Some history

I (Shauna) bought the little house on Torquay Road back in 2001 (I think). After a couple of years it was rented to a relative (now an ex relative) who damaged it after living there for a few years. Andrew and I fixed it up using all our available (and unavailable) funds and once it was in nice condition, rented it to someone else. After 18months this person also decided that damaging a house was fun so again, repairs needed to be done. At least this tenancy was through an agent so we should be able to recoup some costs.

Financially and emotionally its now impossible to hang on to both houses so I decided it was time to sell one and get life sorted. After some soul searching I decided to sell my nice big 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house and move myself and the four kids back into the little 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom timber frame. As they say, location is everything.

I will confess to walking into the house, bursting into tears and having second thoughts about my decision to move back to the little house. One look at the beautiful roses and seeing friendly neighbours soon calmed me down (just a little bit) and I started to make plans.

It turned out the oven and stove were no longer working so that made it easier to decide to put a new kitchen in. Mr Fixit (Andrew) is super skilled at whatever he decides to do and put my mind at rest by saying he would help me redo the kitchen.

That conversation has morphed into some hardcore renovation ideas. Everything from a new kitchen, to new doors, decks, bathrooms, flooring, walls and other great ideas. Am i scared? Totally. But im also excited to start undertaking these massive changes and I also know the massive sense of achievement we will feel knowing we've done it all ourselves. Well, Andrew will have done it and I'll have helped.