I can't actually believe how long its been since I last blogged. So much has changed.

On 27th December 2013 I got engaged. My Much Beloved and I have now been together for 8 1/2 years. The proposal was a really beautiful, magical moment. I'd thought I'd make a return to this blog to blog about all things 'wedding' - trying to DIY as much as I could, colour schemes, cake-making, all that stuff. This is what I assumed this blog would become.

But no! Sometime in mid-January 2015, we put an offer in on a house which was accepted. Its a 2 bedroom mid terraced house with a converted loft room. We knew it was unloved before we even went to view it, but from the second I saw it on Zoopla, I knew I wanted it to be mine. And on the 2nd of April, which also happened to be my 30th birthday, it became mine. We had planned to move in and make do with things as they were and do them up as and when we could afford it. You know what they say about the best laid plans? I believe it was Robert Burns who said they 'gang aft agley' (they often go wrong).


I'll talk more about it in detail in a future post, but basically, its been hard. A lot harder than we expected. The house wasn't just unloved, it has been brutalised. Neglected and damaged by foolish people who never deserved it in the first place. We can't even live in it, so we are living with my 'in laws' (who are wonderful, so that isn't really much of a hardship at all). And we're slowly but surely trying to make it what it should always have been, a beautiful, warm, safe home.

My cousin said to me, when she knew we were house-hunting, that it was an emotional rollercoaster. And it is. We've had some awful, devastating moments when we've not known what on earth we're going to do. I've cried so often it isn't even a 'thing' anymore. I just have my cry and get on with it. There's been some good moments, moments where we've felt really positive (usually followed by something devastating happening). We are no longer surprised by anything we find in the house or a contractor finds and has to tell us. We've literally seen and heard it all in these last few months. We're working on this house while both holding down really busy full-time jobs, so we are exhausted and things happen pretty slowly. Plus, we know nothing about anything! We've never so much as painted before we bought this house. This might have been a rather foolish thing we've done, but there's no going back now...

So I guess I hope this blog will document our journey, its helped me to look back on some of the photos we've taken to remind us there has been progress. Hopefully I can share a few tips for people along the way. We aren't blessed with a huge budget, so if I find something good that doesn't cost the earth, I'll share it with you! And perhaps some of you can share your tips back with me too? This will be a very long project, I hope you can stay with me for it.