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House, home
Mar. 29th, 2015 05:01 pmFor various reasons, although Matthias and I moved into our current house about two-and-a-half years ago, it's remained a bit of a bare shell with very little character, beyond a collection of mismatched bookshelves, filled to bursting with our books. Apart from a coffee table (that the TV stands on), Matthias' bedside table and one low bookshelf, none of the furniture is ours. We inherited it from a mixture of friends and Matthias' relatives, acquiring it incrementally. The walls are bare, the tables and other surfaces are unornamented (although covered with books and DVDs), the couches lack decoration and the courtyard garden is a weed-filled mess.
Initially I was too overwhelmed with stress about my PhD, and then I had the time, but no money when I was working three part-time jobs, and Matthias has always worked four different jobs so he had no time either. But now I have both the time and the money and I am determined to turn this little house of ours into a proper nest.
There are several hooks already on the walls, and we have a few prints and pictures ready to go up, so I'm going to get quotes from framers and fill the walls. I've just ordered some cushions with prints from Likhain's collection and they should be arriving next week. I want to replace the hideous red rug we currently have in the living room: it's a pain to vacuum, and it just looks awful. I want to buy a vase so we can have flowers in the house, and I've started buying candles again so that the place will smell nice.
The garden is another matter. The fences are all weighed down by massive ivy bushes. Periodically I cut them back, but it's really beyond me, and I'm considering getting someone to clear the whole lot away so that I can start with a blank slate. Same goes for the weeds that keep growing up from under the patio. I've never gardened before: my mum did it when I was a child, and when I was a teenager we moved into a flat where a pot of mint and a pot of thyme was the extent of our garden. I'm a bit at a loss as to where to begin. We have two narrow strips of dirt running along the two bits of the fence (the other half of the garden is bordered by our house), and the area on the other side of the fence is technically free for us to grow stuff, although I think a series of large pot plants might be better. I've always wanted to grow herbs, but I think we need this ivy out of the way before I'd be in a position to plant a single thing.
But I'm determined to do something. If all goes well, Matthias and I will be here for quite some time, and I'm sick of the garden being a wasteland and the house having no character. This post is mostly an attempt to hold myself accountable!
Initially I was too overwhelmed with stress about my PhD, and then I had the time, but no money when I was working three part-time jobs, and Matthias has always worked four different jobs so he had no time either. But now I have both the time and the money and I am determined to turn this little house of ours into a proper nest.
There are several hooks already on the walls, and we have a few prints and pictures ready to go up, so I'm going to get quotes from framers and fill the walls. I've just ordered some cushions with prints from Likhain's collection and they should be arriving next week. I want to replace the hideous red rug we currently have in the living room: it's a pain to vacuum, and it just looks awful. I want to buy a vase so we can have flowers in the house, and I've started buying candles again so that the place will smell nice.
The garden is another matter. The fences are all weighed down by massive ivy bushes. Periodically I cut them back, but it's really beyond me, and I'm considering getting someone to clear the whole lot away so that I can start with a blank slate. Same goes for the weeds that keep growing up from under the patio. I've never gardened before: my mum did it when I was a child, and when I was a teenager we moved into a flat where a pot of mint and a pot of thyme was the extent of our garden. I'm a bit at a loss as to where to begin. We have two narrow strips of dirt running along the two bits of the fence (the other half of the garden is bordered by our house), and the area on the other side of the fence is technically free for us to grow stuff, although I think a series of large pot plants might be better. I've always wanted to grow herbs, but I think we need this ivy out of the way before I'd be in a position to plant a single thing.
But I'm determined to do something. If all goes well, Matthias and I will be here for quite some time, and I'm sick of the garden being a wasteland and the house having no character. This post is mostly an attempt to hold myself accountable!
