The Ongoing Saga of Ruby Trying to Own A Home

ruby_eskimo

It was certainly an experience, especially as it was early March 2020 so we were very lucky that our builders managed to get the toilet sorted the day before all the public toilets closed near us!

September NSD's - 12 / 15

Must try better next month but still not too bad really as it's seemed that we've needed to buy something for the house every single day 😂  Although I was going to take advantage of the Space NK sale to buy a new concealer as I noticed mine was running low this morning, but the website keeps crashing when I go to checkout so going to take that as a sign that I don't need to replace just yet!

In the office today and it's freezing; I am literally sitting here in my coat, it's that cold.  And I was hoping to have a catch up with my boss today while there isn't anyone else in, but appears it's the one day he's decided to work from home 🤣  

Saturday we spent hours looking for tiles for the bathroom.  Have decided to go for the same wall ones we had in our last house and a different floor style.  I'm really struggling with decorating decisions in the new house as I really liked how we decorated the last place and we have the same furniture in this house so I'm naturally being drawn to the same colours and styles in this house.  Is it weird if we essentially copy and paste into the new house? 😆

Sunday we stripped most of the wallpaper in the main bedroom, which DH started last weekend when I was at my parents house.  Not sure if we'll need to re-plaster before painting so will get the plasterer to check on Friday when they're replacing ceilings.

I also managed to finally get around to listing a few things for sale last night, mainly the wardrobe accessories that we don't need anymore (drawers etc.).  Have had a few messages this morning so looks promising and will be nice to add a little more into the decorating pot.

debtfreewannabe321

Haha we were also planning on a copy and paste of our old house we loved the colours we had in the last house and I think when it comes to each room I will be looking for very similar ways to decorate too

beanielou

I would just replicate what you love. 

South_coast

I don't think there's anything wrong with copying and pasting either. If that's your taste, then it's your taste - it doesn't matter that it's a different house!

ruby_eskimo

Thanks @debtfreewannabe321. @beanielou and @South_coast - I feel a lot better about the decisions we're starting to make with the house.  But it's actually going to be a while yet before we get paint on any walls 😆

Electrician came on Monday and already things look a lot better - he tidied up all the loose cables, installed a few new outlets so we aren't trailing cables everywhere and even worked out what's happening with the flaky internet here - the cable going into the house is exposed to the elements so need to get that looked at soon if I can ever get hold of virgin media.  So now we have the builders coming Friday to put ceilings up which will make it seem a little less like a building site.  Apart from DH has now stripped all the wallpaper in our bedroom, including the ceiling (yes they had textured wallpaper on the ceiling) which was the only intact room we had 🤣  It will definitely need re-skimming at least in there so will have to wait and see what the guys say at the end of the week.

We've also finally heard back from the life insurance company we were working with - we kept the existing policy to cover the original mortgage amount and were looking at another policy to cover the shortfall off the new amount.  We're very limited with providers due to DH's existing medical issues and the new one have now said they won't cover any disability caused by anything for DH, even if it's absolutely nothing to do with his ongoing issues.  And it was A LOT they wanted us to pay every month.  So we're thinking about taking the money we'd budgeted for that and sticking it in my S&S ISA for the next 5 years and then when we come to re-mortgage we'll look at our options again.  We'll continue with the existing policy that covers over 50% of the mortgage and just keep our fingers crossed that nothing major happens in the next 5 years!

ruby_eskimo

Currently sitting here in my kitchen surrounded by the contents of my living room while the builders crack on with insulating and boarding out our ceilings downstairs.  It's going to be a busy few weeks with everything they're going to be doing but hopefully it will be worth it eventually!  

Had a couple of planned spends over the last few days - finally had my hair cut after 6 months and it was very much worth it (especially when you get NHS discount!) and a check up at the dentist.  Also had my Covid and flu jabs yesterday so feeling very accomplished if a little under the weather as my immune system kicks in.  

This weekend we have a mixture of pre-planned fun and DIY - tomorrow night we're off to see Starlight Express which is one of my favorite musicals ever and while I know they've updated it a bit, I'm probably still going to get a bit emotional about it.  Will be making use of my railcard to get reduced train fare and then we have a voucher for a meal that we're going to use before hand so should be a relatively cheap-ish night out.  Then Sunday we have to strip the wallpaper in the living room before heading off to a kitchen design appointment.  We're only going so we can get a proper CAD drawing for what we want before going off to DIY Kitchens and also giving a copy to the builder to get proper quotes.  

Still waiting on the replacement codes from the bank so I can actually log in to our mortgage account and start overpaying.  It might be pennies that we're OP but they all add up!

ruby_eskimo

Well the kitchen not only has the living room contents but now it's been joined by the contents of my office too 😳  Oh and a skip turned up this morning that we weren't expecting 🤣  

We managed to strip all the wallpaper in the living room yesterday and the wall is pretty much crack city so looks like it will have to be re-skimmed but the foreman wants to come and check it out this afternoon and see if it all needs doing.  So they've moved on to the ceiling in my office and that means we have to strip the wallpaper in the office this evening.  Luckily most of the walls are taken up by doors so shouldn't take too long 🤞  

As predicted I cried a lot at Starlight Express on Saturday night - even just walking into the theatre 🤣  Loved everything about the production even if the family next to us took great offence at the new version of one of the main characters and talked throughout every time they were on 😤

On the money front we sold a the old drawers from my Ikea wardrobe and now just need the person to pay and come and collect.  I'll also offer them the extra pull out shelf as well because I just want it gone from the house.  That will be an extra £20 into the house pot to go towards the re-plastering.

Right need to try and get back to work now.  At least the builders have the same taste in music as me, makes it a slightly more enjoyable experience.

LadyWithAPlan

All sounds like real (if messy!) progress on the house 

I think when one has bought certain furniture etc it lends itself to certain colours and decorating styles so it’s quite natural to copy and paste .. 
maybe let yourself have one room to go wild aka new colours 

annoying re the insurance - sounds like if you can save enough be good plan instead - I guess you could run numbers on how long it will take you to save the difference re what you would be spending on insurance 
hopefully your OPs can kick in soon 

feel bad but I have seen loads musicals but I can’t think I have seen starlight express - will pop on my wish list - love a cheaper night out - I have the remnants of a pizza chain £150 gift  card - what with specials etc it’s paid for 4 meals for 2 and got maybe £24 left 

ruby_eskimo

A massive skip has just turned up that we weren't expecting - turns out the plumber is coming tomorrow to start stripping out the bathroom 😲  I can't keep up with the speed of what's happening 🤣  

Was having a chat with DH and think we've agreed that the hallway is going to be the "experiment" when it comes to colours @LadyWithAPlan.  

ruby_eskimo

Last night was spent stripping wallpaper again from my office - looks like all the walls that adjoin our neighbours are the worst for cracks, and I wonder why when they've almost rebuilt the entire thing 🙄  So plasterer is prepping both downstairs rooms for re-plastering as I type.

Plumber is doing his thing and a whole crew turned up to strip out the bathroom - they're actually supposed to be working on our friend's garden (the friend that recommended this builder) but as it's chucking it down with rain, the foreman has moved them to our job so they still get paid 😀

More unexpected costs in the form of a new water tank in the loft as the current one is apparently not big enough to actually fill a bath 🤣  You really couldn't make this stuff up.  We also need a new shower pump but I was expecting that anyway.

Still waiting on ebay buyer to pay for their stuff and come and collect it.  But managed to get a new in box thermos with spare cup on there last night for less than £5 which will come in handy to help us save money when we escape the building site for some free days out in the foreseeable future.