Peeking around the new homestead.

How de do dee again.

Well I read each of your lovely comments on my last post with happiness. Such lovely words and greetings, thank you.

The picture above is just me in a new favourite frock. It has nothing much to do with this post, except the fact that I like it. So there it is.

Now let's go off for a tour around the new place that my girls and I now call home shall we.
I love a peek around other peoples homes so I'm pretty certain I'm not alone in that.

Now despite missing our woodturner, in fact log fires in general as I've always had one, we are lucky enough to have a fireplace in the sitting room as a focal point. 

Moving from a large country cottage to a city terrace has meant that a lot of furniture hasn't been able to fit, plus of course it had to be slightly shared out between him and I. 

That means there's a lot less space to put out stuff. This is probably a blessing as with each box I open, I think to myself why ever did I think we needed all this stuff. Mind you - I'm careful and go through the girls charity boxes they put by the door. I'm secretly squirrelling away precious things that they think they don't want anymore, but may one day you know.
A fairy wand given as a gift by Flora, Miss Millie's fairy guardian, a notebook of childish drawings and little china sheep. Oh my heart melts for all those times past and then I store those feelings away also. This is a time for moving forward. For taking on our new world together, but all the same the sentimentalist in me still wants to raise her head. She's not been allowed much space of late.

This place already feels like a home to me. It has such a lovely atmosphere and has everything we need.

I kept house hunting until I found a house painted through in white with three bedrooms off a separate landing.  Can you imagine the rows if two teenage girls had to walk through each others rooms all the time. There are some arguments you can try to avoid I think.

As I couldn't afford to buy a house, nor did I want the stress of it then it became hard to find a home that suited my taste and budget. I couldn't believe our luck when I walked into this place. A perfect location within walking distance of the girls school, in a quiet spot opposite a park and a short hop to the city no less. It ticks off everything I was after and more.

The view from the kitchen door is of a lawn free yard, so one less job to do there, and a church spire peeking through the trees. At the front we're on a pedestrianised street so there are no cars, just the chatter of people as they stroll on by.

The kitchen wraps around the bathroom in an L-shape so it all feels very open plan from the dining room.
I've opened and carried so many boxes to get to unearth the dining table. In truth it was a puzzle how to even get it through from the sitting room past the stairs. A spatially aware man helped out with that one.  Then I just piled everything on it again and blocked the whole room up to get some order everywhere else. 

Now I've noticed I have grown small round upper arm muscle bumps. All that humping you see. 

The boxes of course. 

I don't think I've ever had them before. Funny that. 

Outer and inner strength both needed for this time in my life.

In this new space a lot of our old stuff just doesn't go. Paler colours of 1930's china and fabrics suited an 1840 cottage, but here stronger colours and bolder design with less clutter is needed. So that means paint slapping on the furniture and stitching new cushions and curtains for a re-vamp.
Exciting stuff, just hard work. 

Lily cat is very happy here watching the world go by. She probably wonders where the horses she used to watch have disappeared to.

I love my bedroom. I snaffled the biggest room for me because that's just how it rolls isn't it.

I have a large walk in cupboard, my very own dressing room no less. 

Then in the other cupboard I've stored my stash. I've even edited it down hugely, which was brave of me I think. Four bags gone to the girls school now for GCSE textiles use. 

Despite getting rid of some fabric, I've also been adding to the pile with a few new ones as well. This beautiful red floral is a recent addition from Pomme de Jour.

Then the very lovely Rachel, who trades as Rainbow Vintage Home and sells the most amazing fabrics, sent me some bits of bobs of fabric as a house warming gift. 

Slowly, slowly, those boxes are getting fewer and fewer. 

Forgotten things are being brought out again which is all quite exciting.

A far less cluttersome friend, she even puts her toaster in the cupboard, who loves all my stuff was still thrilled that I had less room for so many things to be everywhere. 

This is my kind of minimal.  

No more than this. 

Just three things on top of a cupboard instead of tons of things.

All the same I just can't find it in myself to get rid of all the jugs. And really, you do have to ask yourself how many jugs does one person need?

With everything nearly unpacked, we're just waiting on delivery of our new sofa's and then it'll be time to add a Christmas tree and sparkly decorations I feel.

I can't believe how quickly we're nearly back to the time of year when all of this change started. How far we've come since then. And oh yes, so much happier too.