It's A New Dawn, It's A New Day

As some of the more astute/committed readers amongst you maybe have noticed (someone? anyone? Mum...?) There has been a not so brief hiatus in posts of late. For this I can only apologise and assure you that it is not due to lack of activity. On the contrary life has been somewhat crazy in squat towers and it is with proud excitement that I announce the birth of squat number 2, or SJ (squat junior) as we like to call her. Yup you guessed it, we are at it again… with a vengeance.

SJ was never destined for the same fate as the original, this is an entirely different proposition, a business proposition no less – a buy to let. When operating in said business environment one must be governed at all times with head not heart. This is what they told me, they ALL told me and you know what they can be like, so god damn self-righteous. But, I bowed to their superior knowledge, yes, of course we will just paint over the existing flock, fake artex paper and make do with the kitchen in place, no, no, no, no, of course, no need to touch the ceilings, 60’s style gas fireplaces, fine for a rental, absolutely, boiler, it still runs doesn’t it? Yes, definitely leave well alone. I nodded and smiled with good intentions of following it all through.

Strange then, that I seem to find myself 1 month in with, pretty much the shell of a house, all ceilings and walls have been pulled down and stripped back, kitchen ripped out, fireplaces- can’t see them for dust (literally). It’s fair to say, I fell at the first hurdle, giving the house a name probably wasn’t the best start. In defence some of the work has not been caused by me, the house that we bought, although cared for by it’s lovely previous owners (and I mean that sincerely) had been largely maintained through DIY- herein lies a problem. Peel back one layer of paper and the wall comes tumbling down, inspect one of the sockets and discover it needs entirely re-wiring, take out a kitchen unit and reveal the large patches of damp carefully concealed by layers of plastic... and so it goes on.

Don’t get me wrong, I really am not doing this to the spec I would my own home, I haven’t even changed the radiators (yet), but it seems fair to say that when it comes to me and houses I cannot help but be emotionally attached, they very quickly do become a labour of love. Here she is in her finest original form (these are estate agent photos fyi).