I’m moving!

dining

This is present house….

I really love my house. And so does everybody else who comes to visit (although maybe they ‘re just being polite when they say that).  Even though I loved it when we first moved in, we renovated about three years ago and I adored it even more.  We chose the tiles that we liked, built the shelves that we loved, chose the fixtures that suited us perfectly, the colours that made us relaxed, the carpets that padded our feet and the walls that housed our every day adventures.

About a year ago we started to get itchy feet.  As my husband says (way too often) we always seem to want just that bit more than we already have. We did not love the street we lived in, we wanted just a little bit more space, somewhere Little Pencil could hang with his friends without being in our faces, somewhere we could park our cars where they wouldn’t get covered in bird poo, somewhere we could retreat to – I really wanted my sleeping space distinctly different to our living space.

I realise that I sound like a brat and that these are very first world problems. Everything I say in this post is tinged with a bit of guilt at how much I have when other people have so little and also a huge amount of gratitude for what I do have.  So back to the house….

We started to look around at other houses. It’s really a fun thing to spend your Saturday mornings traipsing through other people’s homes and listening to real estate agents talking absolute shit about the houses they are trying to sell. I’m not even being ironic – it is fun except

  • When you walk into a huge mansion and the agent asks you if you are “DOWNsizing”
  • When the agent refuses to acknowledge your presence
  • When the agent is smoking in the house (yes, that happened)
  • When the people that lived in the house you are looking at where backpackers and there were about 40 of them
  • When the property owner seems to try and put you off by refusing to clean up the kitty litter for months before hand

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But, to be sure, those times are far and few between. We did see some beautiful homes.

pool

Our pool taken with a fancy camera angle to make it appear huge

The only thing is that every time we came home I realised how much more beautiful our own home was. My kitchen is beautiful and modern and clean and filled with the memories of thousands of delicious meals, my bath is deep and luxurious and the tiles that surround it were chosen with love that comforts me every time I step into the bath, the garden is filled with the sound and sights of Little Pencil and his friends laughing and splashing in the pool– even when they aren’t there, so strong is the impression that they leave. Nothing could match up to my house.

And so we started to think of renovating again.  We spoke about it for months and months and decided that a second floor on our house would be the perfect solution.  It would  be the answer to every one of our “problems” except of course the street that we lived in.

We set about drawing up plans with a builder who had the most amazing vision. He came up with the perfect house and our excitement mounted. Plans were being drawn up and we were thisclose to submitting them to council.

In the mean time I had a bench built into the kitchen/dining area to create some extra seating and storage spaces, we had cushion specifically upholstered (we weren’t going to change our perfect kitchen) and just last week we installed a doggy door in the bifold doors that lead to the garden (another thing we weren’t going to change). We were spending money on our house because we just knew that it was long term.

Last Saturday Mr Pencil suggested that we go and look at some houses just to get some ideas and also because we hadn’t been for ages and we really quite missed the Saturday morning ritual of houses and a café breakfast.

But we fell in love with a house.

On Monday we contacted a lawyer to look over the contract and we did a few sums and we thought and we thought and we thought

On Tuesday we got a building and pest inspection and we did a few sums and we thought and we thought and we thought

On Wednesday we went to look at the house again and we did a few sums and we thought and we thought and we thought

On Thursday I took my mother to see the house and we did a few sums and we thought and we thought and we thought

On Friday we phoned our builder and broke the news that we were in love with another house and we did a few sums and we thought and we thought and we thought  (the builder was amazingly understanding)

On Saturday we went to the auction and WE BOUGHT A HOUSE.

I am excited, delighted and not at all surprised – Mr Pencil and I both make up our minds fast and we act quickly.

The only negative part of the whole story is that the woman who we bid against cried when she didn’t get the house and I felt like the most awful human being on earth. But a very lucky and happy awful human being.

Comments

  1. How exciting, Lana! We move all the time. Itchy feet every year or so and now that we’re renting we can be complete Nomads. I love the freedom because once I put down roots I start to feel trapped.

  2. Congratulations! Enjoy your new home. I love the apartment I am in at the moment, however, it does not suit being across the bridge … Today I am going to look at an apartment which is the same address as the one I am currently in (and the unit number is the sum of the one I am in now) – a good sign; or one that I am on the right track.

  3. Sometimes the right house just jumps out at you, doesn’t it? Happened to us when we bought our current house too. Even now, 15 months after we moved in, we still say “god I love this house”. Congratulations on the new abode!

  4. Congratulations Lana! Exciting times. Your “old” house looks very nice indeed. I am sure your new house will be filled with everything your old house was and more! xx

  5. Congratulations lovely! Good luck with it all.

  6. I am so very very happy for you. Isnt it wonderful to be doing something for you? So many times in life we can become weighed down by ‘FWP’ and ‘guilt’ blah blah but hey, Lana, you & Mr P and not so little P along with Henry need to make this next place HOME for your now and current needs…I ache to move house (totally renovated and made to suit our needs as older people and those who entertain grandkids) but I do not like the ‘where’ of our place. We (mostly I) have goals of being back by the beach somewhere in our future. It won’t be in prohibiitively priced Sydney but it will be on the central coast within an hour or so drive of our kids and grandkids.
    So happy again! Def will visit…inviting myself of course. Love Denyse xxxx

  7. Congratulations. Hopefully your new house will soon become your comfortable and familiar home.
    I love my home so much that we only do staycations! Battle to go away and pay to be more uncomfortable than staying put

  8. Congratulations Lana
    Can’t wait to hear more about your new home.
    Now for the packing…

  9. What a story! Now I’d like to buy your old house, it does look divine. Auctions are the most dreadful ordeals… in Scotland there are closed bids… very emotionless and practical and Scottish… much easier on the soul though. Happy packing!

  10. Fantastic Lana! I’m sure you will make your new place home in no time. PS Love your table!

    • Thank you Jodi, I LIVE at that table, We eat at it, do homework on it, work on it, read the papers on it – it IS the family in a table

  11. visiting pencil says

    …I just flew 23 hours both ways to spend 3 days in your old house so I could “shmutz” it up. Now I’ll have to return to properly “shmutz” up your new house.

    Mazelations and Congratulov, can’t wait to see some pics.

  12. I would be way too indecisive and terrified of disappointing other people D: but you have a new home yay! I hope it is just as nice as your one 🙂

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