As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the world I have been hit by a hankering to head home to the UK.
It’s fairly standard this time of year as the heat rises and we are forced inside, it’s been compounded this year by months of lockdown living. No school. Feral children. The need to escape for our annual summer trip. Except this year that isn’t happening, with quarantine in place in the UK and no guarantee that we would be able to re-enter Qatar, for my husband to go back to work, the kids back to school.
We would be splitting our family with no way of knowing when we’d be together. And although the grass is greener in the UK we’re staying put in Qatar for now.
Our Forever Home
However, there is something on the horizon for us. After days, weeks, months of frantically scrolling Rightmove. Searching for house after house. Looking for our forever home, somewhere we can move to. Our first, owned, family home for the five of us.
It’s been a long journey, but finally we’ve found somewhere that we want to buy.
An actual family home.
Eeek!
Making it ours
While video tours, and photographs, and my mum visiting for me is all well and good at getting an initial vibe, and it’s pretty much ready for us to move in.
However, you always want to put your stamp on your home. Whether it is rented or bought.
Whether that is deciding which of the fabulous Najla photo’s to print and put on the wall.
Which sofa cushions, throws, and indeed sofa to get. To complement the log burning fire.
What colours to paint the wall.
How to fit a table in the kitchen to make it the hub of family living.
Whether we could get planning permission to link the back of the cottage with a conservatory complete with lantern roofs showing the stunning views of the Peak District in the background. Filling with cosy, yet classic wicker furniture.
Then of course there is the deciding which boy gets which room, and how best to plan them to make them really theirs. What toys will come with us. How to create a cosy, inviting book corner for my little book worm. Display shelves for much loved story books, a grown up book shelf for the Harry Potter books and chapter books he’s come to love. Bean bags, fluffy throws and a space away from two small brothers who just want to jump on him, I mean, it’s hard work being the eldest.
Setting up the Middle Ones bedroom, complete with Playmobil land, to keep his imagination alive and firing at all times. The castle, the police station and the space rocket that apparently I promised to buy….
Working out how to fit all the furniture into the smallest room of the house. And feeling all the mum guilt over whether this will negatively impact the baby being in the smallest room.
It’s the little things
Alongside the big things that turn a house from a house into a home.
The interiors, the exteriors. The light and airy space that we’re searching for.
And while it will take time for us to exchange, complete and in fact even get home to the UK, it’s not going to stop me planning the little things to make it our family home.
collaborative post
