Hand Over and the Move

22 May 2008 and beyond.

Finally, the day we had dreamed of for the past 16 months had arrived. We had hoped and wished that it would have happened sooner – that handover would have been some time in March or April but alas that wasn’t to have occurred. It took every single day of the 6 months allotted in the contract for us to receive the house.

Boy, did it d-r-a-g.

So the day came. I’m not sure what I envisaged for it really. I guess it might be different for others because we had had access to the house whenever we wanted. Plus, even on the day of handover, which took place late in the afternoon; we were allowed to move our stuff in. Heck, we could have moved our stuff in a few days before and I don’t think the builder would have cared at all. So there was no excited rush to run through the house because we had done that so often - we were all ready there and moving in when the builder arrived that afternoon.

Basically, in terms of handover, the builder just came around gave us the paper work, I signed a few things, he changed the locks, handed us the keys and that was it.

The day before my 30th birthday marks the day we received our brand new house. It wasn’t the day we slept in our house, that day was reserved from my birthday (mainly because we couldn’t move it all in). Speaking of moving, it has taken a while to move in – actually, we are still moving stuff from the other house (which is yet to sell but that’s another story!). We attended a lovely wedding the weekend of the 24th and 25th which meant no moving when we otherwise would have.

Slowly, over the last few weeks we have made the place our home. I went back to the ‘other’ house yesterday and it just felt weird. I had wondered what it would be like to leave the place Trevor and I had lived in for pretty much our whole relationship together; the house we lived our initial married life in; the place that both our children came home from the hospital to; our first home. I thought I would miss it but I don’t.

Byron and Lily have come out of their shell in this new place. Lily especially. She’s a whole new kid. There is space for them to run and scream and play. I love watching them follow each other around. I love that they have space to do kid things. I love that Byron uses the hallway or big stretch from the front door to the laundry as his ‘freeway’. I love that Lily runs, literally, all over the place. I love that they have a space just for them.

Best of all….I love that we have our space; everyone has a space that is theirs which is perfect.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some photos of our house…

The house (or at least the front of it)...

The kitchen and family rooms...

We opted for a black, red, white and silver splash back. We were bold and brave. We couldn't be happier with our courageous efforts.

Our bedroom and bathroom:

Our big king sized bed arrived on 22 May 2008. We couldn't be happier. It's so nice and cozy. The lovely linen was courtesy of my mother - a house warming gift. Trevor and I don't know ourselves in such a big bed as we had only had a double before this. It's so strange to roll over and not touch...or in my case roll over, feel the cold patch and roll right back to my warm patch. Sigh. It's so lovely!

I don't think I've introduced my carpet before. It's a chocolate brown, taupey colour - I can't quite recall actually. It's nice and soft which is all that matters. There is so much room to play in our bedroom. Today, we played horsey with kids. Lily kept wanting to ride 'horsey'. Aside from the meida room, and the other bedrooms, there isn't alot of softness around the place which is why we love our bedroom so much!

Lily's bedroom:

Her bedroom is as sweet as she is. It has the same decor as her old room (with no frieze). She will move into a little toddler bed soon but I thought for now, with the recent move, the safe haven of her cot would be best.

Byron's bedroom:

Sigh. I love his room. It's perfectly suited to Byron, green wall and all!

The playroom:

YES they have a lot of toys.

YES it's nice and colourful.

YES they play in there.

YES it gets very messy.

Our mailbox:

We installed it today.

Now it feels like home.

So there you have it...a snippet of our new home. I walk around each night wondering if it's really ours. I know it's ours....by golly I've worked so hard for it...it's just that, we have waited so long for it that it's hard to believe it's real. You know? I guess it is. I gotta go back to work tomorrow to pay for it. Sigh. I wish I could stay on holidays forever!