Meet Our Fox Den

Hello!! Welcome to my little blog! My name is Margaret and I should probably start by mentioning that whilst this is planned as a blog to capture the highlights of a house renovation, my husband (Mr Fox) and I aren't exactly experienced renovators (unless bellowing advice at contestants on The Block counts, in which case we're seasoned experts).

Mr Fox and I have been trying to buy a house for a long time now and after years of job uncertainty, crashed contracts, more rentals than I'd like to think about and what feels like thousands of inspections, we have actually done it - we're the proud new owners of a mighty large mortgage! Our little cottage is a not-so-grand old Queenslander, built in the 1920's.

We initially fell in love with her when we realised:
1. She's right around the corner from where we live now
2. We could actually afford her
3. She's right around the corner!!!! Hello!!

We love the suburb we've been renting in and really thought that we'd never afford a house without moving considerably further from Brisbane than we are now. I knew when this house was advertised that there must be something wrong to be affordable to us. Our first inspection was at dusk and with the power at the house already switched off, within a few minutes of arriving we were all using torches. In hindsight, this was probably a very clever move by the agent - it's a lot harder to see where the wood borers have been when you can barely see where you're going!! Mr Fox and I fell deep in L-O-V-E with the location, the work that needs to be done at the house started to seem more do-able. The next day we made an offer, and by that night the deal was complete.

Here's what we got: two bedrooms, a kitchen straight from the 70's complete with yellow bench tops and very stylish flowery wall paper, one bathroom, and a decent size yard. The house is actually in pretty good condition, but there's still a mighty long list of jobs that need to be done.

We haven't moved in yet but the first part of the transformation has already been decided. The entire interior is getting new paint! The current colour scheme of pale pink with dark pink trim is just a teensy tad outdated, and the years as a rental has left it... well, it's gross. The house still has the original vj walls. Don't know what they are? Neither did we... turns out that while they're a gorgeous original feature of Queenslander's that look fantastic when cared for, they're a real pain in the backside to repaint. And we haven't even started yet!!

Right now we're busy booking removalists and cleaners and keeping our fingers crossed that settlement goes as smoothly as we're assured it will. Wish us luck with the move!!!