Wait, Why are we Moving?

Exciting news! We might be moving house! We’ve been considering a move for a while now, but nothing suitable has come up. To be fair, we’ve had really specific criteria and because our current house is in an ideal location, large enough for our needs and generally fabulously practical for a young family, we’ve had the luxury of being rather choosy. So, why do we want to move anyway? Well, having the Boy is rather like owing a dog! He needs running three times a day and wrecks the house if he’s cooped up inside. Lou’s main mode of travel is cartwheeling- everywhere and anywhere, even in the smallest of spaces. K likes nothing more than to explore and discover, she’s always loved finding bugs, worms and creepy-crawlies and is in her element den-building and climbing. We have ‘out-door’ kids and our current garden, like most in the area, is tiny.

  

J and I love old, interesting, period properties and though our current house ticks all the boxes on practicality, it’s a typical 1970’s build, devoid of any character, features or even fire-places. It was the blank canvas we needed at the time, in the ideal location for school catchments and walking everywhere while I was off work pushing buggies. Now life has moved on and all the kids are at school, we can afford to move a little further from the town and therefore gain more outside space for our money and have the house that we’ve dreamed of.

So, our house is going on the market and we need a major declutter, tidy up and general toy clear out. My first mistake- doing this with the kids. Generally speaking, to get my kids to help tidy up, it takes bribery, pleading and threats, but not today! No sooner had I got something out to place in the ‘to go’ pile, it was put away neatly and tidily, quicker than I could turn around! I gave up and settled for a pile of puzzles and some Duplo- the rest will need to be done while they are at school!

I moved on to the garden. I donned my trusty prickle-proof gloves, brandished my rusting secateurs and began to wage war on the invading ivy and brambles that poke through and climb over the fence from next door. I swear our neighbour actually cultivates the stuff! Having only attacked it a few months ago, I couldn’t believe how thick the ivy had become and there were actually blackberries on the brambles! After a couple of hours hacking away and being attacked randomly by stray ‘monster’ brambles, I had a full green wheelie bin. I stepped back to look at my handy work- it honestly didn’t look any different!! J meanwhile, had tidied and cleaned out the garage and shed, mowed the lawn, made a couple of trips to the dump and attempted to fix the kitchen tap (would have been successful if they had sent him the right part!).

I had a glass of wine!

The agent contacted us to arrange for a photographer to come and photograph the house, she sent a pdf with information on how to make your house look good in the photos. For the best photos you basically have to move out! She was coming the next day………..

That evening we managed to cram our lives into the loft, garage and various cupboards. By the time we had finished, every wardrobe in the house carried a serious safety risk, should anyone attempt to open one. Then it was time to clean, scrub and polish every visible surface- J went to gym half way through, it was just all too much for him! We were still cleaning and cramming late into the evening, had we realised the mammoth task, we would have at least given ourselves a few days to prepare!

So was it worth it? Oh yes, the photos are fantastic!

The house looks hugely spacious, bright and clean, freshly decorated, lovely garden and really everything any family could want in a house.

Wait, why are we moving again?