I have put today's event into my phone's calendar because today, Saturday the 18th of May 2013, my family signed a contract for the sale of a house. This is a HUGE milestone for us! We have been house hunting for over three years, and it seems so surreal that the deal is done. I know it sounds cliched but my dreams have come true! I am going to renovate a house!
It is of the Victorian era, a typical single-fronted, detached house, totally dilapidated. Currently it comprises three bedrooms, one shoddy bathroom, one living area, ROW, and all the other usual commodities. It is honestly in pretty bad condition - for example the plaster on the walls is flaking off in metre squared chunks, it needs restumping, and I think it was last maintained over twenty years ago. From the house it is a ten minute walk to the shopping village, five minutes to the train station, and one street away from the beach which is nice. Our location is ace.That is probably all that is going for it at the moment. The block is almost sixty metres deep though, so that's a bonus.
I am multitasking as I type this between my phone and blog. I am on Houzz.com trolling through the pictures, saving all sorts of styles to my idea book - a collection to send to my "clients" (AKA my parents) so they can decide what it is they are wanting to achieve in terms of aesthatics and architecture. I am cutting straight to the chase with this, I have waited years for the opportunity!
I will be living in the finished house, so I hope I can contribute to decision-making. I should probably add, we are not enlisting an architect at the moment. Instead, my family have given me the role of creating a new floorplan for a draftsman to draw up professionaly. I accepted this in a heartbeat.
This will be my family's first time renovating a house. I am looking forward to seeing the vision in my head come to life. My favourite style is what I like to describe as "Traditional American." Do you know what I mean by that? I am thinking: Colonial windows, French doors, shaker style cabinetry, Cape Cod architecture, weatherboards, high ceilings, high skirting boards, upholstered and tufted furniture, grandeur, fireplaces, The Hamptons... I think that grandeur is the overall sense that needs to be achieved.
Oh my, I cannot wait to get started, to see some demolition action then the first stud wall go up! I'll have my camera ready each site visit I take! I intend to keep a blog as I go through the process of renovating and designing this house. I am so excited, and totally ready for challenges ahead. I'll eventually attach photos to my blog posts for some visuals when I figure out how to source the images. I'll bet it is super easy and look back on this post shortly and think how much of a luddite I am.
In the mean time, I'll wait for my mother's reply to the bombardment of photos I just messaged her!
Have a lovely weekend everyone! xo
