As if you didn't know already......we moved! It's been just over 4 weeks now since we upped sticks and took the plunge to relocate, I can't believe it....well I kind of can because we've been so busy since we got here. They say that moving house is the third most stressful thing after death and divorce and I can certainly vouch for that......there was very nearly death and divorce ticked off to if I'm honest! Moving house is way up there with some of the most stressful situations I've been in.
It was the whole process that was stressful, not just the move. The countless mortgage appointments (which we had tons of because of various reasons that I won't go into because it's far too dull!), house searching, making an offer on a house we liked, then actually realising that we were going to have to pack up our house and move! Then there was the packing, erghhh the packing, never want to do that again in a hurry. Then there was the move itself and general stress surrounding moving day and the stress after moving! Ha, how many times can I say stress?!! Anyhow, it's done now, we're in our lovely new home and settling in nicely and don't have a huge amount of boxes left to empty, probably about 5 that are in the study but I'm sorting that out slowly.
We started to pack a few bits once all the legal stuff was going through but we put the loft and the garage off for quite some time and oh my god the stuff in the loft just kept on coming, there seemed to be so much stuff that came out! It was a bloody nightmare. For about 3 weeks there were boxes everywhere, I was starting to be quite stressy about the whole situation, it was pretty rubbish, all the boxes everywhere! I never remember so many boxes when I've moved in the past but we'd definitely accumulated alot of crap stuff over 6 years of living in our old house!
The night before the move my husband decided to try and get our mahoosive 4 seater monstrosity of a sofa down the stairs as we had alot of issues getting up the stairs when we first moved in (we were living in a three storey townhouse so our main living room was on the 2nd floor), he was so good and after about 15 minutes he remembered the angle he had it in to get it up the stairs and he managed to get it down so that was one less worry for moving day.
Moving morning was manic, the removal company were due at 8am (ish) and we could barely move in the house......in the picture below you can just about spot little Larny Lou in her walker, we tried to keep that area reasonably free for the kids before they were picked up by Grandma and Grandad. The removal men came and they were ace, we were still packing bits and bobs in boxes as they started bringing things down, they were rapid, they had emptied upstairs before I could even really catch my breath! However.......we then ran out of boxes (eek!) and they only had 10 spare on the van so we then had to pack the remaining things that were left in these boxes but the issue was they just turned into boxes of random stuff which we then later discovered when we got to the new house was the worse thing ever as alot of it was stuff we needed so ended up searching through countless boxes to find the squash and tea towels and loo roll etc etc! That was a bit of a fail!!
The next issue was once they had packed the house up they ran out of room......I kid you not, our crap stuff would not all fit on the lorry, I actually laughed, I genuinely thought they were joking when they said that they couldn't fit my ironing board on......alas they were deadly serious! It wasn't a huge big deal as we had to come back a few days later to get the house ready for the tenants so we just shoved as much as we can in our car and left non essentials there. Our car was piled high, our poor cats were buried beneath all of our crap stuff and they were not overly happy about being stuck in their carriers for such amount of time!
We left our house mid afternoon, we had less than 90 minutes to travel to our new house when we received the news that we hadn't actually completed which surprised us as we knew our money had been sent at 10am, after a few frantic phone calls it transpired that apparently the sellers solicitor still hadn't received our money, hmmmmmm, we were a tad confused by this!
Anyway to cut a long story short, we did get a call to say that we had finally completed and we could collect the keys in a an hour or so......this was no good to us as our removers were likely to be at the house so we were a tad pissed off (excuse my language!) and wondered what the hell was going on. Our suspicions were the sellers were not moved out and were biding time so they could finish moving out. We decided to head straight to the house and sure enough they were still moving out. We turned up with our huge lorry and the couple had the tiniest van and were moving their 5 bed house with no professional help, no wonder it was taking them so long! Anyway, they finally left and we had our keys......the house was ours, eek!
I'm not going to prattle on much more, I have waffled on far too much but I will share a few pictures with you. We are the proud owners of a 5 bed house, we have more space for the kids, a lovely big garden, a quiet cul-de-sac and it pretty much ticks all of our boxes with what we are looking for. I'm delighted and feeling very fortunate that we are in our 'forever home' (well for the foreseeable future definitely!) and can't wait to make it our home and make some wonderful memories here. We still have the study to sort, little bits of decorating to do to make it our own and few little homely touches here and there but otherwise it's starting to feel like our home!
Naturally we had to have a little housewarming and celebration so we definitely warmed this house in style with bottles of booze with friends! I actually don't think all the empties are here on closer inspection......blimey!
I was thinking that I might do a little home accessories round up at some point as I've got so many little bits that I love dotted around the house and I love seeing how other people accessorise their home , just a random thought.....
Congratulations on your new home. I broke into a cold sweat just looking at those boxes! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteLovely new house - I hope you have a great first Christmas there. xx #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteWell cheers to you! A beautiful new home and it is DONE!!! Now kick back and relax...and I hope that ironing board got lost in transit...#bestandworst
ReplyDeleteYay for the move and your house looks lovely but ooh the stress... really don't fancy moving again I have to say! We have way too much stuff! Xx
ReplyDeleteYey your in!! Sounds very stressful not looks all worth it. #bestandworst xx
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great garden - roll on spring! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteI have a confession, I couldn't read all your post. I started getting really anxious as if I was just told we were moving house again, haha. I did however look at the pictures and I think your house is fabulous. Love the garden especially, what a great space. However it was the picture of the bottles of wine that made me smile. Hopefully when we have to move again, I'm not 7 months pregnant with SPD and I can enjoy a glass or 10 of wine to celebrate. Renee @peonieandme #bestandworst x
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, first I can't believe everything didn't fit in that huge lorry! Second I can't believe the sellers were trying to move themselves with just a small van...what were they thinking?! Glad you got it all sorted in the end, and what a lovely new house you have, just in time for Christmas and memory-making!
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Aw congratulations on your new home! Moving house is so exciting and it will be so lovely for you to have more space for your little ones. Well done on getting through the stress of it all and getting all of your stuff (crap?) moved in the end! ;) #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new beautiful home! I hope that you will all be very happy there.
ReplyDeletePs. Could you get your hubby to do me a diagram please. We also live in a 3 storey house and I dread the idea of ever trying to get our sofa back out haha.
Thanks for hosting #bestandworst x
Your new house looks lovely and I hope you are all happy there :) The worst part is the time you spend living out of boxes - I cant stand to even live out of a suitcase on an overnight trip! Thanks for hosting #bestandworst :)
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Your house looks divine and congratulations! (also have wine envy!)
ReplyDeleteWe move every 8-12 months and I agree its the packing and the unpacking that is stressful & boring. I put it up there with making an appointment for a smear test.
Hope you all settle in to your beautiful new home and begin your adventures.
xx
#BestandWorst
Congrats on move the house looks lovely and I hope everything settles down quickly thanks for hosting #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteYour house looks divine and congratulations! (I now have wine envy)
ReplyDeleteWe move every 8 - 12 months and agree, it is stressful. And boring. I liken it to making an appointment for a smear test.
Hope you have all settled in and ready to begin your adventures!
xx
#BestandWorst
Congratualations Helen. I love your house so much and so happy for you guys!! We may have all this to come! xx #bestandworsr
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new home - it looks lovely. So funny that they couldn't fit your ironing board in the lorry - to be honest that's one thing I wouldn't mind leaving behind. ;) #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteJenna at Tinyfootsteps xx
well, I'm glad you made it in eventually! and congratulations on your new home, it looks wonderful! This post takes me back to 18 months ago when we moved while i was pregnant. It really is so stressful! It'll all be worth it now though that you are in your beautiful new home and getting settled! Congrats again! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your move! Moving is so incredibly stressful, we've agreed that this is our "forever house" now and we never plan to move again! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the move. I agree moving is stressful. I did it at rhe begining of last year, and have now sworn the only way I am moving agaon is if I win the lottery and I will then move into a fully furnished house and then pay someone to clear out this one.
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Wow Congratulations on your new house! It looks great with big garden too... We just moved to our house 2 yrs ago and I can totally relate the stress it brings, from getting a mortgage to finally moving in... But moving into a new house brings a lot of excitement and new beginnings too! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteOoooh, the house looks amazing!!!! That'll be lots of lovely space for you all, and a fab garden!! All that unpacking though...!! I will look forward to seeing some interiors posts in the future, congratulations on this forever home!
ReplyDelete#bestandworst
Yay congratulations! The house looks wonderful, I'm so pleased you got there in the end, even if it was so stressful. I hope you are all very happy there xx #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteAwww I'm so glad you're moved and settled.... I really felt for you, as it was hard enough for us with 1 little one! Your house looks just lovely and I'm looking forward to seeing your decorating posts, as it's what we're concentrating on now and it's really fun, I love it! (and love seeing what everyone else's houses look like hehehe). #BestandWorrst
ReplyDeleteYour house looks great. Moving is so stressful. Hope you get unpacked soon! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteWho Let the Mum Out
Congratulations what a beautiful new home! I remember our moving day 5 years ago luckily my Mum had the forethought to put the kettle, tea, tea towels, sugar and milk in one box and took it up separately so at least we had a cuppa along the way! I was 6 weeks pregnant when we moved and we extended it to a 5 bed house so pretty much the same as yours! Love the garden Helen. I hope you enjoy settling in xo #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteI HATE moving! New house looks lovely, though! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteThat does sound so stressful, I can't imagine how you were feeling on your way with the lorry and hearing you hadn't completed! I bet the prosecco was very welcome :-) Congratulations on your new home, it looks beautiful. Now for the fun part, arranging it all the way you like it x
ReplyDeleteLooks like a beautiful new house and it's worth all the stress an strain. I feel your pain we bought the house we'd been renting in March and although we didn't have to move the whole mortgage thing was stressful. We're now doing the extension and building work which is making up for the stress I 'missed' when we didn't have to move! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and enjoy your new home! :)
ReplyDeleteThe ironing board bit! PML. I can't believe you missed the golden opportunity to never iron again...I'd have left it off mate :) Congrats on the new home. #BestAndWorst
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