As promised here are the photos of the flat as it was when we viewed it. For me to consider living somewhere there are a few key points I look at apart from price:
- The location: obviously I can't change that and I have learned the hard way that to us it is very important and we would rather sacrifice living in a house or having our own garden for a flat that is in a great location next to everything we love about Glasgow.
- The size: we have a lot of things. In between Allen's dvds, cds, vinyls, comic books and Elliott's toys, the boys in this house own a LOT ****! Although I think we could have coped in a smaller flat, this one was huge and at the same price as other smaller ones.
- The building: is it a busy tenement? is it going to be a noisy building?Again you can't change annoying neighbours:(
- The decor: can I redecorate the flat? I didn't really want somewhere immaculate because I wouldn't have been allowed to do anything to it. And it would have been more expensive. Here I can redecorate but it's still manageable stuff: there are no wood chip in sight, the ceilings are good, the kitchen isn't horrific....the bathroom is another story:(
Anyhow here's the flat in all its (quite gross) glory!
THE LIVING ROOM:
We have already changed a few thing in this room but it hasn't been decorated yet. It is pretty big and has good proportions. The fire is apparently i working order but we haven't tested it out yet.
The carpet is in ok condition but I hate carpet so good condition or not I think it's gross. When we got the keys I went in straight away to start painting Elliott's bedroom and I noticed there were a lot of moths flying around and on the edge of the carpet. There were also signs of the carpets having been damaged by moths...for me that just illustrate how disgusting carpets are. I gave them a good hoover, and then using the steam cleaner I cleaned the edge of the carpet. It was a genocide down there, I was killing everything in site with my steam cleaner.....sooo satisfying (maybe a little too much!) I haven't seen any since but still repulsed by the carpets and just to bin these asap.
Below is the other side of the room....and yes we have a hatch...because let's face it it is super handy...not! That was one of the first thing I sorted with a really easy solution.
THE KITCHEN:
The Kitchen is alright, it is not offensive but it's not amazing either. It's a good size and is light and bright. As well as what you can see in the photo it has another small section at the back of the room which means we have space for a round table and chairs.
There are a few silly things here and there that could be improved:
the walls are papered with different style of wallpapers and borders the whole lot on top of one another and someone went and painted it white. It is really patchy and just looks amateurish. The tiles are really randoms and the wall next to the cooker could do with some tiles. There is a shelf at a really strange height some randomly added lights with lots of cables visible. Altogether we can live with it. We need a tiny bit more storage though so we'll need to think of a solution.
THE DINING ROOM
This room is right next to the kitchen and feels part of it in a way as both rooms are in the same mini corridor. We used it as our temporary bedroom when we first moved it but I always felt I was sleeping in the kitchen so it didn't really work for me as a bedroom. Plus there's an enormous tree right outside the room making it quite dark...and it's not even a nice tree!!!
We have now changed it to a dining room and it's much better. I still want to take a sledge hammer and knock that wall down so we have a bigger dining kitchen but apart from that I am good....oh and rip the carpet up, I mean carpet in a dining room? NO. THANK. YOU.
ELLIOTT'S BEDROOM
Oh my where do I start? I think whoever decorated this decided: let's have a colour scheme, oh what colour would be nice for a bedroom? Yeah brown, let's go for brown, because that's a cheery colour, really uplifting and just looks like...POO!! Well that scheme didn't last... If you follow me on Instagram you have probably already seen previews of the room and there is no more brown in sight:) But the sink is still there:(( I am waiting for Allen to come back form tour to temporarily remove it, so if we ever have to move out we just reconnect it but in the meantime we don't have to pretend we are living in a B&B!
ZOE'S BEDROOM:
This bedroom again is ok, the walls were wallpapered and again someone painted over them but badly so it's all patch and the wallpaper had a daisy pattern, which I am not really too keen on. The windows are huge and let a lot of light in and because it's south facing her room is always nice and toasty during the day. We haven't done anything to it yet because it is blah and she can live with it now. Plus it turns out she actually isn't too crazy about having a loft bed because it involves....well...climbing up a ladder and she is far too lazy at times to do that or even to get down if she needs anything!! so if and when we do her room up we'll sell her bed and buy a new double one ( all on gumtree of course:)
OUR BEDROOM:
When we viewed the flat it was described as part furnished...this was the furniture!! a old bed and a piano? weird! We kindly asked the landlord to remove them, which was not a problem. One of the first things I did when we got the keys is remove the carpet...I could have waited and lived with it but it was gross and had lots of stains on it...vom. Underneath was newish floorboards that probably were laid down when the central heating was installed, There weren't nice enough to sand back plus they had massive gaps between each board, but for me that was a better option than keeping the carpet. Did I mention that when I pulled it up, the receipt was underneath it. It was laid in 1992, which for me seems like yesterday but that's 22 years ago...22 years of grime and dirt in one ugly electric blue carpet.
SPARE BEDROOM / STUDY
There is also a spare bedroom/study room. It is tiny but big enough for a single bed and our wardrobes. We aren't too sure what to do with the room yet. We'll see once the rest is finished
We also have a massive hallway which could have a desk area but we might hang our bikes on one of the wall...not sure yet!
Voila! Bienvenue chez nous:)