At the start of 2016 Cal and myself decided to start saving money so we could move into our own place, we always knew we wanted to buy a place instead of renting so we saved pretty damn hard all of last year. We never intended to buy anything until maybe 2018 when we thought we had enough money and time to look but then something caught our eye over Christmas last year. We found out about some houses for sell in the village next to us and fast forward to two months later, we have just exchanged contracts with the sellers and are waiting to move in! It is so crazy to think that two months ago we weren't even thinking about buying for another year and now we have everything in place to move in this May/June!
The house we are buying is a three storey new build in a little village right next to where we live now, it has three bedrooms (plenty of room for kids hint hint Cal) and should be ready for us to move in between May and June. I never thought I would have ever been able to buy a three bedroom house at the age of 22 and we are able to do it because the housing development that we are buying it from run a help to buy scheme for first time buyers which means we are able to buy a house we never would have been able to buy otherwise. The scheme so far has been fantastic and there hasn't been any scary small print catches that we have found so I would seriously recommend this scheme if you are looking to buy your first home.
Because we have chosen a new build as well we got to chose everything that went in so from built in appliances to carpets and flooring. Obviously we have to pay for any extra that they fit ourselves but because we picked the 'house of the week' we actually got money off some of our options for the house so we have picked all our carpet throughout the house (cream for the first and second floor and then light grey for the master bedroom) and a fridge freezer and cooker. So luckily we don't have to worry about picking a design and shape to fit our kitchen after we have moved in.
We have also picked our kitchen units and floor colour which is really exciting. We picked a grey marble kitchen top, with like grey cupboards with a even lighter grey flooring which has very subtle sparkles in it which you can't see on the photo sadly. For the bathrooms we picked this dark grey/black flooring which has sparkles too which luckly you can see in the photo.
Ever since we found this place we have been buying as well as our families little bits here and there so that when we do move in we have the essentials. We don't plan on buying anything big like sofas or new beds until we have moved in and decided what colour we plan to do each room as but we have a big pile of little bits and bobs all ready to go. I will try and link everything for you so you can have a nose yourself!
K I T C H E N
The kitchen is the one room in the house which I think is nearly complete as we actually have so much stuff already for it. Cal and I both liked the idea of square plates and bowls rather than circle and we found these individual plates in Tescos in January for around £3 so we picked up 4 plates. We also picked up 4 of these cute mason style glasses from Tesco too which I absolutely love. After we purchased these we did find sets of each at B&M so ended up buying a 16 piece square dinner set and a set of 4 mason jar glasses which I can't find on the website but they were only about £3 again so well worth a look round B&M for.
From B&M again we bought a Russell Hobbs 3 Piece Pan Set for only £19.99 which I think is a great deal. They were reduced from £50 to £20 so we had to yet them when we saw them. My mum swears by Russell Hobbs so hopefully I like these as much as she does. We also have loads of bog standard kit for the kitchen like drainer, pizza cuter, peeler, wooden and metal spoons, Tupperware, frying pans, mixing bowl and measuring jugs. We got all of these from either B&M, Wilkinson, Tesco and Home Bargains. One of the kitchen utensils which I think is definitely worn checking out is the Rose Gold kitchen utensils in Wilkinson. We picked up this rose gold Colander which is so cool.
Lastly for the kitchen we recently picked up at Tescos the Hinari Genie 8 In 1 Blender which was reduced so obviously we picked on up. My mum has one of these and whenever I make toad in the hole or pancakes or shakes I use hers so I really wanted one for myself when I moved out. On most websites this set is in the £30-40 range but at Tescos it is only £24.50 so definitely worth a look.
L I V I N G R O O M
We are super lucky to be given two practically new sofas of some family friends which we are very thankful for but to make them our own we have bought two super fluffy grey throws from Next which feel so beautiful I want to wear them all day every day.
Now this last Living room object is something Cal wanted for his birthday so Myself and my family all chipped in to get Cal this old fashioned suitcase Record Player from HMV. At first I didn't really get the appeal of this if I am completely honest but now that I have used it, I think it is a great piece to have in the house - one because it super cool and unique and two because it will be perfect when in the summer you want to listen to music in the garden.
R A N D O M
Me and Cal both love a bit of Ikea so of course we stocked up on a few bits in the last few weeks. We found this brown 'Welcome' mat for just £4 in store and this was exactly we wanted for the front door as having a cream carpet is hard work. We also got this green fake grass mat to put outside the back door. Lastly from Ikea we bought two bath mats for the main bathroom and the ensuite on the top floor, we picked this grey super soft design in large for the main bathroom and small for the ensuite shower.
Cal and I both are quite minimalist people so don't expect us to have quotes and sayings dotted around the house but we did find two cute little wall hanging in B&M this month which we thought would work great in the house. The first is this grey chalkboard week planner which we want to plan our meals for the week on, I plan on becoming a cooking goddess when I move out so having this will keep me from forgetting to prepare dinner and relying on take out food, this was only £2.99. We also got this super cute grey key and post holder to hang be the front door, can you tell we have a grey theme running through the house yet?! This was around £3.
The house currently has a roof, stairs and flooring but no walls so hopefully by the next of next week (the 4th of March) the walls should be fully plastered and they can start fitting in our appliances and flooring! I am so excited for this big change and if any of your are interested I will keep you posted on the progress with lots and lots photos! If you have any questions on Help To Buy loans leave them below and I will answer them for you.
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