Making the house a home
I’ve been living in this house for 1½ years now. I got the keys on July 1st 2024, and my/our things were moved in the weekend of July 13-14. I had two weeks to try and get as much done, before sweet friends would come to help me, to get all my (and Arwen’s) things to the new house. I started with painting everything. I was able to finish downstairs, although some areas could need an extra layer, as the walls have absorbed some paint here and there, even though I/we (a good friend helped me a few times) used the special primer on the walls. Adding the primer first, meant that I had to paint all the walls twice, taking up way more time and energy than I had originally planned. The upstairs rooms have an absurd high ceiling, and I tried to start painting there, using a special roller. But then, the guys for the floors came (which turned into a whole Triggered…-saga), so I wasn’t able to paint anymore…
At least the downstairs area had been done, with the purple wall needing another layer to look better, but it is as it is… The floors had been mostly done, which was an awful bit, as things kept going wrong and it drove me nuts… I had made this whole “schedule” in my head, and now, it was disrupted several times, as the skirt boards were a mess, thanks to one dude that didn’t listen to me, patronized me, and was more interested in getting my Wi-Fi, than in getting the job done… But… After the weekend of the 13-14th, Arwen and I had moved to our new home. This post will feature old and some new pictures. It may seem like a “simple & easy” post, but getting decent alt texts for my images and such… Took more time than I thought… 😇
The two upstairs rooms had not been painted. Just a few walls in the room that would become the guestroom. I keep telling myself that, some day, I will be able to paint them still… I wonder if I may ever get to that, as I found out that I need help to get these rooms done, as the ceiling is so high. And I have tried to use the special roller with the telescopic steel, but I can’t manage it properly, without my body, especially my hands and shoulders, starting to kill me… This video I made will hopefully show how ridiculously high those ceilings are…
makertube.net/w/ipHbdYqR6d54jN…
After we had moved, I had to finish up the last things at the old apartment. I was fortunate that they wanted to renovate some things, which meant less work for me to do before handing in the keys. Bit by bit, I was working on making little changes to the house, making it more of a home. Arwen and I were exploring the neighborhood, and we found the Herperduin, which quickly became a favorite for both Arwen and myself. But, my health wasn’t the best, and I started to struggle some with my hip as well. Things I wanted to do, they took more time. And others, I needed help and/or money for. Unfortunately, not only my health was getting worse, due to my hip prostetic’s cup coming loose… But, Arwen also started to struggle. She got a bad infection in both ears, which was so hard for her. And, I did my best to care for her, I even asked people to help me when my funds were depleted… But, that also meant that I didn’t have much funds to work on the house more. And, with a hip not working properly all of the time, some chores also needed more help from others.
Bit by bit, I managed to make some upgrades. I replaced a white IKEA Billy cabinet with a black one, to fit wiith the two new Billy’s that I previously got. Two sweet friends had come over to help me hang the shelf above the TV. I had filled it with my knick-knacks, like candle holders, bottles of special drink, handpainted plates, a beautiful carved wooden dolphin statue and… My grandmother’s thimble collection. She had a lot of those, some I brought along from my travels. There are two special holders with them on the shelf, but only one is visible in the picture. But slowly, the boxes I had were being unpacked, and my house started to look like my “messy” home…
The gardens gave me a lot of frustration. No matter how hard I tried to get them weed-free, before I sat down on the couch with a cool drink, the weeds were already back with a vengeance. Before my surgeries, I had done my best to clean out the gardens, focusing most on the front one. But, when my mum stayed with me, after the second surgery, she worked so damn hard, as the weeds were just out of control. In October, my bestie came over and she helped me big time by cleaning the front garden together and… We put down rootfabric, so the weeds would have a more difficult time getting through again.
A month later, I was able to get two rolls of fake grass, and I managed to get them into the garden. I know it’s not perfect, the ground below it is not straight and all that… But this was the best I could do on my own (without taking the rootfabric out to try and straighten the ground first, which I am definitely not good at!). At least, it looks a whole lot better than it had done for the first full year… Now, I need to try and focus on the back garden, before the little pupper may come. But, bestie has already promised me that she’d come over again to help some more… 💜
My purple “Tuskers” shelf, and the black shelf for Arwen below it… Slowly, this house is becoming a home. I have way too many knick-knacks everywhere, which makes it more challenging to try and keep it clean. Dusting isn’t something my hands really enjoy a lot, unfortunately… But all these little things, these reminders, these memories (some painful ones, like losing Arwen)… They make my house a home. They show what I love, what I care about, my hobbies and passions.
Still many things that I would like to improve, that I would like to replace with better ones. But I am definitely not planning on moving out anytime soon. So, I have time. And hopefully, I will get the needed funds, or the needed help, or the needed spoons, to be able to keep making this house more of a home…
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The image features a person and a chocolate Labrador Retriever. The dog is positioned on the left side of the image, with its mouth open and tongue out, appearing happy and relaxed.Flickr
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