We've been in 2 months, and dude, it is bliss!! The move in was pretty typical I think, based on my extensive watching of Grand Designs: Couple decides to build, couple decides to have another baby at the same time, couple believes they'll be in the house on time and baby will not come early. Inevitably, the build goes over time, the couple moved in while tradies continue to work around them, and baby comes early. *sigh*
But just like how they tell you that the memories of pregnancy discomfort and the drama of birth fades as soon as you have that baby in your arms, so the memories of stress, angst, and a million decisions fades as soon as you walk in the front door of your amazing house. Is it all worth it? Hell yes it's worth it!!
When we moved in, we had no benchtop, no hob, no doors (thank goodness for builders who called out before they came near the ensuite!), the wrong garage door, and lots of little fiddly bits to be done. Nothing major tho, the main difficulty was having a constant stream of random men showing up at random times and asking you random questions or making random demands (e.g. We can't fit the new garage door because your garage is full of stuff. Well guess what, WE JUST MOVED IN! Of COURSE our garage is full of stuff! Maybe if you had replaced the door sometime between July when we told you it was wrong, and October when we moved in, it wouldn't have been a problem! Just saying!)
Anyways, now we are well down the track. I thought I'd do a few posts about the realities of living here, what works perfectly and what we would change (Spoiler alert: there's pretty much nothing in the second column!) So let's start with, one of my favourite rooms in the house being the good housewife I am.... the Dream Kitchen!
*Disclaimer: I am not a stylist, or a photographer, so no prettiness here! Just practicalities!
Things that I recommend if you are building a kitchen:
- drawers, drawers, and more drawers. If you do have a pantry (as we do), put in pull out drawers.
- a cleaning cupboard with a powerpoint in it so you can wall-mount your dustbuster and it's constantly ready to use. You always need to grab your broom / mop / dust and pan, so keep it close to hand!
- A double sink! We have a quarter and then a whole. Seriously, how did I live before this? So good when washing dishes to tip stuff out and rinse it in the quarter sink. And make sure the big sink fits your oven trays and pans in it.
- keep ALL the stuff you use often close at hand. E.g. we have a drawer of face cloths and bibs in the kitchen. Why traipse down the hall to the linen cupboard when you use them in the kitchen / dining room? Bonus point: children can access these and wipe their own faces after dinner!
- a scullery is a no-brainer. Everyone who builds gets one, don't they? Maximise the use of it, think about putting in all the utility stuff that you don't want on show, but have to have. Obvs I have an earlier scullery post, but just to recap, ours has: a charging station for our devices, our modem and landline, our mail sorting system, our calendar, the boy's morning routine chart, a little bit of filing storage, the microwave, the recycling bins, all our appliances, and food! Piles and piles of food!
Must dash, baby to feed etc! Xx