Dining room before and after ( sort of)

I was changing the table cloth at the weekend so took the opportunity to catch a photo before the table becomes my desk again. We have a tablecloth on all the time because it hides the bashes and marks on the table. It's currently serving as my home office so only really gets used as a dining table at the weekends and does not look this neat and tidy which is sad because I was really looking forward to having a table to eat at. There's a lot of stuff hanging about this area. It's mostly garden stuff some that is used often now it's growing season and some that just needs to be put away in the garage.

I think our way is much more homely than the previous décor. 

Garden

The garden will need some time and money till I can really say it's looking nice, but I'm really enjoying the daily progress of the plants at the moment. I've clustered the pots where I can see them from my home office.

The Studio

We are calling our second bedroom the studio. Lyle's hi-tech computer system and all his instruments are in here but it also has a sofa bed in for overnight guests and so I can go in and visit.

It's probably the room we will be last to do anything else to. The wallpaper is silver and I hated it when we moved in but it's grown on me. I think, like the other rooms we've just softened it with our furniture.

So here's a before and after photoshoot. I should have put the lights on before taking my photos.

How things are looking now living room

We've reached the stage that without tradesmen or significant savings we can't do anymore to the house.  And we can't get tradesmen in due to the lock down.

We've put our furniture in and some art work, plants etc and it looks much different from how it did when we came to view it. 

Here's  photos of the living room from the sales listing for the house and now for comparison.

 

these have got to go

I'm slowly removing them. One letter at a time. Red wine is gone just these two to go.

I want to be outside.

The weather has been terrible. We've been here five weeks and I only just got a chance to start pottering in the garden in between snow flurries last weekend. I'm working from home waiting for a plumber to fix a drip and I want to be out there...

a new boring radiator.

It feels warmer but we'll need to see on a normal day when no one is on and the heating is controlled by the timer how much temperature difference it makes. 

bye bye

This is a radiator would you believe. It does a better job of being decorative than it does of being warm. And it's a bold choice decor wise. Tomorrow it will be replaced with a normal and hopefully warmer radiator cause we are pretty cold.

i unpacked the last box today.

We're still struggling a bit to get out all our bins and recycling because there is so much extra when you first move house and we are having to wait for collections before we can put more stuff out so we've a pile of cardboard and bags full of non recyclable packaging waiting to go out. But we're unpacked and even have all our knock knacks around the place. 

colour.

The previous owner only decorated in black and white as far as we can tell. Her furniture was black too. We've got some colour splashes here and there. But this is really bringing some bright to the bedroom. 

she definitely has french country bedroom vibes

dining Room

A new tablecloth on an old table and 4 newly built IKEA chairs and we have a dining corner. 

two Friday nights in a row spent building beds.

In the flat the bed could only fit up against the wall so I could never get in without climbing over Lyle and we couldn't each have a bedside unit. Also the bed had been taken apart and reassembled so many times that it creaked when breathing. I have a dream bedroom in my head, it's french country so when we decided to buy a new bed it needed to go with that vision instead of the current decor. Last night was our first night in it and it was so comfy, quiet and non shoogly. Also we now each have our own bedside drawers. 

sorted a nook

Starting to feel at home

art

Last thing before bed we hung up command hooks so they had overnight to bond before hanging the art up this morning. An odd task to do before unpacking is completed but the pictures are big and it got them out of the way. 

I noticed one is squint ( or maybe both) when I went to take the photo though. It's getting fixed later. For now these are not taking up floor clutter space. 

found the kettle

Wanted a chamomile tea for ages. Only managed to find peppermint though. 

curtains

My next, post IKEA task was changing the living room curtains. The previous ones were seethrough from outside when the lights were on and did nothing against the cold air. This living room isn't that warm and hopefully these will be a big help especially as they are right next to the sofa. 

also pictured. Various unpacked items 

just moved!

I planned to keep a very up to date blog on transitioning a new house to our home. But we got the keys pretty late in the day yesterday and it's been pretty go go go. 

We've just got back from ikea so it's time to start. 

First thing is this IKEA herb planter and herbs from Aldi.