It has been 18 months since my last ‘How not to build a house’ installment and time has just flown by. I haven't written anything because after 2 years of non-stop building work, we finally moved into our brand new house and just collapsed in a heap. Enough! Alex and I said to each other!
Alex and I toasting our new house with champagne on the day we moved in
I couldn’t even face trying to sort out lampshades for my bedroom and I make them for a living! There has been bare a bulb for over a year. And our son Leo is still living out of boxes as we haven’t sorted out a wardrobe for his room.
I am really not complaining though as our house has been utter bliss to live in. It is cosy and warm, and I still have no regrets over the items we splashed out on such as the 'end grain' wooden flooring and underfloor heating. That feeling on a freezing day when you don't want to go the loo because it’s glacial in the bathroom is just not a thing in this house! Every single centimetre is the exact same delicious temperature.
Our beautiful end grain flooring
I am really pleased with every decision that we agonised over. I still LOVE my quartzite kitchen, the colour of the cupboards and walls, and the mural on all 4 walls of the bedroom. I was worried I would grow tired quickly of the colours I picked, or that I might find them boring, as I may have surprised some people with my muted choices. But they are restful and easy on the eye after a day working with bright colours & patterns.
I spot new colours every day in the quartzite worktop
I’m not sure I can quite say ‘it was all worth it’ yet…especially as we are in the midst of yet more building work. But more on that in another post!
Next on the long list of work to complete was the external landscaping. If you have been paying attention you may recall that our builder put down a load of (rather expensive) hoggin along the driveway which rapidly went green, stuck to our shoes and became the world's biggest cat litter tray. A neighbour recommended a small company called The Blossom Shed to do the hard landscaping, and once I met the owner’s beautiful dog ‘Red’ who loves to eat a carrot as a treat, I knew he was hired.
'Red' the carrot loving dog, and the horrible cat litter hoggin
Our driveway is over 20 metres long, which actually makes quite a grand entrance, 'Oooh it's like Downton Abbey!' said one friend- but as it was built for horse and cart it doesn’t leave much space if used to park a car. One side of the driveway is an old right of way for two Victorian houses next to us, so unfortunately we were only able to create a flower bed along the north facing wall. Andy Salt (aka Salty) our landscaper suggested staggering the border to make it feel more natural, and putting gravel along the wall on the opposite side so that I can at least sow some wild seeds such as toadflax and maybe hollyhocks if they will take. We decided to mix in some grey sets with the limestone paving to mix textures and tie in the cladding colours.
Top- before and after our landscaping looking from the house. Bottom - gardeners busy at work on the day we had 6 tonnes of soil delivered!
My husband I have rather different garden styles - I dream of a wild fairy’s den whilst he is super practical and is worrying about our future wheelchair access. At the moment he is very happy as the paving stones are all neat and tidy with no ‘weeds’ growing anywhere… but give it a couple of years ;-)
I received a few rather eye watering quotes for some planting schemes, and then decided that I would just do it myself. So I had a brilliant day last October with Salty and his mate Ashley (whose claim to fame is that he co-wrote Everything But The Girl’s massive hit ‘Walking Wounded’) visiting an absolutely vast trade only garden centre. (I had to be smuggled in!) Of course I am plant mad- but I don't really know how to put together a scheme in a long flower bed, and despite pouring over books and articles about planting, I ended up doing exactly what I probably shouldn’t ; buying a bunch of totally random plants that I fell in love with.
My plant haul from the vast garden centre.
We planted them out along with what I thought was a billion bulbs but now they have come up I see they are actually a normal to modest amount. It is just SO exciting see the first stirrings of Spring, and as the front of the house is east facing I am looking forward to getting tables and chairs out there so I can enjoy my morning coffee in the sun (if it ever warms up)
This is what I am aiming for.... in my dreams!
Next task was to install lighting, which Alex chose (I had to let him have a bit of creative input) At night it looks amazing! Last week our old metal gate became operational too, so last we have a separate entrance, rather than having to walk through the studio. This is a complete game changer as it took so long to get to the front door. In fact my son even used it as an excuse as to why he was late for school. It ended up a very complicated job as first of all we had to find a welder to cut a wicket gate into the metal and then find another company to fit a door entry system. It was such an expensive exercise!
Boring for most but exciting for us - we finally have functioning gate!
My next House blog post in a few months will be about the next phase of building work we are in the throws of the end of the studio & (I hope) our interior courtyard- see below. I am thinking of renaming this blog to the ‘Money Pit’...
