It was just before Easter of 2016 that we picked up the keys to our first home. Not a new rented gaff, but OUR first home.
If you were to believe the
headlines, you're probably thinking that I've been doing some top-drawer “adulting” lately. After all, for a twenty-something in 2017, the end of the rainbow should be getting on the property ladder, apparently… if only we can all stop reaching for
those avocados, eh ;-) (I’m not going to bother linking to any of that tripe, so
if you don’t know what I’m talking about there, I’ll let you search for that BS
story yourself.. but FYI, my diet has remained staunchly millennial throughout the whole process)
It is true that it’s
bloody hard work, especially with increasing rent prices on top of everything
else, but funnily enough, I really don’t think I’d be sat here tip-tapping away
in my living room, if I’d been too serious or too “adult” about it all. Or should I say, too "adult-who-doesn't-eat-avocados" about it all.
I'll stop bringing that up now.
I'll stop bringing that up now.
It's just, sometimes I think you
need a jolly good pinch of
childlike naivety to launch yourself into taking on such a huge, scary project - that blissful ignorance of the unknown.
It was a bit of a
whirlwind from the get go: we only viewed one other house before we first saw
the property that would become ours. We instantly had a good feel about the
place, but as parents & family (that we’d taken along a few of the viewing
to get their thoughts and property experience) had kindly warned us, we were taking on A
LOT of work. The house is 300 years old, so there were a few structural tweaks that
we needed to fix, as well as cosmetic ones. But of course, we did what all good
stubborn, know-it-all millenials naive, dreamers would do: asked for advice, listened politely,
then impulsively ignored all the warnings and pushed on with proceedings
anyway, and here we are :-D
Since then, we’ve just
been ploughing on, getting the work done, making all of the mistakes, like
decorating every room at once rather than one at a time, but most importantly,
we’re getting there, and slowly but surely, it’s feeling like home.
Last year, for our
first Christmas in the new pad, we stuck with our usual tradition of splitting
our time between parent’s houses (one in the morning for breakie & presents
and the other in the eve for dinner), but this year, being slightly more
settled we wanted to flip-reverse proceedings.
Realising that we were
probably more than capable of cooking a roast (albeit one that had the extra
pressure of producing grub that matched our parents and my brother’s high Christmas
expectations), we decided to host at ours and let our parents but their feet up
for a change. A small thank you for the years and years that they spent (and still do) giving us the best Christmas’ imaginable.
And you know what, I really did love this
Christmas. We spent Christmas eve delivering Christmas presents to Grandparents
and prepping the food with Phil Spector’s ‘A Christmas Gift
for you’ spinning on the Crosley.
When it came to the
big day, J & I opened presents, before heading over to the village
pub with the fam at midday for a quick festive tipple. We opened presents with the fam in the
afternoon, cracked on with the dinner and then spent the eve (unintentionally)
annoying a sleepy Connie the Dog by singing at the top of our lungs, and I
couldn’t of been happier.
To me, the idea of successfully "adulting" feels less about touching those big milestones than it is about finally being able to give something back to my nearest and dearest... the everything else is just the icing on the Christmas cake.
To me, the idea of successfully "adulting" feels less about touching those big milestones than it is about finally being able to give something back to my nearest and dearest... the everything else is just the icing on the Christmas cake.
Much love,
L xo
DINING ROOM UPDATE
Wall paint: MutedBlush by Graham & Brown | Grey Tablecloth by B&M | Beaded Coasters
by B&M | Table Runner by Next | Glitter & Speckle Candles by B&M |
Blue Velvet Reindeer by Paperchase | Christmas Crackers by Baylis & Harding
| Seat Cushions by H&M Home.