On Friday 27th September we completed the
purchase of our new house. It’s about 2 miles from our previous place on Ira Street,
and a bit further away from the shops in Miramar, but still walkable (on a good
day).
We had a bit of an overlap, as our lease expires in
November, so we decided to get some of the major works done before we moved in:
these included the minor points that had been discovered by our builder in his
builder’s report, and also getting the place painted entirely indoors. The
previous owner had lived with the builders’ undercoat that was applied when he
bought the place new, and either never got round to painting, or didn’t have
the time, inclination or money to do so. Either way, the place was badly in
need of a proper, professional paint job for all the internal walls, ceilings,
skirting and doors – a big job, and one that would be best undertaken whilst
the house was empty.
The builder also came round to tile the kitchen splashback
behind the sink and cooker, and also to install some heated towel rails; and to
put in sliding wardrobe doors in bedrooms 2 and 3 (the master bedroom has a
walk-in wardrobe).
Once again, we put in the call to Coolmoves and got the men
to shift all our stuff. They turned up at 8:15 and after scoping the job,
started to move stuff out. We told them that they’d have to take some of it out
over the balcony and garage, as that’s how it had got into the house in the
first place, and they managed this without too much difficulty. Given the
access issues with many houses in Wellington, I guess they’re used to every
eventuality when it comes to moving furniture in tight spots, and in and out of
steeply built houses.
They got everything moved and into the new place in the
morning, which left us the rest of the day to get things straightened out –
well, sufficiently to be able to sleep at night, which was our main objective.
I’d taken the precaution of booking us a table at The Larder for dinner, as I
didn’t think I’d feel like cooking, and it was by no means certain that all the
cooking implements would be unpacked.
We were moving over the Labour Day weekend, so had an
additional day to unpack and start getting things into order. By Monday, we
were unpacked and finding out all the little things that needed to be fixed or
changed to make the place more like home. Little things like:
- the wall bracket kindly bequeathed to us was too small for our tv;
- a key broken off in the back door lock;
- a shower door that won’t close because it’s magnetic closure has lost its magneticness;
…and many other similar little things. We’ve been wearing a
groove in the road between us and Bunnings Warehouse to get the wherewithal to
put these things right, and it’s gradually coming together. Pictures have been
hung, a tv aerial installed (we had no tv for two weeks – the previous owner
had only had cable), and the internet now works. By the end of the week we hope
to have wardrobe doors fully installed – this has been a tale in itself!
Parking seemed to be an issue at first, because the garage
has a very narrow entrance. But I’ve now got the hang of reversing out in a
three-point turn up a hill to get out. This is normal for Wellington.
The list of what needs to be done has now shrunk to a
manageable size, and we continue to make progress with it. In the meanwhile, admire the view:
