Guys, it is finally happening! We have exchanged on our first house this week and will be moving in shortly and I am so excited. It still doesn't feel real despite having to be a grown up and discuss mortgages, home insurance and life insurance. If you'd have told me this time last year I would be packing things to move, I probably would have laughed at you, despite it being the plan. I mean, we're millennials, the housing market is crazy and I still had debts to clear, but we've done it and beaten the odds.
Now I know we're not 'officially' home owners yet but planning our first home has been a real learning curve. In my head I had pictured pretty much a pinterest-worthy interior but it turns out you actually have to compromise on that. Boo. James, surprisingly, wasn't too keen on my idea of a pink bedroom with pom pom cushions and a house of white gloss furniture. It turns out he's very much into wood evverything and blue. Lots of blue.
Cost also comes into it. I mean we've just taken out a huuuge mortgage. I'm not even exaggerating with the three u's there. Houses don't come cheap these days. First homes can be even more devastating for the bank account because you actually need things like plates, mugs and toilet roll and personally I think it's absurd that ironing boards are more expensive than actual irons.
Interior Inspiration
Interior inspiration seems to be everywhere at the moment. Maybe it's because I'm actively looking for it but nearly everywhere I turn there seems to be #InteriorGoals. Sorry, even I'm embarrassed that I just used a hashtag not on Instagram or Twitter.
I've also realised that you can now follow hashtags on Instagram and make collections, so basically all of Kate La Vie's interiors feed is now direct to my phone and below are some more of my favourite feeds to follow.
#KLVhome
@HelloOctoberAtHome
@FawnInteriors
Mood Boards & Scrapbooks
With both of our tastes in mind I set out creating some mood boards and checklists to help us plan exactly what we needed. Checklists were done by room of what we had, needed and wanted and what feels like a million shared pinterest boards were created to help fuel the interior design fire.
I got some of my favourite Pinterest images printed using Printiki so I could also set about creating a house scrap book where I could compile all my sofa fabric samples and measurements. Sometimes electronic just isn't enough. My pastels and washi tape came out too to assist with colour schemes. I'm so glad that I've put these together as it's really helped myself and J visualise the house we want and work together to achieve it and keep hold of critical dimensions for the pieces we wanted.
When I first said I wanted a pink office to J he thought I meant a bright pink room basically full of ballet pictures and shoes. Maybe I didn't explain it well. What I really meant was a white and grey room with accents of pink, such as a pink globe or desk accessories. I'm very much a visual learner and person in general and having our mood boards and scrapbook has really helped both of us plan what we want to achieve with the other fully understanding and on board.
We've decided once we have the core of things into the house we are going to focus on rooms one-by-one to ensure that we don't over complicate things or confuse things between them. I mean we don't want the coffee table in the bathroom, and moving-brain might do that to us. The mood board and scrapbook will also help us with the pieces earmarked for each room and keep everything in check....hopefully.
Deciding What to Invest in
Buying our first house. and choosing the house for us, was probably one of the biggest decisions we have had to make. Luckily, we both fell in love with our new house pretty much as soon as we saw it. It also happens to be the second house we viewed, although we did see about 20 in total.
While planning for our home we've really had to get to grips with the dimensions of the rooms. What will work, what storage solutions we might need and most importantly what will fit.
We decided that for our first home we really didn't want to scrimp on a sofa. It's something that we hope to crash out on at the end of a long day at work, entertain friends on and binge on netflix in it's comfortable arms. It's taken a lot of flumping and perching on various sofas in showrooms before we came to our conclusion and placed the order... we just have to wait 10 weeks now for it to arrive.
We also decided that we wouldn't compromise on bed's either as they play such a huge role in wellbeing and human function. Luckily we both have good beds from our parents houses which can follow us to our new place. I really would recommend spending a little more on the furniture and items which will make a big impact on your life if they were to break if you can to ensure your home is something you enjoy.
While planning for our home we've really had to get to grips with the dimensions of the rooms. What will work, what storage solutions we might need and most importantly what will fit.
We decided that for our first home we really didn't want to scrimp on a sofa. It's something that we hope to crash out on at the end of a long day at work, entertain friends on and binge on netflix in it's comfortable arms. It's taken a lot of flumping and perching on various sofas in showrooms before we came to our conclusion and placed the order... we just have to wait 10 weeks now for it to arrive.
We also decided that we wouldn't compromise on bed's either as they play such a huge role in wellbeing and human function. Luckily we both have good beds from our parents houses which can follow us to our new place. I really would recommend spending a little more on the furniture and items which will make a big impact on your life if they were to break if you can to ensure your home is something you enjoy.
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