OK this may sound crazy but……now we’ve downsized lets extend?

As it was when we moved in

 We moved at probably the worst of times economically but its working out ok. We sold and bought in the same depressed market, having had our old house over eight years so we had a buffer from the crazy hikes in property prices in the mid Naughties.

I did discuss the loss of space with hubby and we worked through it, emotionally logistically and agreed it could be done without feeling cramped.

This is where I thought we could extend?(at the side)

After moving in and living with the cottage for a while and starting listing the improvements we wanted to make and which were the priorities.  We installed the central heating system as a major priority, but before we did anything else I said “If we were to extend, and I repeat if, we should consider it now before we do anything else”. He gave me one of them looks, you the one, “I knew it I knew it”. I reassured him it was just an idea at this stage, and best to think about it before we go any further. 

We can't do it all ourselves u know!

The work begins

We evaluated it and agreed an extension was a good idea.
 We also decided that even though Hubby had built a few extensions himself in his time, this time we would have someone do it and complete it at the same time as knocking out and replacing all the windows in the cottage. A bit of “Wam bam, thank you guys!”

So we wanted another room for hobbies a sort of” break out” space to play read think away from each other, and I wanted a broom cupboard and a utility room that was separate from the kitchen. I loved the idea of a proper laundry, no cooking smells, no dogs, just clean ordered useful space.
So we went for it and although not quite finished we do love it and the benefit of downsizing to a more rural area is, you do get more for your money and if you are looking for less, you have money to create exactly what suits you and your family in the precise location you want to be

  It’s not everyone’s choice to live away from everything and its no good if you are in that stage of your life when its work, work work. But we have done that and got the T-shirt and paid for the convenience of living at the hub now we are having an adventure creating our own little piece of paradise. It may be dusty, and we may have frustrations along the way but it’s our dream and we love it, although there is still a long way to go and many more ideas to come!

Alison