Our House

When we were in the market looking for a new house (before buying this one) I had quite a big order. Most people look for the right house, at the right price, in the right area. I added to that. Most houses have 3 bedrooms, I needed at least 4 (not that scarce) but preferably 5 (not that common at all – especially in this area!) I also wanted a separate room big enough for homeschooling 4 busy children, a lounge and family room, double garage and a pool!
Most agents looked thoughtful, then doubtful, and then tried to sell us the next best, but I was adamant that my house had to be out there somewhere! And it was. When the agent described the house to me over the phone, I had a feeling that I had finally reached the end of my search. 5 bedrooms, double garage, pool and best of all – a separate flatlet - my classroom!! When we came to see it, there was another agent here with her clients, so we looked at the flatlet first and that kind of made up my mind for me. I also entered the house via the kitchen door and liked the kitchen so much that I didn’t even need to see the rest of the house!!
We moved 3 months later and have been here for 6 years. When we moved we had only 4 children (and no idea that the family would grow by another two members!) Each child had their own room and we were happy. At the moment, though, I’m starting to feel a little cramped – like I need at least one more bedroom, two would be nice!

Our house has never been perfect! It just happened to be perfect for us. The last (but one) owners had been a family of yours, mine and ours. 7 teenagers in all! They had renovated the original garage into the flatlet and built the present garage (we have 2 entrances). They had also built on the present main bedroom and bathroom.

It wasn’t long before the negative points about the house started to make themselves known to us. It’s an old house, which means nice, big rooms. It also means old bathrooms, old plumbing and electric fittings, old parquet tiles under carpets that click when you walk on them and make the carpet uneven, and old cupboards. Luckily the kitchen had been redone (although it’s not ultra modern it’s livable), but the bathrooms were awful! We’ve been threatening for years to redo them and at last the time has come!! Yesterday the builders arrived and started removing the tiles and fittings. Within a few hours our en suite went from this:

to this:

I don’t know why, but the bath in here was teeny. It came in handy for bathing babies and toddlers though.
This was an empty section which I used for storing laundry and old clothes (and other junk). We’ll be putting the new bath in here: