Things no one tells you about moving into a new house
Last month we finally moved in to our dream house. We were
looking for over a year and one day we just walked in to a house on show and
loved it. Two months later we were moving in. We quickly discovered that living
in a house is completely different to the apartment life that we knew for so
long. Here are a few things I learnt.
The empty house
So I loved this house the moment I saw it – loved it so much
that I made an offer on the spot. But when I walked in the day we were moving,
it looked completely different empty. The previous owner’s décor and furnishing
definitely sold the place. I thought I made a huge mistake buying the house
when I saw it empty – it looked way too small and awkwardly designed. But don’t
worry, it looked awesome once I brought my furniture in and added my unique
style to it.
Your old furniture
just won’t do
Apartment furniture is for an apartment – they are way too
small for a real house. Also, we didn’t have things like a dining room set to
fit into a dining room. All my furniture just didn’t fit in and I loved it! It
gave me the opportunity to buy everything I ever wanted – a big Coricraft couch,
a painting of gorgeous Jozi and stunning outdoor furniture.
The scary sound of
silence
The part I was looking forward to the most about the new
house was not hearing the neighbours’ kids – shrieking – all damn day. I really
wanted the peace and quiet and to not be subjected to my neighbours Sunday
morning gospel, Friday night bhangra and just the general sounds of other
people. And then whilst basking in my ambience of peace, suddenly the absence
of noise is scary because every sound you hear is terrifying. When I hear a
sound, I know that whatever’s making that sound shouldn’t actually be there so
a month after living in the house, I still stop what I’m doing and look around
worried about that noise that I just heard…especially when I’m home alone in
the evening.
Things are not as
easy as it looks on YouTube
Fancy fittings are totally new to us so when in doubt, we
resort to YouTube for a how-to guide. Needless to say, every video on YouTube
easily showed us how to replace those fancy downlights – every type of
downlight except the one we actually have.
Becoming overly
pedantic about everything
Everyone knows that I’m the epitome of lazy. I’m not
interested in doing any more than I have to especially when it comes to
cleaning up. Since owning a house, I’ve become overly pedantic…about
everything. I’m constantly following houseguests around and cleaning up after
them, putting out coasters for friends and yelling at children who find it
their purpose to tear my house apart!
Costly bills
Paying bills is always inconvenient but it’s so much more
expensive in a house compared to my old apartment. Now I’m the one switching
lights off whenever I leave a room.
Grass grows
At an insane rate! All of a sudden, I had to figure out how
often the lawn needed to be watered and when and how to mow it. That was the
easy part. The hard part was actually getting my hands dirty removing weeds and
replanting grass.
Boojies are
everywhere!
I don’t even want to talk about the deadly creatures that
flew in to the house the first few nights and my ear-piercing screams that meet
with their presence. My husband nonchalantly says that if I want a pretty
garden, I gotta deal with the fact that bugs live in them. Just as I was almost
ready to pave up the entire garden, I learned that when the lights go on in the
house, the doors and windows should be closed. So the boojies stay out. They
are happy in the garden and I am happy pretending they don’t exist.
Is there anything else you think I should know about living
in a house? Maybe I haven’t learnt it the hard way yet so I’d love to be
prepared.
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