KLR's blog

Now that we’ve finally moved house the list of things to do has already reached a rather alarming length. The house is great – it seems solid, it’s water tight as far as the end of the lean to (though the three sheds that were standing when we moved in are now in a rather large broken heap in the garden) and the location is amazing. I am completely in love with it.

We’re yet to do anything constructive but have ripped out everything we can and are now starting to get quotes for plumbing, building and electrical work. We’ve already realised our initial plans weren’t quite right so will have a utility room that is accessible from the kitchen via a new doorway, rather than the dining room via the existing doorway to the bathroom. We’re also going to remove most of the walls that currently stand in the dining room so we will have an almost entirely open plan downstairs.

The only downsides so far are the stubborn loo, which just doesn’t really flush, and the fact that the house is freezing. In September. The former problem has been tackled using a plunger and two litres of sulphuric acid (which, incidentally, is readily available at B&Q and not subject to any proof of age checks – you can buy as much as you like and leave via the self check out) but remains a problem. Sometimes quite a grim problem, and there was some relief when we returned to work this week to buildings boasting fully functioning plumbing. As for the cold, this will probably get worse once the walls are removed and the building is open plan, but by then we’ll have a lovely new heating system, will have reblocked up the bedroom fireplace (now we know why several copies of the daily mirror were shoved up it and an unelegant box was built round it) and also insulated the walls upstairs. The roof comes right down to the ground floor ceilings, and all that separates the plaster from the great outdoors is an air gap, neatly punctuates with all manner of holes where previously fitted furniture has been stripped out. Many of the windows are old, metal originals, or wooden curiosities, which will need a bit of love, but the front of the house has serviceable but ugly double glazing, which will help with the cold. For now, I’m curling up in a hoodie every night. Brrr.

Now that we’ve finally exchanged contracts and have started the long and dull business of packing, I’ve started to miss my house terribly, even while I still live in it. It’s not just the prospect of moving from somewhere with a lovely, fully functioning bathroom to a place where the toilet barely flushes, but all the little touches that made us love our house, namely:

- the wood floors. I don’t think we will ever have such beautiful floors again – we just won’t be able to afford them.

- the bedroom. I love the shutters, stripped floors, green wall and wooden furniture combination.

- the A format book shelves, open stairs and brick wall in the dining room.

- the garden. Hopefully all my plants will live on without me.

- the shape and feel of the building. It’s not massive but it is cosy, and homely, and even though almost everything in it is new, it retains a sense of age and character that will be hard to replicate in a 1920′s end of terrace.

- the fact that we got married while we lived there. It has great memories, our little house – not least the morning we spent there after getting married and discovering we had to get to Heathrow via Carshalton owing to a forgotten driving licence.

- Carshalton itself. I still have to explain where Carshalton is to anyone who asks, but I’ll miss running through the village and up Telegraph Track, and buying books from Oxfam or picking blackberries in Beddington park.

- the BP garage. Our M&S habit has cost us many pounds (cash and weight) but there’s nothing quite like a ready meal and cheesecake when you’re exhausted and can’t be bothered to cook. And all those crisps.

- the local shops. Namely Dad’s favourite bardolino stockist, Nisa, and the lovely folk in Mervyn, better known as Melvyn, Clarke. Where now for all our last minute plasterboard screw needs?

Our new house will be great one day too, but the next few months are going to be a struggle to say the least.