just add inspiration to Pinterest, she will actually bring it to life! Over to you Sarah…
