Moving House. A New Home.
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 9:46PM It's late...and I'm tired.....but I wanted to get this post done! And something about our new place is inspiring me. Inspiring me to get more done, chase those dreams and push that little bit further. So, I ditched my glass of red wine for a hot mocha, lit a caramel scented candle & have cozied up in my new workspace within the lounge room of our new house.....which I'm very close to calling our new HOME!
A house but not quite yet a home.....because to me, a home is not just bricks & mortar {or even shiny new appliances & kickass walk in robes} but it's a place that confines a family. A place made of memories & love. A place where tears have been shed, arguments have been had & accidents have occurred......but more importantly a place where the walls are filled with photos & prints, where toys are on show, where laughs & play can be heard, where a messy kitchen can be seen & an aura of joy empowers the room like perfume. We've been here a week {a week today} and I'm very close to saying "Hell yeah....this is our home!"
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. We made the grueling decision to sell our place & move on....we needed to clear up finances, make a fresh start & we desperately needed more space to accommodate our growing family & businesses. Our house was listed on the Sale Market on a Tuesday & 4 days later....we had a signed contract for sale! We already had a 'new home' to move to, so the relief of the house sale was god-sent.
I found the whole process very tiring & stressful. Packing our whole life into boxes was not only exhausting, but also very emotional. Fun to find things we'd forgotton we had buried up in the ceiling {like my old school books & toys & scrapbooks FULL of stories I'd written as a child} also liberating to cull out the crap & clutter {we filled a skip bin} but also scary to see memories & special objects line the cardboard crates. Our life all stacked up!
Last week I bottled up a lot of sentimental emotion. The house we were selling & leaving was not our first home....as we owned a townhouse before we were married. But this house, was our first real HOME! We bought it the year after we were married, with the hope that it would be a family home....a place where children lived. And that it was! Chris spent weeks renovating it & making it perfect before he & I moved in. We really loved that place! And over the past 6 years, that house was more than our home! Those walls surrounding the 3 bedrooms & 1 bathroom were reaping memories....both good & bad. So much growth happened in that home. We bought our 2 babies home from hospital to that home. A lot of first milestones occurred in that cozy loungeroom.....first rolls, first smiles, first steps. It was our haven, our safe place, our home! It's hard to leave all that behind! But it's also so exciting to move on, open new doors & write new chapters. Wise people say not to live in the past. So I won't. But I will cherish & remember.....and look forward :)
Moving day.....we woke to heavy rain! But, the show must go on......
Our whole life fit into that truck! Pretty cool to watch!
Amongst the chaos of boxes & pulled apart furniture {and rain}, we had a family who rallied together to help us move our life; 15minutes up the highway :)
Thank goodness for family {oh gosh, I'm grateful for family!!!} {And to Spencer & Heidi, Mum & Dad.....who knows where we would be now if it wasn't for you guys! You know what I'm talking about.....and from the bottom of our hearts....THANK YOU!}
In life, we have people who are not family by birth or marriage; but by choice or love. Over the road from us, lived an older couple. Stewert; a lovely retired man; spent his days standing in his open garage, reading the paper, smoking his cigarettes & pottering around. In a way, him & his wife; Gloria, became our family too. They watched us grow from a young married couple, to a family of 4. They watched us hit hard times & blessed times. And having Stew watching over our house all day, everyday was reassuring. We already miss him:
Taken the day before we left! We miss Stew & Gloria already! I hope the people who bought our house cherish these neighbours like we did!
And.....now, we're here in this new place. And more space.....boy oh boy, we got it! Spare rooms we don't even have enough furniture to fill yet, storage galore, rooms big enough to dance in & a kitchen that has put pressure on me to be used....LOTS :)
There are a lot of cosmetic, materialistic features about this house that excite me.....like the fact that it's brand new, never lived in before....so the walls are white, the carpets are fresh, everything feels clean & easy. Like the built-in coffee machine, the fireplace, the pool, the walk in robe that would have Carrie Bradshaw jealous & the space....oh the space! And all of these things are GREAT......but do you know what? The things that really invigorating me the most right now about this place......is the view from the back decks; long stretches of sky & a dense Australian bushland:
And the natural light that comes streaming into every room of the house {something we didn't have a lot of in the last place}......
And the fresh air that whooshes in. We have not needed the air-con at all yet.....the breeze & open plan living has been a refreshing & healthy change for us. I love it!
On top of all of that....it's also convenient! We now live about 400m from Ella's school [KINDY] , just minutes from her ballet school & my school {when I return to work one day}. It's easy!
I like this house. I feel at home, and now that the boxes are unpacked, the appliances are being used, the sheets have been slept in and memories are being made, it's definitely beginning to be HOME! Our home! I'd like to think we're going to be here long term. For Ella & Ryder to be studying their high school exams in these exact rooms, and bringing home friends for sleep overs. The home that they come back to for Mum's cooked meals & special family get togethers, and for Dad to fix their cars :) The place that we enjoy many birthdays & Christmases & meals around the table in. But, who knows......a new chapter, a new home may await us in the future again, and that excites me.....but until then, I like it here....I want to stay put :)
Adding this post to Maxabella's GRATEFUL linky.....as I'm beaming with lots of grateful right now!
And heading off to bed....as Mr R will be waking for a night feed soon I'm sure!
A big cheers to new homes, new memories & blessed opportunities!
Goodnight!
P.S. Not sure what's going on with my photos tonight.....they are very much out of proportion...ah well, too late to care haaa ;o)
Motherhood, blog, family, love, memories, moving house, moving on, new chapter, new home, new house in {Inside My House}, {Memories}, {My Life}, {Real Life}
Reader Comments (6)
Lovely post Claire ! I found it difficult to pack up our home in Scotland where we had lived for 10 years and that held so many memories. But I knew there were going to be new experiences and new memories. Seeing our belongings packed into a shipping container for the long journey here was emotional. But also liberating to only have 2 cases of clothes for the next few weeks! We have now lived in our house here for 5 years and have made new memories.
Your house looks fabulous and I wish you lots of luck in it. X
Hello, moving is the biggest, biggest dea when you have children... it's huge. The last time we moved was four years ago and I'm still not over it! And that was just 20 mins from the old house. No more big moves for us! Hope you settle in well and as quickly as possible.
Wow, Claire. Your new place looks amazing and I'll look forward to seeing more of it as you settle in and make it a real home. Congratulations. x
Your new home looks amazing Claire, can't wait to see more photos of it. I canspy a lovely heater that looks similar to ours- you will LOVE it in winter :) Glad the move went smoothly and your family helped with the mammoth task x
“Packing our whole life into boxes was not only exhausting, but also very emotional.” – I can only agree. I remember my own moving experience. It left me physically and emotionally drained. The thing I can only do is to pack “our lives” attentively so as to bring them all intact to our new house. Ericka Muldowney
Superb, I can’t rate this man and Van service; They are efficient in their work.