Let me take you back to over a year ago.
I was back living with my mother, we were getting on each others nerves because when she wanted an early night, i wanted to have friends around for drinks, when i wanted party's, she wanted to have a quiet night in etc etc etc.
I'd been applying for my own place for something like 9 months through the council's bidding system. I was pretty beaten down by it and thinking of giving up on the idea of me ever being able to have a place of my own.
All of a sudden, on the website, there was a surge one week of bedsit's and 1 bedroom flats. I applied for as many as i could (3 i think was the limit). Thinking that i wouldn't hear back from any of them, on the sunday night, before bidding closed on the tuesday, i was still first in the bidding line for a flat.... wtf?
On the tuesday, i received a phone call from an unknown number. It was the council. Calling to congradulate me, i'd won the bid and they'd love to show me the flat. I think it was on the thursday me and my mother came down to see the flat. This is what we found....
The "Round the corner" bit of the flat.
The other part to the living room.
Kitchen had undergone a refit with a new kitchen sink, cubards, plumbing, electrics etc. Only thing they'd not done was the walls.
As you can tell, that wallpaper was going to have to come off.
A little hidden closet stood at the end of the kitchen, loads of pipes and such, but loads of space in there for storage etc...
I couldn't fit the whole of the bedroom into one picture, but here's most of it....
Bathroom, again, not up to much, but all new plumbing, bathtub, sink, toilet etc...
So after seeing it, infact, while still in the flat, we set up a meeting for me to go and sign up for it to become mine.
On 11.11.11 i signed the contract and got the keys, the place was mine.
As soon as i left the office, i walked up to the flat to let myself in and take a walk around. Nothing could take the smile off my face for the rest of the day. I think i spent the rest of the night with thought's spinning in my head about what i could do with the place, where i would place things.... I was just too happy, my first ever place alone!
Over the next few weeks, me and literally, everyone i knew, all picked up tools and they helped me to paint it into a masterpeice.
Once we had the place painted, it was then amazing to me at how many people got in touch, through all sorts of ways, saying "Oh i've got _____ you can have". Here's just some of the things we did to decorate at first. Keep in mind, most of these were free....
Ok granted, Tilly wasn't donated to me, but as you can see, she supervised the whole decoration and move in process.
I don't think these people may ever be able to understand just how greatful i really am to them.
I didn't have all the money in the world to make this move in as easy as others made it. Without them offering me help when i needed it and items when they were going spare, the flat certainly wouldn't be what it is today.
After a while, i moved in, which was great! Finally, a place of my own!
It still wasn't right though, the floors were bare. I faced two options at this time (and sometimes during some very heated debates, i knew what i wanted). Option one was to sand the floors right down and then varnish them, or, carpet them.
Guess which option i chose?
That's right, i wanted carpets and i think i chose wisely!
So a whole year on and why do i still love it?
It for me, is my lifestyle, sometimes un-tidy but it's able to offer me what i need sometimes which is an escape from the world. If i want to have people around, i can open the door, if not, then i can do my own thing and really get to know myself.
I don't feel scared or unsafe, i don't get lonely nor do i wish things had been different in the moving in.
So, going from a shell, i think this place is pretty good up to now. A year on and yes, theres still things that im missing and things that keep changing, but for now, it is mine. My home. Just a year older.
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