What a week! We've moved in! We are half living the dream and half glamping but it's an experience that is so welcome. We feel like different people having our own space, our own home. It's been a few years.
It's a funny thing pouring your heart and soul, sweat and tears into a project like this. I mean, we have been living and breathing it, we've both felt CONSUMED by it and worry a little that it's all we talk about...we're the crazy house people, it's all we've got and watch out when we're let off the tools for a weekend event...have people started avoiding us at weddings? If not, maybe they should... "The crazy house people are having a rare social escape, hide that bottle of red, don't even ask them about the windows, clear the dance floor, they don't get out much". Cue the drunken robot, lots of spinning each other around... God forbid there be any twerking but hey, I can't be sure... they didn't hide the red in time.
I'm not saying that because we've moved halfway in the craziness is over, there is still a LOT to do but we have our OWN home to rest our bodies and minds in. Surely that will make a big difference... Right? Right?! Ha... You can smell the desperation.
So back to this first week, it's actually been a bit of a roller coaster...not all angel harps and fluffy ducks... No matter what my instagram looks like. Time for a reality check?
The week we bought our section, we had just completely fallen in love. The picturesque little lane with a small bunch of houses down it, lots of trees, open spaces, the most beautiful (in my opinion) beach and river down the road, a rambling old historic building around the corner packed with thrifty treasures and lovely folk who wave when they drive past. Then the day before we put the offer in, I returned to sit in the paddock that would one day be our home. The easterly wind was cold and hitting the side of my face like little tiny fairies throwing spears (can you imagine it, hilarious!), the sky was grey and miserable and there it was, there was no escaping it, the noise of the busy road a mere 150 metres away seemed deafening. How dare you interrupt my serenity, what the hell! Everything else was perfect. Nooooo!
I went home pretty glum and feeling sick about the fact I'd have to tell Guy that I just wasn't sure and maybe we should pull pin. I started to tell him all about how gutted I was and we chatted about it for a long while. "We have a pretty long checklist and this place ticks all the boxes, apart from this one thing, which actually is a half ticked box because you liked the fact it was close to the main road because it made you feel safe" he was right. I went back the next day. I sat in the paddock, birds were chirping the sun was shining the grass felt all lush and delicious between my grass picking fingers....I wandered down to the brick mill for a forage around the emporium and I did VERY well that day, thrifty treasures aplenty. I went to the beach, had a few deep breaths, went back to the section....yes, I could faintly hear the hum of cars passing by but no way near as bad as the day before (the wind has a lot to answer for) and I decided that it was for us. I imagined Guy being able to get up at heinously early hours and go for a surf 2km down the road. He would love it. He deserves it. What's the problem with the occasional swoosh of a car or truck being carried by the wind, so then it began. The hard slog of turning this paddock into a property. Hundreds of trees, building the pump shed and the 4 bay shed, digging our driveways, building fences, building a house.
Imagine that day when we got to move into our bedroom, we'd made a long and torturous Saturday drive home after our friends' amazing wedding down South (imagine the hangovers after a rare social escape) We got home at 10pm. Fell into bed and then drove out to Waikuku Sunday morn' to start work on the house by 8:30-9 the next morning. We finished at 10pm that night. But we didn't mind, Monday was moving day.
We moved some basics in, I instagramed it. Everyone was amazingly kind, we were on cloud nine.
Then we got into our bed in our room with double thickness walls and double glazing and we could hear it.... The noise of the busy road a mere 150 metres away was deafening. We barely slept, I may have cried in the morning, even Guy (the man that can always see the silver lining) was noticeably glum. We were gutted.... Was it a deal breaker, have we worked our freakin butts off for nothing. The next night, we went to bed, and we could barely hear it (the wind had changed, it has a lot to answer for) I downloaded a sleep noise app and we went to sleep listening to the crashing waves... We slept pretty well. The next day was an absolute stunner, Guy went for his morning surf, I got up and made my smoothie and when he got back we had a coffee and walked around in the morning light and talked about the decking and outdoor living. We felt a lot better. That day I instagramed a pic of our makeshift kitchen/dining room. And again you were all SO kind. You pointed out that view that I first fell in love with and you lifted us up! Last night we barely needed the sleep app, we slept well. Really well. I woke feeling absolutely stoked, I went for a walk on the beach with Jed while Guy surfed. I saved a baby crab! no big deal?... Well, I bet it was for him. And when we got back to the house the easterly had picked up and the sound of the road was kinda loud but we will get used to it. We can't have it all for the budget we've done this on. We get the beach, the river, the view, the space, the dream house. So stop being a dick. And deal with it.... They say the hum of traffic becomes as soothing as the ocean eventually and hey by the time our trees grow and start doing their job filtering wind and sound, it won't even be an issue. I put this intense reaction down to the amount of invested emotion into this project. We feel everything a bit harder than usual.
Have you lived near a humming road, did you mind it?! Did you get used to it, imagining you were one of the LOST characters sleeping on an island and listening to the endless waves? Tell me you did.... Or didn't, I can handle it.
Anyway, if you are an instagram friend. Thanks, seriously. Being from New Zealand where anything too emotive is probably a little weird and putting yourself out there is just not what we do... "You've never actually met some of these people, isn't that kinda strange" well no, I really treasure you all. You are uplifting little notifications (just kidding, I know you're real people) and we always appreciate your comments and general niceness. Yes, I am feeling slightly soppy and and that may be because I'm on wine #2 but I mean it. On this first (totally raging) Friday night in our house, we feel happy, we hear only quiet and I thought I may as well spend a good sized part of it with you. Thanks for keeping us company on this journey.
K x
