Five Favourites | #3 | Living in a Renovation

We moved in just over three weeks ago (bloody hell, is that all?!) so I thought this month’s Five Favourites should be based around the trials and tribulations that have made those three weeks feel more like three years.

I mean, I knew living in a renovation wouldn’t be easy but felt like we were ready for whatever it threw at us. Turns out I need to reassess. Perhaps if you’re not incredibly poor it’s less of a challenge, but then you wouldn’t be living in a renovation because you can afford luxuries like bathroom doors and curtains that aren’t removal boxes.

And we know it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Anyway, these are my Five Favourite (FYI sarcasm, just in case) things about living in a renovation.

ONE | GETTING TO KNOW THE NEIGHBOURS

You know how in Friends there is Ugly Naked Guy? I’m pretty sure I’m known as Ugly Naked Girl to most of our neighbours by now.

In a nutshell, we have no curtains and I think they’ve seen parts of me I can only see when looking in the mirror these days. On the plus side, it is really nice to know that people can watch you sleeping…

TWO | CULINARY DELIGHTS

If you are renovating a house whilst living there the likelihood is that, at least at some stage along the line, you’ll be kitchen-less. After three weeks, we now have our kitchen units installed but have just found out that the worktops aren’t going to fit.

To give a little background, we haven’t been duped by a kitchen fitter, we bought an ex-display kitchen to cobble together as we are planning to extend at some stage in the next 50 years and the current kitchen will be null and void. Due to the way we have had to configure the units, we don’t have enough of the (solid granite!) worktop that came with it.

SO. All in all the outcome here is that we are probably going to be “without kitchen” (like “with child” but AWFUL news, like worse than if the baby was Donald Trump’s) for another month or so.

That doesn’t sound like the end of the world, you might be thinking? To put this in perspective, I’ve had McDonald’s for dinner three times this week because it’s pretty much at the threshold of what we can afford. I’m talking the Saver Menu as well, none of those fancy Big Mac Meals.

THREE | DUST, ANYONE? NO!

I surprised myself that this wasn’t further up the list, but to be honest I don’t think there is much between all five of my “favourites” this month.

Anyone who has lived this dream (nightmare) of buying and doing up their own house understands – the dust is never-bloody-ending! At work, people point out that my trousers have dust all over the back (normally at lunchtime, thanks for that), running my fingers through my hair is impossible beyond halfway and I’ve ruined about 40 pairs of socks.

The idea we had when we did eventually move in was to keep our bedroom and en suite a sanctuary of near completion (and by that I mean it has a bed, a working shower and a toilet. Flooring? Nah). In reality, it doesn’t work. You forget you have to walk through the Serengeti to get to the Oasis, and it all follows you in!

I now just leave the Dyson in our room for daily dust clearance and as a makeshift coat rack.

FOUR | THE BIG FREEZE

When you wake up in the morning and can see your breath, you know it’s cold.

We have heating installed upstairs, although conveniently no radiator in our room yet. I’m sure this isn’t an issue for everyone living in a renovation, as we have told the heating engineer to hold off installing any cast iron rads until the flooring is down so I guess it is our fault for booking a holiday instead of buying carpet. Oh well!

Not only is being cold wholly uncomfortable, it also makes it nigh on impossible to muster the motivation to do anything (on the ever growing DIY list) other than get under a blanket and shiver whilst watching hours of TV.

Netflix and chill takes on a whole new meaning.

On the upside, I have mastered the art of getting dressed under the covers which does help eliminate at least 15% of Ugly Naked Girl-ness.

FIVE | AT LEAST WE CAN BUILD A FORT?

Boxes. Boxes bloody everywhere!

How did we have this much stuff in a two-bedroom flat?! It baffles me. Every one of our four bedrooms now contains at least 5 large removal boxes (don’t ask me what is in them) and the lounge and dining room are full, with probably about 15 or 20 in each.

We have box curtains, a box TV stand, box wardrobes and a box bedside table. On the upside, it is perfectly feasible that we could spend an evening building a fort! #noparents #nobedtime

No, you know what? I’m not sorry to anything or anyone this month, I just FEEL sorry for myself and anyone else living in a renovation. I mean, mainly myself but I gotta engage the readers, right?

I’ll be posting more updates on our progress as it happens, in like 40 years.

What are your “favourite” things about living in a building site?!

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P.S. Can you tell the house has got the better of me today?! Send help.