Renovation project - Home is where the heart is

Renovation project - Home is where the heart is

Well we are back in the UK and it’s time to get the house ready, there is so much cleaning and clearing to do.

I look at the gardens that are so overgrown, we appreciate that not everybody enjoys gardening,and that the tenants started to move out some weeks ago, so have not been able to do anything to it recently but as I look at the front garden, I remember my little cherry blossom tree, as I look at the big tree in the garden. We have to make the decision, when it was my home; I had a planted garden, with all sorts of flowers and plants. But we will be selling and we will be leaving the property empty, so we have no choice but to dig everything up and make it look nice, but so that it does not require any looking after.

The back garden is the same, there is so much ivy and a swing set and trampoline (which my granddaughter absolutely loves, but is not good for a sale) we have to work out what we are going to do with them. They are like new; the old tenants do not want them. We really don’t want to throw them away but we don’t have time to advertise them.

We have a chat with one of the neighbours who knows somebody who would appreciate them. As it turns out it is a neighbour from further up the road, this is a guy I remember, he had just met his wife when I left, so I congratulate them on the birth of their child (well three of them and 8 years late!)

This is something that really takes us by surprise, the house is on a main road, yet the neighbours are so friendly and nice. We chat to so many and as the rubbish collection is still weekly we can use the wheelie bins of many different neighbours this cuts down on our trips to the tip.

It is strange as I remember this being a nice place to live, but I had forgotten trust how lovely my neighbours were and how lovely the owners of the little corner shop were.

I actually have a pang of homesickness for this house, then I remember the job I had when living here and the long hours and the traffic and I fall back in love with my little French village.

We have more than a week’s work here to get the house ready for the market, but this means I get to see much more of my granddaughter, and have her for overnight stays. This is the best part of this trip, though on her first visit she breaks my heart. She tells me how much she loves this house, so I ask her why and she replies “because it means you aren’t so far away”.

I can continue to write now I have dried my tears, we talk about what our new house will be like and the new swimming pool like we had in Spain and she is much happier.

So here are a few photos of the house as it is, we will show you the after photos soon. But for now, it is make a plan of action to transform the property for as little money as possible. So do we replace the bathroom and the kitchen or do we just redecorate. 

Decisions decisions