the story so far...

i kinda realised yesterday after my excited book post that i'd leapt straight in with no mention of the move, the house, the tears, the drama, the snot, the colds, the endless laying in bed surrounded by soggy tissues but with no tv, the shaking with disbelief and anger when frank spilt paint onto his 24 hour old carpet floor...
well. the house isn't finished, that's the first thing to say. but we're here. we were a week later moving because the kitchen floor wasn't finished after the disaster of the first lot. (actually we were about 2 months and a week late, but i didn't mention this to the builders at the time, i thought i might start going nuts on them once i started...) so we moved on the 21st dec, not a date i'd recommend to anyone. what are the 4 most stressful times in a person's life? death, divorce, christmas and moving. something like that, so we decide to do two of those in a week. i can see why there are tensions involved...
having lived in half building site/half luxury pad for the last two weeks, it's given me time to discover some fairly shocking finishing, things that are driving me bonkers right now, but will be dealt with tomorrow as the builders are coming back to finish. i'd say there's a good two or three weeks work left to do (which i'm sure they'll think could be done in a day or two) the bathrooms upstairs are usable but unpainted, the downstairs bathroom hasn't been touched so that needs plumbing in, decorating and generally completed. actually i'll stop listing everything because it's slightly depressing. i can't get things on the walls as the top coats aren't done yet, and i think when that's finished it can start feeling a little more like home.
on the plus side, the place is enormous! the rooms are spacious, and i know i've got the flow right because although it's a big space, you never feel like you're miles away from anything. does that make sense? my biggest worry was that i'd feel disconnected from the rest of the house if i went upstairs to read my book, or that i couldn't hear the kids playing upstairs. it's a really friendly house, and although we've had our ups and downs, i think it's happy we're here breathing new life into it!
i'm obsessed with reading interior magazines, and of course i'm madly discontent with all our old furniture. but, what with the economy the way it is and that fact we have no money left, i'll have to make do and mend, and get the paint brush out and do a bit of making over. and search junk shops, charity shops and auctions...ohhhhh, my idea of heaven, sam's idea of hell! one fantastic result was being able to snag a beautiful dressing table - you can see it pictured above. it was in sam's sister's room when she was a kid in the seventies and she didn't want it, so i very coolly said if she didn't want it, i'm sure we'd find room for it somewhere...heart beating wildly, worried she'd change her mind at any second, practically snatching it out of her hands!
the downside to living here is that it's very easy to get ensconced - is that the right word? i'm not sure actually if it's because of this funny period of after christmas time, the kids haven't gone back to school yet (but thankfully tuesday!) and the lack of routine, but i could easily do nothing in my jimmy-jams all day long. the thought of slogging into town (all of 3 miles away) in this weather is simply not appealing, i'm sure in a former life i was a hedgehog, hibernating to me sounds like a sensible lifestyle choice.
anyhow, i will do a proper grand tour and post pics when all the work is totally finished, but for now you'll have to make do with two little corners that i like at the moment, they're a bit dull - now i've 'seen' them as everyone else can, i'm thinking wallpaper everywhere, some great big rugs, a bit of bloomin' colour for goodness' sake!