Weddingbee Blog

Hold on to your hats people, these two kids have joined the grown-ups’ table because we have just signed our first tenancy agreement together! Now, this post isn’t strictly wedding-related…but I’m pretending it is because marriage = making a home together, and home usually involves some sort of house to live in.

The title of this post is what my mother used to always say to console us kids whenever we had to pack up and move house/town/country when we were growing up (which was a LOT). “Home is where your heart is” didn’t really do it for us because we always said our hearts were back where we just came from, so our suitcases had to be the alternative.

My family (minus Mum) and I in the Denpasar airport 2007. Doing our typical “make jokes” routine so we don’t think about what we are leaving behind

One of the things Mr E and I have talked about over and over is our wish to have a proper “home” together and leave the itinerant lifestyle of our childhoods behind.

Well…that lifestyle probably isn’t quite over yet, what with our future travel and study plans. But as of now we finally have somewhere “permanent” to live for the next 2 years before moving back stateside. Which is huge for us, because I can’t even remember when I last lived in the same house for longer than 12 months.

Wanna have a squiz at our new home? Here she is: The ugliest house on the street!

Aww, she isn’t that bad actually. She just needs a TON of paint and TLC, plus re-wiring, re-carpeting, drains fixed, the garage demolished, windows rehinged, the list goes on… She was built in the 1940s and for the last 12 years has been very neglected. Friends of ours bought her last week as an investment property and offered it to us to rent for a very reasonable price, in exchange for our help renovating it. We said yes of course because 1) We really need somewhere to live after the wedding (who would have thought?), 2) We will gain some valuable house-fixing skills, and 3) The house has a big fence so we are hoping we can get a dog! Yes…I like our priorities.

We will move in right after the honeymoon and I can’t wait to get started on making her “home” for our new family unit. She certainly isn’t the Ritz….but she’ll have my suitcase, and, seeing as Mr E will be there, it looks like she’ll have my heart too. *sappy moment*

How did you feel when you got your first place (renting or buying) with your SO? Anyone else going to be doing extensive renovations during their first year of marriage?

*All photos in this post are personal or taken by compliant relatives