House & renovations
Dusting off some memories (and house porn pics)
The other day I realised it was exactly 10 years since we bought our house. One of the joys of redesigning the Auntie Bulgaria website was revisiting some of our old adventures. Things that laid deep and dusty in my memory. The whole Bulgarian house-buying...
149. Summer kitchen reveal
I just remembered I promised a summer kitchen reveal months ago. Better late than never… Before Our summer kitchen sits in the footprint of this crumbly old barn that we inherited in the corner of the garden. There was some lovely stone and a few salvageable old...
86. Goodbye, builders
Ding dong, the builders have gone! They finished rendering and painting the house last week, just in time for the January snow. Yes, the house looks grand (and feels much warmer thanks to the insulation), but the best thing is being able to slump around in my...
84. Work in progress
Just a quick (and unusually chipper) update: the builders are making great progress and we’re thrilled with the work so far. They did half days for the first few days (finishing up another project I think) but have been here 9–5 every day since then. Three of the...
83. Polystyrene walls
The 'before' pic. You'll have to wait for the big reveal... We’ve got the builders in. That’s not a euphemism for getting my period or having vaginal reconstructive surgery. We’re finally having the house re-rendered. In Bulgaria this means having the house...
77. The spectacular tale of the splendid indoor staircase
Once upon a time there was a girl who moved to a house in Bulgaria. A house with no indoor staircase. Every time that girl wanted to go upstairs, she had to go out the front door and walk around to the external staircase at the back of the house. Every time that...
74. White Walls and Tiaras
Ah, the good old days of living in a building site. In many ways, it’s really easy living in a building site. I’m only just realising this now, as we near the end of our renovation. (At least, we’re nearly finished on the inside of the house. The exterior is...
69. Three good things
Some things that have made me happy lately... Wardrobes. For 18 months I’ve been sharing one of those cheap clothes racks with Rob (you know, the things that very organised people take to car boot sales to hang their wares on). Some time ago we gave up putting...
68. House renovation update – in pictures
In the lounge... Moving onto the kitchen and pantry... Elsewhere in the house... My office. Getting there on bricking in the staircase....
63. The one where my parents come to stay, I am reunited with my beloved sofa, and we all embark on an epic road trip back to the UK
I start with a confession. These events actually took place at the end of August but I’ve been too traumatised to write about it until now. And busy. I’m a busy, busy, traumatised individual. So don’t give me a hard time about neglecting the blog, okay? I...
59. Renovation, Renovation, Renovation
I’ve not written about the house for ages. Partly because I don’t want to be all ‘blah, blah, curtains’ and other girly awfulness. (I get all of that out of my system on Pinterest.*) But also because it’s been a long, slow process getting the house to its current...
54. Spring-a-ling
We’ve emerged victorious from our first winter – with no fingers or toes lost to frostbite, no running out of food, and barely a word of complaint on my part (ahem). I am a Very Brave Soldier. Too long has passed to create a cohesive version of recent events so...