It’s been two months since Al and I moved into our own home and I’m slowly realising that there are certain things that people just don’t share with you in the build up. Because I’m naturally an over-sharer and keen to please others, I figured it was only right for me to let you in on five things they (your parents/friends/family/anyone really) don’t tell you about owning a house.
1. You will become obsessed with soft furnishes. In my mind I’m the female
equivalent of Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, in my flouncy shirts with
voluminous locks. I’ve signed up to Dwell, Modern, Made, John Lewis, Next
Home and all the others, so I can keep on top of the latest furnishings
and of course get my grubby paws on anything that takes my fancy. I
appreciate a good cushion and trawled high and low to find our mix of
bulky silver striped and woven woollen cushions and am very proud of the
end results. I’m sold on a mix of greys and oranges for our living room currently.
2. Damp, mold and dehumidifiers start to rule your life. Al and myself have found ourselves embroiled in a battle with the former that we’re not currently winning. Our hefty dehumidifier needs emptying every day and it can hold a lot of water. Damp and mold are depressing and need to be constantly tackled. Just one of the problems when you live in a maisonette.
3. You become very, very precious about your brand new furniture, dirty shoe prints on carpets and very small hands belong to my cousin’s little boy wiping the remnants of lunch along clean chairs. I am paranoid about dirty glass rings being left on our new side tables and am forever chasing coasters. I’m becoming scarily like Monica from Friends and I’m not sure I like it.
4. Life insurance. To be honest, before we bought our place, the only life insurance I knew about was through work, if I died. But after my dad kept breathing down both of our necks about the huge mortgage we have for the next god knows how many years and what we’d do if one of us was to cork it early, I got serious and called our financial adviser (because I now have one of those too).
5. The unpacking just never stops. We’ve been here for two months now and still have a spare room full of stuff. The thing is, I have no clue what the ‘stuff’ is anymore. I know we have a computer hiding somewhere, I’ve got some books that need shelves, jewellery that needs somewhere to hang and shoes that I have no space for. I know we’ll get there eventually but at the moment I’d say it stresses me out at least twice a week, much to Al’s amusement.
Got any more to add to the list? Hit me.