One week until broadband

It's been a real hassle getting broadband here. I'm using a 3 dongle with mobile broadband for studying and email but its pretty unstable because there is not much coverage in this area. That's really awesome since we both use 3 mobile haha.
Anyway, in waiting I thought I'd just put two pictures up to show the difference between our old hallway and the new one. I have plans for it, now its pretty much a white (magnolia) canvas like the rest of the house. First one is the old one, and the second one is the new place. I have a fireplace in the hallway!

Problems with moving house

So apparently no house is perfect. We moved in on Tuesday and these are the problems we encountered so far:

- Virgin media was supposed to install cable, phone and broadband on Wednesday but about the same day they figured out that our house wasn't in their system so they couldn't provide any services. Sky can do it instead but it will take some time because the house is listed.

-We have two boilers. none of them seem to be able to provide hot water tho. the plumber has been on his way for a few days now and is probably going to show up today between 11 and 13. The time when it is the most inconvenient for me ofc!

-The fridge has still not arrived. We paid our booking fee over a month ago ad thats how long it takes to provide a fridge?? Wow I did not know they were bringing it too us here by foot from china, but I guess it's better for the environment.

There are more tiny stuff that are possible to live with and not really worth mentioning. So I'm sitting here with greasy hair, hungry with nothing to eat and I cant really go out because I'm waiting for the plumber plus I look like a homeless person.

BUT: the flat is so nice, we really like it here and it already feels like home to us. I dont even mind the drunks outside our bedroom window at night.

Moving day!

Finally the day is here!
We are pretty much packed and I'm just sitting here surrounded by boxes waiting for the movers to come and do all the heavy lifting. The biggest problem for me with the packing has been wrapping glass in newspapers and handling cardboard boxes. The material of the paper and cardboard against my palms makes my skin crawl. I hate it. And the sound of the boxes when I close them, it's gonna give me nightmares. At the start I was labelling boxes, but after a few I just got bored with it. I know I will regret it in a few hours when we arrive at the new flat.

I just want to sleep now. ZZZzzzZZZ

Double curtain pole

The only place in the UK atm where I can find double curtain poles is at IKEA and the closest one is an hour away. I really want them double because it makes all the difference to me. My favourite summer curtains are the extremely cheap "sarita" ones from IKEA. They are not that great as singles but works great with another pair in another color or with any other kind of curtains. I have them in purple and turquoise and I like them together. They worked great in my old plum colored living room.

That will be my next mission I guess. Double double double! Need to find them.

The soundtrack of my house

A good soundtrack for different occasions is important to me. I like having a list for cleaning, a list for chilling out etc. One song that will always have a place on any of my lists is M83's "We own the sky". It makes me feel like I can do anything.

It is my soundtrack atm

The mystery of the vanishing chopping board

The man of the house wanted to make a late night sandwich. He came into the living room with this look on his face and said that he couldnt find the chopping board. Like always in situations like this I sigh and get up to work my magic. But I couldnt find it either. I mean it has its place in the kitchen, same place as always. If its not there it's usually in the sink.
We searched the kitchen, even in the washing machine and the freezer! Then we just moved on, maybe it had grown legs to try and run away from all the knifing. Maybe it was seeking it's revenge. It wasn't in the bath tub either.  Since we are moving house on tuesday I thought for a second I had packed it in a box or something, doesn't sound like something I would do tho. Packing when its a whole four days left I mean.

So we just stood there in the kitchen staring at each other, started to think about ghosts and alternate universes. Then I saw a spider in the corner of my eye and threw myself in the big comfortable arms of my guy. (For a while he thought the chopping board was attacking me) He came to my rescue and "removed" the spider from the wall. And then he held me for a while, and while he did that I saw the chopping board. Hiding against the white tile ... right next to where the spider was.

Camouflage!
And who put it there?

And yes we need more than one chopping board, and yes we are getting the granite one from argos. And yes we have been saying that for 6 months now.

Freecycle

There is a network called freecycle where you can find things and give away things for free. Sounds good right?
We just gave away a 28" TV and a dining table + chairs. They were not in the most amazing condition but the TV is working fine and the table and chairs are complete just not very good looking. My plan was to alter them in some way but then I decided i didn't even like the shapes of them. Fold out tables just annoy me for some reason.

The freecycle mission statement:

"Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."

Just register at the website and join groups in your area. It's as easy as that. Just click here to go there right now.  And then spread the word!

I'm all for recycling and using things until there is no possible use left of it, usually your trash can be someone elses treasure.

Btw I'm working on getting a better camera since I accidentally drowned my old one in apple juice a little while ago. Since I love photography it has to be done! And very very soon. (Like next week)

Is there any hope for this stuff? Not for me, but maybe for the guy who is picking it up tonight.

My love of wallpaper

As i said in the previous post there are not a lot of fun "wall-action" going on around here. It made me miss my swedish kitchen. I still have my flat in Sweden, I have a tenant living there atm until I finish school so I officially can move to England. When I moved in there I changed everything from the kitchen cabinets to wallpaper and floors.

I love doing that, just rip everything out!

Out with the old, in with the new!

The magnolia England

Everywhere I go I see the color "magnolia", a bright beige/white color. It has gone so far it's making me sick actually. I am not exaggerating at all now when I say that every landlord in at least this area paint the interiors of the houses in magnolia.

The place we live in now is in .... magnolia. Every room!

The place we are moving to .... magnolia.

I will get rid of it. As god is my witness I will never live in a magnolia house again! At least one wall here and there will be another color or I will go into a magnolia coma. Why even sell other colors when every single person buy the same color?

This is the old fireplace at the current house, it is the wall closest to me and i felt like writing about this without having to move from my seat because I'm lazy. (And I should be packing)

The difficulty of choosing the perfect tea pot

For a few months now my very english boyfriend have been wanting a tea pot. One that he will never clean, because that is how you make really great tea. I did not know that, but then I'm not English either.
We have seen tea pots, lots of tea pots. But he is very picky and we still don't have one because of this. So the other day I was doing some "window shopping" on various web shops and stumbled over it ... the perfect tea pot. And for a very reasonable price too!

It has to be mine!

My precious!

You can find it on Artbox, just dont make them sell out before I get my hands on one!

What to do with mold and condensation on windows?

There is one problem i just cant solve. And its the one with condensation on the windows and the mold that sometimes come with it.
Every morning there is condensation on all of our windows. Sometimes just a little and sometimes so much it almost looks like someone actually threw a bucket of water at the windows. We have a big ass dehumidifier (supposed to be big enough for a whole house and we have a flat of 3 rooms) and we keep it on 24/7. We also have one of those boxes with a kind of sand in them that is supposed to collect water. It does, but it makes no difference.

So I need a solution. What to do, what to do?

One week countdown until the move - 7 days

In 7 days we need to be out of this flat and into another.

Have I started packing? .... No

Do I have time to pack?..... Naaaaah

But there is no time as the present. I better start NOW. But where do I start? Anyone? What do I leave to the very last minute? Kitchenware? What can I live without for a week?

There is nothing I hate more than moving. A new home is always exciting but the move itself, that's hell pretty much.
I know how it's gonna end up, last day I will throw everything in black bags. I did actually ban the black bags this time, but I doubt that is going to make a difference. And then when the move is done 7 glasses is going to be broken, 18 random items will be missing and I will not finish unpacking until christmas.

A home without a pet

For me a home without a pet is not a complete home. Ive had pets pretty much my whole life except for the last 3 years. It has almost always been cats, but also: fishes, rabbits and birds. I prefer cats tho. I am one of those girls who are very likely to turn out as "the crazy old cat lady".
The problems now is first of all that we rent and most landlords wont allow pets in the flats so we might have to wait until its time to buy. Another reason is that we dont know where we will end up. I'm swedish, he is english. We live in England but he wants to live in Sweden, I'm perfectly happy staying here in England, at least atm. But we can end up in france for all I know.

But I'm dying here!

I need fluff! Furry and fluffy fluff! 

That is why I will try and find a cat shelter to volunteer at. I would advice anyone who is looking for a pet to look at the shelters first. That is where i have found most of my previous kitties. And they have all been amazing. This white fluff here is Agnes, I found her at a cat shelter in the north of Sweden about 5 years ago. She lives with my ex now tho.

If you live in the UK this could be a good place to start.

Putting together bookcases

Since I'm from Sweden aka IKEA-land I'd consider myself a wizard when it comes to putting together furniture you buy in a billion pieces. That is, until a few weeks ago.
Me and my boyfriend bought a bookcase to put all our course litterature in. Just the cheap £11 kind. It took us ages to put it together because we were so careful and wanted to do it the "right" way with limited amount of damages to the bookcase or us. I don't know how it happened, but we screwed up. I can't believe I didn't notice it while we were doing it, I know I noticed at least 3 other stuff that almost went wrong.
This is just silly!
I will get back to how I'm going to fix this after I figured out a fun way.

First Post

I guess this is where I talk about what my visions and plans are for this blog. It will be a way for me to see the progress im making in making a home for me and my boyfriend. How I will go from being uncomfortable in my own home and skin to the opposite. Since I moved away from home when was 19 years old I have lived in a lot of places with a lot of people. It was never a time for nesting, settle down and make a home for different reasons. Now is the time.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people out there who are on the same journey and who can find inspiration and/or a good read from this blog.

The things i will talk about here will mainly be:

+ nesting and making a home - mostly in a indie, kitsch, shabby chic and just odd way.
+ cooking and weight loss - since ive been trying to lose weight ive started cooking more and think more about what i eat, but i am a food lover so there wont be boring food at all.
+ crafting - this is something i will try and get better at, i love it ... in theory. Let's see how it works out in practice
+ socialising - im odd and awkward and socially handicapped. That is something i have to change and i promise i will at least try. This will hopefully be a way for me to get out there and talk to people.

All this is for me subjects that fit in the same category - home. Home isnt just where you live. It is where you feel comfortable too, that is why i feel like i cant feel at home unless im happy about where i am in myself. Oh wow, that sounded so soppy. But i guess it is true in a way. Ive had a difficult couple of years and now i am finally ready to get back on my feet and start living.