To keep our spirits up during this insane times as I wrote in one of my previous posts when Carl and I realised that our plan A would have to be pushed for the following year we sat down and agreed on a new idea, plan B.
To find out our whole new plan for 2020, click here to read my post.
So we have been on lockdown for soon two months now.
While this is such a hard and sad times for all of us, this quarantine time has been a blessing for our home.
I feel quite guilty to say this considering everything, but we finally managed to make some massive progress around our first home. To find out how we purchased this 110 years old victorian property, click here.
This has been a wild ride with so many ups and downs, and if I'm truly honest with you, all this has been extremely tough.
Yes, sure we managed to get things done, learn new things and skills.
Still, I miss my family, eating out, having a proper date night, shopping in my favourite stores, sipping the best soy latte at Gino's, going to my gym and even that annoyingly friendly and super happy store assistant in one of my favourite shop.
Being on lockdown doesn't have to be boring, not if you keep yourself occupied.
I'm positive, and I have high hopes that everything will be back to normal soon but until that I will share with you all what we've done so far and we are planning to do while we stuck at home.
While Netflix is a great way to kill some time, I cannot force myself to sit down and watch movies or even one movie without doing something else.
This pretty much explains why I'm so bad remembering the characters name.
On the other hand, I have Netflix or Disney + playing in the back 24/7 while I'm cleaning, baking, editing and even when I'm having a bath.
Don't get me wrong I love watching movies and going to cinemas, but I prefer spending my time doing something else, being productive.
Our date night is classed when we watch movies together with popcorn, pizza, lots of wine or rum.
So as our date night we have started to watch the Marvel films in order, following this list.
If you've signed up for Disney Plus, you've got access to pretty much all the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
We currently 3 rd from the bottom before finishing the full list.
There's never been a better time to deep clean the entire house.
If you struggle to get cleaning products as I did just use either soap and hot water to rinse the germs away, or any disinfectant to kill them.
Our home has never been so spotless like this before.
We cleaned all the skirting boards, tiles, and I even decluttered my wardrobe that I have been putting off for a while.
Being at home all the time made me realised that those spilling out of my wardrobe clothes needed to be sorted like ASAP while I could easily ignore all that before.
So I organised my closet.
I found so many items with tags on and some that maybe I have worn once or twice.
I decided to find these items a new home, so I signed up on Depop and listed them all.
You can click here to check out my shop.
Our sparkling clean home lasted until our first Wickes delivery arrived.
As I have mentioned it before our new plan for this year holds a lot of work around our home so next year we can sit back, relax and focus on other things.
One of the first things we started to work on is the small room. Even though this room is the smallest in the entire house, it had so many functions in the past.
We used it as a storeroom, guest room, office, then storage again.
Carl and I discussed that once it's done, it will be my office for a while until my actual office gets a new shiny cover.
After that, this is where the guest room will take place. However, soon after the first coat of Valspar paint was on the walls, I told Carl that I want to move in here right away.
Plus we both agreed that this is too small for a guest room with a double bed, but it's the perfect size for an office space.
Before each project, I plan the room in my head then draw it all down as a sketch then find all the pieces that I had in mind to fill the room in.
Possibly not the easiest way of doing this as I find myself searching for those furniture pieces, lights and decor for ages before I find them or find something similar to them.
Anyway, let's just put my complicated planning skills aside for a minute and let's talk about the room.
Carl started the refurbishment on the room with all the electrical works first. He was adding extra sockets, moving the exciting ones somewhere else and changing the light to a new flush ceiling light. Next step was the walls. The walls were so wonky and uneven that's depressing to look at so we and when I say we I mean Carl plastered them.
I'm super proud of him as he hates plastering.
Then he fitted the new radiator, laid the laminate flooring down, added the skirting boards, painted the walls with Valspar paint and the woodworks.
Due to the long delays in the deliveries, the whole room was complete in four weeks.
Now it's my turn again to plan the next steps for this room, which, as I mentioned before, will be my long-awaited office.
Super excited for IKEA to reopen as I have some great ideas in my head that will keep Carl busy for the rest of the year. Haha
As we were waiting for the deliveries from Wickes and other stores we carried on the refurbishments around the house. We started to transform the upstairs, downstairs halls and the stairs. We also begin to move forward with the rest of the work in the laundry room. My parents were over for Christmas, and my dad did all the frameworks, flooring, plumbing, electrical in there, so the next step for us is the plaster-boarding, tiling, plastering and wallpapering.
We finished the coving, which was the last bit of work in the dining room.
Some decor, picture frames and one-piece of sideboard that is missing from there and that room will be complete.
If you follow my blog on a regular basis you know that the kitchen has been a long process and I still haven't managed to get everything before I can share the entire project with you all but only a few more pieces and it's all done.
During this lockdown, we also made some progress in there.
We added the pan rack finally above the kitchen island.
The furniture for the wine cellar is getting primed and painted next week then hopefully not long after that, the little room will be completed too.
We are also trying to keep ourselves physically active when we haven't tried ourselves out too much with DIY.
As the garage has barely any space left to enter I moved all the chairs and the table from the dining room so we can work out in there. We have a huge cellar where we could work out, but it feels super unfriendly and haunted if I'm completely honest.
So that's a no from me until it's got a fresh lick of paint at least.
I promised to myself this year that I will spend more time looking after myself. Inside and outside.
So my plans flew out of the window when the outbreak happened.
I still managed to cross another thing off that list.
I signed up for an online course to master coding.
Oh boy, it's not easy, so guys cross your fingers for me, please.
To keep our mind occupied we literally have a to-do list for every single day, so this lockdown doesn't feel like a nightmare, and it also helps to lighten our mood as we do these projects around the house we can see all the progress.
Even though I'm trying my hardest here to keep everything on track, my life, my plans, my mood and my mind let me tell you something. I was not meant to be kept at home for this long.
I love our home, I love spending time at home, but I need those little things back to my life, please.
Not eating my overcooked rice and able to go to my favourite restaurants.
To go outside, have a walk on a sandy beach while looking at the beautiful view of the ocean.
Have Gino's soy latte back in my life again and to finally be back at my favourite stores.
Oh, Homesense how much I miss you.
How Do You Spend Your Time In Quarantine?
Would love to read what you all have been up to these days, leave a comment below.
