New Home
It has been some time since I've had the opportunity to write here. These pictures show a very small proportion of the bags and boxes that I've been unpacking.
We fell in love with the new house for many reasons. It is a two hundred year old cottage by water and one of the few heritage houses in the area. It is also located in a small village that was listed in the Doomsday Book.
It is truly a different world from our old house, purchased new, from a builder on a modern estate. But the old house was my home for twenty years. In that time I'd had the garden landscaped, chosen the colour schemes for each room, painted and made all of the curtains, purchased furniture for the house, replaced the kitchen, bathroom and cloakroom etc.
After less than two weeks in the new house I was very pleased to have only two rooms left to unpack - the craft room and the guest room. But then things started to go wrong!
It is truly a different world from our old house, purchased new, from a builder on a modern estate. But the old house was my home for twenty years. In that time I'd had the garden landscaped, chosen the colour schemes for each room, painted and made all of the curtains, purchased furniture for the house, replaced the kitchen, bathroom and cloakroom etc.
After less than two weeks in the new house I was very pleased to have only two rooms left to unpack - the craft room and the guest room. But then things started to go wrong!
We had a flood. I was relaxing in the sitting room after a long day of unpacking when I noticed a dark stain on the ceiling. I was certain that it had not been there in the morning. I was right. After some investigation we found that the shower in the en-suite was leaking. I was really worried because plumbing is not my thing and the stain was right above the ceiling light. I had visions of the ceiling falling down and the electrics blowing up! Early the following morning I was on the phone to a contractor that I have used in the past but he was the other end of the country on holiday! Worse than that the guys that he recommended were not picking up the phone.... after a phone marathon, I found a contractor in our new village who was able to come that day. The expense was unplanned but the problem was resolved. I went to bed breathing a big sigh of relief.
Then we realised that the main drain was partially blocked. Another contractor, another unexpectedly large bill!
Then the flush on the toilet in the en-suite stopped working. Another contractor visit and another bill all in the space of the first month!
By this time, I was worried we'd bought a money pit for a house! We knew there would be issues with such an old house but we didn't expect all of these issues in the first few weeks....Thankfully, things settled down and I managed to get back to the unpacking.