Hello all! As if you couldn’t tell what this post is about, Steve and I are officially homeowners. After the extremely long process that we started in November last year, and three months of living up north while we house hunted, we finally closed on our first home in May. We moved in about a month ago and have been getting settled in, hence the radio silence around these parts. It has just been all-consuming, but I am officially back from the black hole that I got sucked into that is new homeownership.
We’re so thrilled to finally be homeowners. We have worked so hard for it, and to finally see that hard work pay off is just amazing. We’ve bought a house in a lovely little village in North Yorkshire that we absolutely love. The area is so nice and it’s just a great place to raise a family here. Our house is three bedrooms, with a conservatory and a nice little garden for Aidan to play in. The perfect starter home for our little family!
We’ve slowly been unpacking, and making the house our own but there is definitely a lot of work to be done. Even though this isn’t our “forever” home, we still want to do loads to the place to make it what we want. It will all take time, but I will definitely enjoy the process. I am dying to get my hands dirty with a little DIY and renovations! (okay, SOME renovations…I’ll leave a lot of stuff to the professionals!).
I thought it would be fun to list some of the things we have planned, or want to have done. Also, it’s kinda like a little extra “to-do” list for me. One thing we’ve definitely learned so far being homeowners is that the to-do list is neverending!
PAINT.
The whole entirety of inside of the house needs to be repainted. Like, every single room. The previous homeowner used a green/grey color and it’s definitely seen better days! I can’t wait to bring bright, light colors in to freshen the place up. I’ve been scouring Pinterest nonstop for inspiration!
DESIGN AIDAN’S ROOM.
Okay, this should probably be at the top of the list. I literally don’t care what gets done until Aidan’s room is completed. I’ve already bought the paint and some bits, so now it’s all about getting it done. I’ll definitely be doing a reveal of that room on here, so watch this space.
UPDATE THE WINDOWS.
We thankfully have double- lazed windows throughout the house, but some of them will definitely need updating soon I think. I’ve read recently about triple glazing and it’s added energy saving benefits, and am definitely interested in looking into this option more – click here to see loads of different double glazed and triple glazed options. I’ve heard winters in North Yorkshire can be brutal, so updating our windows would be a good investment for years to come!
REDO THE KITCHEN AND DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM.
These two rooms are just screaming to be completely redone. They a bit…outdated. My goal is to completely redo them eventually. The downstairs bathroom has awful textured wallpaper and very cheap flooring that is coming up, and it needs new fixtures. The kitchen has the same flooring, and the countertops need to be replaced as well. They will definitely be the two big projects that we eventually do, so we’ll definitely need to save up before we can tackle them.
UPDATE THE CONSERVATORY ROOF.
My goal is to eventually make the conservatory into a play room for Aidan as it’s such a great space for it (and to be honest, I don’t know what else to do with the space; right now it’s just storage for all of the stuff we haven’t unpacked). The only problem is that we’ve noticed it gets extremely hot in there. Obviously we’ll put up blinds which will help, but the roof still lets in a lot of light/doesn’t block out any heat. I definitely want to get the roof replaced as I think this would solve that issue.
OPEN UP THE DOWNSTAIRS SPACE.
The downstairs has potential to be a great open space. We’ve been told by the previous homeowner that at least two of the walls are non-loadbearing and could be taken down to create an open floor plan, making the sitting room bigger, so we’ll definitely be doing that!
Being new homeowners, we know that everything we want to do will take time. Renovations take time, money and a lot of patience. Plus, having a little one running around will definitely make it a bit more challenging! Nevertheless, we are looking forward to life here, and I can’t wait to take you all along on the journey! Make sure to follow along here, and on Instagram using the hashtag #mcgrathsmovehouse.
xx Lauren
