Where we are now

This is where we've got to by the end of October. We're a little further on but these are the photo's we have so far....

Catch Up

Stump up!

Hello eveyone (or possibly no one). I've been a real slacker at this recently but life has done the usual of getting in the way. Anyway a couple of people have been asking to see the photo's from our gardening party so here due to popular demand they are, our friends pulling up our stump!

I have to admit it's still where they left it as me and Tig can't move it by ourselves lol.

How does your garden grow?

The lawn before

The Garden has given us the most pleasure so far. We have spent hours in there chopping and hacking at everything. There is ivy everywhere and we have cut it at the base of all the trees but it still needs stripping at the top. Tig wants to use our climbing harnesses so that he can get right to the top safely. We've managed to fill all 60 feet of the lawn with all the cut down bushes and tree limbs we've produced from our mini wood on the other side. It's taking a while to chop up but it's just so peaceful there that we don't mind. You can't hear any cars and because of the large green area next to our property there are loads of birds that fill the air with their song.

The lawn after

The wooded area

Meanwhile in the bathroom

Before

While Tig has been hard at work in the sitting room I have had the task of taking off the tiles in the Bathroom. An easy task I hear you cry. No, not when they've been stuck on with cement! It's proving easier to get the plaster off than the cement. After doing about four hours in total over the weekend I hurt and I haven't even done half of it yet. Guess what I'm doing over the bank holiday weekend.

hours after

The Fireplace

The original fire place

When we first looked at the property we thought that the fireplace had probably just had a gas fire in it. Once we bought the flat and we started pulling things apart we realised that the person before us had been using a real fire and that it had just been boarded over. Toby really wants to put a wood burning stove in and hated the fireplace so he demolished it. Whilst doing that we have discovered some quite nice brickwork underneath so Tig is taking the whole chimney stack in the sitting room back to the bricks.

Demolition

Tig is "Demolition Man"

Designer Green Fingers

While the indoor of the flat is the priority at the moment it hasn't stopped us coming up with a million ideas for the garden. We're so spoiled with the size that rather than choose which idea we liked best we thought we could do the top three.

The plan so far is to split the garden into three sections, a pation with raised flower beds closest to the house. We wanted to put our herbs in here but may have to rethink that as it is the part that gets the least sun.

The middle section we want to be mostly grass, we were thinking a circular lawn with four corner flower beds. At the shady end we're considering ferns and the like but I definitely want some flowers as well. Tig's not keen on my idea of at least a couple of rose bushes but I'm confident I cn bring him round to the idea. Roses remind me so much of my Nan and Grandad's garden when I was small and I'd love to try my hand at growing them.

The last section will be the most practical and the most rewarding (we hope). Our very own veg patch. We're still debating what veg as there are so many we would like but my Irish heritage means potaoes are a must and then we'l be looking at how much room other veg need.

It may be that we're getting a little carried away but the idea that we own this little part of Hampton is only just sinking in and we're just so excited.

Plans and ponderings

We had to do a proposed plan of what work we intend to do inside the house before the landowner would approve it. The idea is to knock three walls down, one between the toilet and bathroom and the two that make the bulk of the sitting room so as to make the flat more open plan. This is the idea but we have to try not to bring the ceiling down at the same time.

At last It's Ours!

University

I have just received a letter from St Mary's College asking me to go for an interview! It is the Uni and course I desperately want to get onto and I was starting to get worried that I wouldn't even get an interview, especially after being turned down by Kingston Uni. I have to make sure that I impress at the interview. Not as easy as it may sound as I struggle with interviews. Now all I have to do is spend the next month looking up interview tips and trying to decide what to wear.

So we've finally exchanged! This is the penultimate step in the process of buying a house. This is the bit where you have to come up with your deposit. It's a scary business getting thousands of pounds together and sending it off into the wide blue yonder (via the bank). Part of you worries they'll lose it also there is the fear that this is the point of no return.

You sign the contract and once that is sent off along with the money we can't back out without losing the deposit. They can still back out of course so you have to add to the mix the fact that you can't properly celebrate because they might change their minds or you may be gazumped! But while we won't count our chickens before we have the keys it is starting to get very exciting. They have set the completion date for March 5th 2009, only 20 days to go.

The Garden

Here are a couple of photos of the garden. It is (as you can see) really quite big. The only downside to it is that it is the front garden but being, as we are, at the end of a close it's not as though we will have many passers by. Tig has already done a design although not wih any actual plants. I'll have to see if I can get a copy scanned.

Beginning

So we are hoping that we will at least be at the point of exchange by Monday.

There is so much work that needs to be done before we can even think about moving in, so we're champing at the bit to get to the point where we can start. For any of you who are as ignorant as I was until recently about buying property; after the banks and solicitors have fannied around for what seems an eternity, you exchange contracts and hand over 10% of your dosh. Then there is another (I'm praying shorter) period of fannying around before you get to completion. This is when you get the keys and it belongs to you.