Home, for now. (Let’s just say… if you’ve looked at a few of our projects, you know what we’re like).

I used to sit on level 7 in the university library so that I could look across at Park Circus as inspiration to work hard, so that one day I could live in one of the great dollshouse-like townhouses there. We’re on the outer edge of park, the ghetto part, or the Bronx as our neighbours like to call it. We live next door to a guy who owns the whole townhouse but whose roof leaks like a sieve, and when we moved in almost every single important thing was broken (fridge? Yep. Boiler too. Then there was water pouring in the front window the first time it rained).

Old houses are not for the faint of heart, and unfortunately a lot of the must-fix problems ate a big chunk of our budget early on. Listed building consent took a while, but not a patch on the eight-months-and-counting building warrant… and yet, with all the adversity, we love it here. We love a west end walk on a Saturday, stopping for brunch at Cottonrake; we love sitting up on the roof on a sunny day; we love our residents association and that people stop to talk to our cat in the street. Maybe it’s getting to live in your dream area, but I find that not much phases me here, even when it’s really annoying. These houses have stood for 170 years, so they have this feeling of permanence to them, like they’re kind of unbreakable.

We did the kitchen in February 2024, and as of September 2024 we are awaiting sign-off to move the bathroom to one side so we can make both bathrooms bigger (hoping we can start that in November). As usual, I’ll attach the before pictures at the bottom, so you can see the difference.