Interior Design

We hadn’t planned on updating the carpets straight away and were going to make do with the rather funky green carpet in the living room. However once we got the keys to the empty property we realised just how manky the bedroom carpets really were and decided to replace some of most of carpets straight away. We went to the local Franks Carpets round the corner from us and picked up a few samples. There wasn’t too much choice in line with our 0 budget and we ended up choosing 2 different styles, one for the living room and a different one for the bedrooms.

To save money we got rid of the old carpet ourselves, but due to time restraints we left the installation of the new carpets to the professionals.

Having removed the carpets and falling in love with the look of the wooden floor boards, we were a little sad that we did not have the time or finances at that point in time to restore the floor / put new wooden floors down. I suppose that’s a dream that can still be fulfilled in the future and for now the new carpets were a much needed and welcome improvement.

We had a good week overlap between getting our keys to the new house and having to hand back the keys to our old rental. Although it was nice to not have to move in 1 day and feel like we had a bit more time, it still ended up being an extremely stressful week especially when we decided we needed the carpets replacing and ideally before we moved all the furniture in.

But we ended up being really lucky, as Franks Carpets managed to squeeze us into their schedule on the Thursday, the day before we’d hired a van to move all the large furniture across. This was great as it meant the house was still pretty much empty allowing for a quick and easy carpet installation.

Here’s the after shots – such an improvement.

Let me introduce you to our 1970’s doer upper – our very first own home.

I love a good old house browse and could waste hours nosying at what was for sale / to rent in the local area and further afield, dreaming of finding my own perfect property one day. On one of these searches I came across 2 properties in my village and decided that, although we weren’t looking to buy yet (especially in my partners opinion who was still happy to rent for a couple of years), it would be good to at least start viewing houses to gain a better insight into the housing market and what to expect. Luis agreed and so we booked to view the two properties. On the day however one of the properties had already been sold and so we only had one house left to view.

We pulled into a quiet cul de sac and met the estate agent out front. The property in question was a semi detached house built in the 1970’s and with décor inside to match. It had a front and back garden as well as a detached garage. We didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as we entered, there was something about the house which immediately made us feel at home.

The downstairs was comprised of an open plan kitchen-dinning area which felt spacious and welcoming and a large living room with windows that stretched right across the room and let in soo much light, which was such a welcome feature compared to the lack of light in our current rental. The upstairs had two double bedrooms, a third single box room with a wall of built in cupboards and one decent sized family bathroom. Throughout the viewing there was no traffic noise to note and the peace and quiet gave a calming presence to the place; another plus for Luis and me who don’t deal well with lots of noise. The house also backed onto a big open field which was an absolute bonus in our minds as it would be perfect for walking Maya and letting her have a run around.

Ignoring the dated décor and slightly musty smell, we could see the potential and upon leaving I was surprised to find Luis saying he could actually envision us buying after all. I was giddy with excitement at his statement and I think he was just as surprised at himself as I was. Once we got home we just kinda looked at each other in incredulity – were we actually going to consider buying a house?

We hadn’t even hit our 2 year anniversary at this point and had so far only dreamt about buying a house together one day, so the fact that we were suddenly seriously considering it, somewhat outta the blue, was a big deal and a big decision for us to make. We spent the next couple of days working through all the details and letting the idea settle as well as also booking a second viewing to have another look around and show our parents, who also liked the house and could see the potential.

Our minds were made up pretty soon to be honest as we didn’t want to miss out on the property and so after a few months for the legal stuff to be sorted we finally picked up to keys to our very own 1970’s doer upper house in June 2023.

It was all kind of surreal to be honest, but also felt amazing; what a feeling, being able to come home to our very own first home together!

Now enough rambling, I’m sure you’re curious to see what our blast from the past semi looked liked when we first moved in, so here are the photos from the listing:

Would love to know if any of you are also renovating a property and what you’ve been getting up to. I’ve got a lot more renovation content coming up, so make sure to be following along as we slowly bring this blast form the past into the 21st century and make it our home. If you’re curious for more up to date sneak peaks of our home, make sure to follow along on Instagram and Tiktok @simplycarinaxo .