Our very own house!!!

So, last summer Brad and I decided that we love London enough to stick around for a few more years, and that we just couldn't keep renting.  We were basically paying someone else's mortgage and getting nothing out of it.  There were several things we would have loved to do do our rental house that we did not because it wasn't ours to change.

We started looking at houses, and we had a very small area of consideration because we knew we wanted the kids to stay at Garfield and Brad still needed to have easy access to the Wimbledon train station on a daily basis.  We viewed about 8-10 houses, and some were discounted immediately due to location, or layout.  It was different than the other two times we were looking for houses, as we had to make all the appointments on our own this time and there are SO many different estate agents in  London!  But rightmove was amazing at helping to find houses with all our wants/needs.

The first house that Brad looked at is the house that we one we decided to make an offer.  The location is great on a quiet street, the storage in the house is amazing, the kitchen extension is great, and it's a tad bit bigger than our rental house.  We made the offer on the 24 June, the day before Brexit, which was good time for us as the pound dropped, which meant that our dollar would go further than before Brexit!  So, began the process.  We were finally able to agree a completion date of early November, and once the contracts were exchanged in early October, at that point we were legally bound and half of the money was in the hands of the solicitor! (The estate agent for the seller said this process was super easy comparatively.  I think we were lucky because the house the sellers were buying was the end of the chain because it was an older man moving out..)

The keys were finally ours on 4 November!  Hooray!  We are on the property ladder.  We had some painting done on the house and then we were ready to move in.  I will say this move of about .3 miles was so much less stressful than any other move we have made, especially the move to London.  And I (and my dad) did all of the packing, which forced me to purge a lot of stuff, which is a great feeling!

We are finally feeling very settled, so here are some photos of our new home, which feels more like home than our other house ever did!

The front door/walkway.  A house with the door number easily identifiable on the outside!

The front garden.  The shed contains the bikes.  And it is nice to have 3 trash bins.
And yes that is our Christmas tree...

The front entrance.  Note the British flag mat (a gift from Brads co-workers.)

The reception room, which contains the carpet that had been in storage for 5 years.  We didn't intend to bring
it to London, but I am thankful it did because it's perfect!

The other side of the reception room.

The downstairs powder room, with an actual coat closet on the left!

The Kitchen.  On the far left hand side of the photo is the desk.

The eating and cooking areas.

The patio is an extension of the kitchen when it actually warm enough to open the doors!

The door is to the very small, but amazing laundry room.  So glad it's not in the middle of my kitchen anymore!

The kids/guest bath

Thank you Granddaddy for hanging the shower curtain rod from the ceiling!

Drew's room, note the absence of the train table, replaced by the Pottery Barn chair that was in the eaves of our last house.

Drew's room

The box room/ craft room/study/linen closet

The girls room, also with enough space for pottery barn chairs!

Finally some new bedding

Thank you Mum Mum for the amazing wall decal!  "Sisters make the best friends."

Master bedroom

Actual built-in wardrobes, AMAZING!!!

Master bathroom with a shower that has great pressure and consistent hot water.