House Maintenance: or, as I like to call them, 'grown-up jobs'

I hold my hands up in the air and admit that I’m not a domestic goddess. I can cook, and I can bake, but I’m not a natural home-maker – somehow, when I walk through the front door, I become a bit of a wrecking ball. One shoe ends up on the sofa. One in the hall. The bag is dumped, and it slumps, despondent, spilling its contents across the entire floor. Every morning is a mad rummage, as I up-end drawers looking for an intact pair of tights. I spill every cup of tea I make.

 

I’m hopeless, essentially. BUT, I have done some chores that are very responsible, home-owner-type chores since I moved in. I do feel particularly adult today, so I thought I’d tell you all about them.

 

Clearing the U-Bend & Dishwasher

I’m fortunate to say I’ve never had to do this before. It’s probably needed doing in past houses but I’ve chucked some bleach down it and hoped for the best. T unscrewed the pipes, and we found a moist black clot lurking in the u-bend. It was the size of a hamster.

Yuck.

The dishwasher (inherited from the owner) was an even worse task. The stench of mildew was overpowering and it took me almost two hours to get the gunk off. I used wooden skewers (although toothpicks would work) first to work most of the deposits free. Then I scrubbed all the parts with an old toothbrush and some special cleaner I bought from Sainsbury’s.

However, it’s working perfectly now and the smell has gone entirely!

 

Fixing a toilet

The insides of a toilet have always been a mystery to me. In my tenant mind-set, that white box at the back contained a magical land full of tiny people and a waterfall. Sadly, I now know there is just a big plug, a dangly chain, and a weird tube. Not interesting at all.
The toilet wouldn’t stop running, even though the plug was in place. What was wrong? Well, there just wasn’t enough water in there! A pint glass from the sink, and the problem was solved. It was incredibly simple.

 

Weeding the garden

In all honesty, my Grandma did most of this job. She’s very green-fingered and her garden is a thing of beauty. She came over on Tuesday and had it out with my front garden, which I am so grateful for. The rest of the weeds have been mercilessly sprayed and I plan to pull them out as soon as possible…

 

Cutting back overgrown trees

Our back garden is tiny little paved rectangle which shouldn’t take too much love to look inviting and keep neat. It was an overgrown mess, however; cue T and I standing on the garden bench and hacking over-hanging tree branches. Now that job’s done, the garden looks bigger and brighter.

AND WE'RE IN.

  And, we have internet
 
Nothing makes a house feel more like a home than a good ol' connection to the outside world - am I right, or am I right? I think T and I both breathed a sigh of relief when we realised we could stop talking to each other and go on footytube/facebook again.

Joking, of course.

However, I am able to also write the post of posts - the MOVING IN blog post. After all, this is a first-time-buyer-rookie-home-owner blog (yes, I invented my own category) and those are defined by these posts. Just like fashion blogs are defined by their sultry outfit shots (city scapes obligatory - if there are none of those where you live, your career is over before it begun) and a cooking blog requires gratuitous macro-lense close-ups of sugar.

The day went swimmingly. The house was in incredibly good condition when we finally got in, which suprised me. When we had our pre-exchange viewing, it was disgusting. I kicked off at the estate agent but she replied haughtily; 'well, you're already getting it at below market value, you're in no position to make demands of the seller'.....ooooh. I argued that a new tenant would not be allowed to move in with these conditions. Something must have been said, because the fridge (part of our contents agreement) has been cleared of half-drunk wine and stubs of butter (seriously).

We were in by 1pm. T's parents were incredibly helpful and transported our stuff from our temporary flat to the new house, as neither of us drive. All our worldly possessions fitted in two car trips!
We also bade a genuinely sad farewell to our landlord and his adorable little boys. We were lodgers in the old 'servants quarters' in the attic, rather than a stand-alone flat, so we got quite close to the family.

Anyway, we were alone in the house by 6pm. It is a very strange feeling, to be in your own home for the first time, without the spiel of the estate agent as a background hum. I kept walking up the stairs, and down the hall, running fingers across the walls. It felt positively palacial. Never before have I had so much space to fill. 

Fear gripped me suddenly. It was a terrifying void, empty and souless, not a home for us yet. More pressingly, I was suddenly consumed with the thought that it was my responsibility to keep these bricks and mortar standing. I had to take care of this place. It was more than just a house; it was our life savings. Urgh.

Luckily, it was Thursday night and I had a wine-drinking session to get to. We shelved that freak-out for another day.

We've been in since Thursday and a lot has happened in the interim, which I will cover in my next post, so stay tuned :)

So, today's learnings: Do a pre-exchange viewing and throw your weight around if something's not right. It's your last chance to save yourself some money/time when you move in. 
 

Choosing a Double Bed for a Tiny Master Bedroom

When the boy and I first started seeing each other, we were living in University halls of residence. Our beds were singles. My mattress was threadbare, stained, and the creaky springs left nothing to the imagination. I shared my floor with seventeen other girls. Poor things.

Looks appealing.

In my second year, I got my first double bed. It was luxury. T, meanwhile, moved into yet another single. His divan disintegrated after about two months (the roof was leaking, so his bed got rained on) and we ended up on the floor. The damp problem never got solved, so every time I slept at his, I woke up to find a silvery snail-trail meandering around the mattress. We moved in together two years later and finally said goodbye to the shared single bed.

Fast forward to 2014, and we’re moving into our own house in a fortnight.

This is furniture? This is garbage.

All I own is an amazing mirror (more on that later) and a pink plastic folding chair.

A kind parent has lent us a single for the interim, but I can’t wait to buy our first bed. However, our bedrooms are just 3.5m (long) by 2.5m (wide), which doesn’t give us much space to play with. A standard double bed will leave us with just 80cm (or 2’9’’) left, width-ways. That’s not much space. Not even worth a bedside table.

Storage, décor and accessibility are all going to be a problem. We are considering getting a ‘small double’ or queen bed, which would save us 6’’, but I don’t know if it’s really worth it.

 I have a few criteria for our new bed...

• relatively minimalist, to go with almost any colour scheme


• Must not be any larger than necessary - so bed knobs are out


• Underbed Storage is a must


• No more than £250 including delivery


• Wood or metal only - and certainly no divans!

 Here are the contenders...

Small Doubles

John Lewis, £175, £25 Delivery, requires storage (W129)

This bed would give me an extra 15cm of space. That's one of those tiny little rulers... you know, the ones you coated with Tipex in primary school and then spent the next two years engraving with your protractor.... Is it worth it?

Doubles

Ikea, £225, £19 Delivery, Storage included (W150)

This one appeals to my lazy nature as I'm not too great at putting things away properly. Everything hidden from site. But could we even use all four drawers? Probably not. 


 

 

Muji, £210, £35 Delivery, Storage not included (W144)

A very conservatively designed bed. I actually love this, it's so need and tidy. It's expensive, however, and would require us to shell out for storage.

Asda, £249, Free Delivery, Storage Included (W141)

This would be a smart buy in terms of storage and price. It's not beautiful but I can live with that.

Bensons, £199, £39.99 Delivery, no Storage (W145)

I do like these clean lines but it's a lot for delivery! It's perhaps my favourite, and it feels like great value as it's half price.

Get Laid Beds, £198, £25 Delivery, no Storage (W140) (also available in Small Double in W125)

Again, a great clean design. However, no headboard at all may cause problems...


 


Has anyone else found themselves in a shopping stalemate? There's no clear winner here!
And the clock's ticking...

We're nearly there! Tenants are moving out early!

One of the major obstacles we had with buying a house in this area was TENANTS.

T and I are buying ourselves a home. It's not a buy-to-let. It's not an 'investment property' (just yet). We just need somewhere to live! Most buyers are trying to wrangle every penny they can out of property at the moment, which is all well and good... if you're a landlord/property mogul/estate agent. For everyone else, it's awful.

Almost every house we saw had tenants, who had treated the houses with varyind degrees of disdain. There was mould, damp, and dirt - but that wasn't the only problem. Buying a house with 'tenants in situ' is not a good idea. The tenancy agreement is with the former owner. They're the landlord, not you. So before we can own the place, we had to wait. And wait. And wait. It's a scary process, because you feel like the seller is stalling every day. Property prices in the nearby area are STILL rising and the seller could have re-listed the property at any point and made a few extra grand. I haven't really stopped worrying about it since May, when we put the offer down!

We thought we'd have a massive delay, because the estate agent, Romans, were SO hopeless at communication. They failed to tell us that the owner hadn't yet given notice, despite me badgering her since June 1st. The seller felt that we hadn't provided enough evidence of our mortgage, but we didn't find this out until July.

The tenants are, quite rightly, protected. We couldn't just kick them out - it was the estate agents' fault after all, not theirs!
We thought that we'd have to wait until November.

BUT NO! The tenants are moving out early! Which means we should be moving in.... October 1st!

This. is. AWESOME.

Decorating a TINY 'master' bedroom

The house we're buying is awesome. It's in a great location and it's got character by the bucket load. It's got two HUNDRED years of experience so I think it's got pretty great at 'being a house' by now.

But, it's MINISCULE. Please enjoy the floor plan, provided for your interest/entertainment.

Looking at home design websites is terrifying. Paticularly American home design websites. Even Apartment Therapy, a site that specialises in the aesthetics of the shoe-box apartment (I've built a mezzanie out of some old pallets I found down at the train tracks and my sofa turns into a yoga mat when I remove this peice of string) still seem to have WIDTH.

We don't. Victorian terraces, once inhabited by factory workers, don't have space to swing a cat. (the cat is relieved about this)

Thankfully, PINTEREST. It has lots of lovely pictures of lovely tiny bedrooms and now I feel less perturbed by the whole situation. Here's my pick of the best... they aren't my photos, so click for source.

That last picture is my favourite, because of the storage potential.


I think I've got some good ideas for our bedroom now... what's your favourite inspiration source?  Follow my blog with Bloglovin

So we decided to buy a house

The 'one'

In March of this year, we decided to buy a house.

As I’m sure you’re heard, the housing market in the South of England has inflated to a lip-biting level in the last two years. London remains a law unto itself and remains largely inaccessible to those with a standard graduate salary; meanwhile rent in my town has reached a new high. For a run-down, rather characterless commuter town, it’s not a price I was willing to pay. After five years of living in a six-bedroom student house, I was ready for my own space – but I also liked having …money. I was at a crossroads in life and I didn’t know what I wanted.

We were in Berlin when he popped the question. It was a spontaneous shot-gun holiday, just T and I, my boyfriend of four years.

“Would you like to buy a house with me?” he asked me innocently, over a Früli. I stared at him. He misunderstood my stunned silence for lack of fiscal faith. “It’ll cost us the same each month,” he continued, "the mortgage would be the same as renting." He was oblivious to the gravity of his proposal.

Of course I said yes!

T and I house-hunted for just two months. There was a constant sense of desperation to our endeavours. We made fruitless phonecalls and trawled through websites and stood outside shops in the rain. House-viewings were awful. Estate agents were awful. It seemed hopeless and I yelled at my email client lot.

Then we found a place.
It wasn’t love at first sight. It actually took a lot of persuading T to go back for the second viewing. It was run down and small, but it had that magic P: potential.

Offer made, offer accepted, mortgage confirmed, solicitor found, survey done. May. June. July. August…. And we’re still waiting for the house to be ours. Move in date is November 1st. I can't wait.

This is my blog about growing up and buying a house, while still saying YUP to life.

Thanks,

Sarah