recent blogs

private parking

private parking

We've never lived in a house before that has a private parking area. All of our previous properties have had on-road parking, and because we lived in busy Mancunian suburbs, parking could be tricky. Often, our car would be parked away from the house as you basically...

quick bathroom makeover

quick bathroom makeover

We've spent so long focusing on other areas of the house, and in particular this summer, the garden, that we've neglected a couple of rooms. One being the upstairs bathroom. We rarely use it these days, preferring the walk in shower in the downstairs renovated...

entrance to our home

entrance to our home

When we bought our house in Istria in 2016, it looked very different to how it does today. It was kind of quarter renovated. The roof was new. The guttering was new. Windows had been fitted. And that was just about it. But, we saw the potential - even seeing ahead, to...

construction continues…

construction continues…

It seems as if we have once again, shared our home and garden, with builders, for a considerable period of time. But we haven't really - it's only been four months - but we've been so keen and excited to get to the finishing line, that it just seems like we've lived...

and another garden wall is built

and another garden wall is built

With a reliable builder finally working with us, we've decided that we can't let him go to waste, and so are adding jobs to his ever-growing list. The weather has been pretty dire the last week or so - rain, thunder and lightning - and so work on the rear garden and...

demolition…

demolition…

We've thought long and hard about how much current renovation we want to do in our Istrian stone house, as it is imminently going on the market, as we have plans for a whole new adventure. However, with the demolition and clearance of the small stone cottage behind...

garden makeover : white stones

garden makeover : white stones

Way back in 2016, we viewed our house fro the first time, and this was the garden. Although "garden" is a bit of a stretch, looking back. A mucky, concrete patio and a patch of scrubby land, full of rubble and stones - proper ankle-breakers - and vines attached to an...

welcome, wooden benches

welcome, wooden benches

Our blue IKEA Tobias dining chairs have served us well over the past few years, and are still in good condition. They've stood the test of time, often sitting in a room which has resembled more of a builders yard, than a room we'd choose to eat in. The Well Room - as...

new year : new project : the house

new year : new project : the house

Summer 2022 ended with a bit of a whimper of the house front, as we reluctantly made the decision to take the house off the market and give up on our dream of The Printworks - the property we had secured which we hoped would become our open plan, super modern, dream...

small steps : reno update

small steps : reno update

Over the summer, when we were averaging two or three house viewings a week and had some very serious interest in the house, if someone had told me that by October, we'd have taken it off the market, given up on The Printworks (and in the process, lost a lot of money)...