phase one done

We've sucessfully passed phase one of the purchase, and now there's only ten weeks and a gargantuan mortgage in the way of us receiving the keys to our new (old) home. We're already bursting with ideas to renovate the space, and are currently on the search for a good interior designer who has worked with old house conversions.

pictures, pictures

As we promised, here are a few photos of the house.

Situated in a nice quiet street...

Here 'tis. Double-story corner terrace sitting with on 2656 square feet (roughly 250 m2) of land. House is about 30 years old and as you can see, in original condition. It has semi-sheltered off-street parking. Four bedrooms (3up, 1 down), 2 toilets (1 down, 1 up + bathroom).

Roof is medium-pitch. We're planning to remove the false ceiling when we get the leaks in the roof fixed to give a more "loft" feel upstairs.

The "garden" needs a little work (just like everything else). This view is down the side of the house towards the back.

View from the balcony towards the street.

This is one of the upstairs bedrooms with the balcony. Upstairs rooms are small, but squarish so will be easy to use the space efficiently.

Stairwell. Still has the original 60's/70's tiles.

View down the stairs into the living area. The space is pretty large and has natural light on 3 sides.

Right now, we're doing all of the paperwork to conclude the sale. We're also researching the renovation and wading through interior design mags to find inspiring ways to design the space. After the sale is completed, we imagine about 6 months of renovation work (in stages) to get the house in a ready state for us to move in. It would be really nice if we can spend Christmas in the new home... but we'll see how time and finances conspire to make that happen.

holy cow! we just bought a house!

Okay, to be honest, the official sale has not been completed - We're at the point where the owner has accepted our offer, and we have 14 days to get all the legal/financial ducks in a row before confirming the sale.