I have wanted to write a more personal (less business) post for some time now, and, whilst sat up at what would seem to most a horribly ungodly hour, the thoughts and energy to write this post came about (that's what comes of falling asleep with your children whilst putting them to bed). And anyway, I have exciting personal news that I'm dying to share with you.
We are moving house!
We are going to live in the country, by the place we love, by the place we chose to marry, by the place that holds so much family history for us.
The last time I moved house was to make the big move from The Midlands up North, to be with my then boyfriend, now husband, Phil, who at the time, had a beautiful design unit in the centre of Newcastle city centre. It was an exciting adventure, moving to a totally new area. I fell in love with the Geordies and relaxed north east lifestyle. After a stint of renting a flat together for 18 months, Phil and I chose to move in to a new build house, which is where we've been for the past, very comfortable 8 years.
But these times, they are a changin'. We now have two children, two dogs and a home based business to try to accommodate into our living space, which has proven pretty difficult over the past 12 months.
One of the things I have found most difficult working from home, is the challenge of separating work from family life; working from the spare room upstairs, which is smack bang in the middle of both the main bedrooms, has, it would be fair to say, kind of gotten in the way. I don't say this lightly. I am sure most self employed folk who work from home will be able to resonate when I say, the temptation to work all the time, even during the time you should be with your family, is pretty intense. Making that shift from being an employed person, to becoming self employed and realising you are solely responsible for generating enough income to live on - every month - is a pretty heavy gear-shift to have to adjust to. And I admit, I have found it really very hard to switch off from that very work-focused mind-set to a more relaxed, 'time to be mum' way of thinking.
In my experience, if you work from home, one of the most important and crucial things you must do, is learn to separate work from family/personal time. Having segregated spaces and dedicated times when you can focus on and enjoy both aspects of you life separately aint easy at time (I know, I've been through the stress, fall outs and frustration that come with working from home - trust me). One of the reasons we chose our new house is because it provides a completely separate work space. I'll get my own room downstairs which has it's own kitchenette and everything! I am so excited about seeking out a little pale-green tea-pot to put in there ;)
Phil visited our new house earlier this week to check a few things out. That's the view from the raised deck looking down on to the back of the house below - the main living area is upstairs you see - I guess the builder was wanting to maximise the enjoyment of the beautiful view of the moors, that these little iphone photos that Phil took really do no justice to...
The image above there is Phil's car parked on the drive of the new house. I love that tree just behind it and the view of the hills on the moors beyond. The house is a the top of a hill - and at the bottom, the river Esk that inspired our daughters name runs through.
For us, this house, the location - it really is a dream come true and just 3 years ago, I could never have imagined having this amazing opportunity. Anyone who reads this blog regularly will probably already be familiar with my love of Whitby and the surrounding area. My husband grew up nearby and introduced me to the area when we met 12 years ago. It is the place that he proposed to me and the place we got married. It is a place rich in Beeforth family history - going back literally hundreds and hundreds of years. It's the place that makes us feel like 'we are home'.
I feel so, so lucky. But you know, I also really, truly believe that you make your own luck. Phil and I have worked damn hard over these past 3 years - always believing in ourselves, sometimes doing stuff that didn't convince or totally confused other people and often taking risks, but knowing all the while that it would just work out. It suddenly feels like all that sleep deprivation, stress and frustration I referred to earlier is paying off. It's time for a bit new chapter and change in our lives, and whilst I might be a little scared, I'm so super excited. We're taking a risk moving even now - we haven't sold our current home yet but took the decision to leave it vacant and on the market and move anyway. We both hope it will sell soon, but we have both accepted it might not sell as quickly as we'd like. We'll just have to wait and see. What we did know was that if we didn't grab this opportunity to move now - that single space left in our daughter's school year and our beautiful house on the hill, would probably have been taken by someone else. Sometimes you just gotta dive in headfirst and trust your instincts.
So, all focus now (well, for me, anyway) is on styling a beautiful empty space by the sea. It's been absolutely ages since I did anything in the 'home-decor' department, and I can't wait to get started. I'm currently channeling an interiors obsession for all things mid century and G-Plan. God help me and my e-bay twitchin' purse.
I want to work really hard to make the girls bedroom a beautiful place, somewhere they feel they can retreat to, to rest and have fun at the same time. I never moved house as a child, but I can imagine suddenly being away from all your friends and everything you've come to know must be pretty daunting - at least for our soon-to-be 7 year old daughter Eska anyway. Leanora is just 2, and I think as long as her Mr Rabbit teddy bear comes to live with us, she will be happy :)
It would be great to hear from readers who have move with children, or moved as children, what your experience was? Both Eska's Daddy and I are very aware of how this huge life change might affect our daughters, and it was one of the reasons that held us back from moving in the first place, but we've taken time to all talk about it together as a family, and Eska seems pretty excited.
Last night, I introduced Eska to Pinterest. She so completely got it, and whist there aren't many photos there right now, she spent half an hour drooling over pretty pink children's bedrooms. She's not your typical 'pink' kind of little girl; for the first year of her life, I preferred not to dress her in pink at all as I didn't want to fit any stereotypes (the downside of that was I lost count of the number of people who would say 'ahhh, isn't he lovely!' as I proudly pushed her around the shopping centre in her little blue hand-knits). But Eska is head strong and has a mind of her own and seems very firm on pale pink walls, so pale pink they shall be. I shall be certainly having a bit of my own way however and decorating those walls with some beautiful wall art.
Eska currently has this set of reusabe fabric wall stickers on her bedroom walls by Love Mae - which I completely adore. Love Mae have expanded their collection considerably since I last ordered from them, and we're looking forward to ordering more wall art stickers - but which ones? I fancy this tea-time set, and this fishy tales set - what do you think? :)
More from the Love Mae range of collection of reusable fabric wall stickers...
I can't wait to fill my office and make it feel my own too. I'm currently searching for the perfect new desk - you wouldn't believe how long this has taken already!
Taking pride of place will be my beautiful new vintage telephone that I picked up from an antique store in Kendal in the Lake Distinct last week when I went to visit my sister (the shop was on Wildman street near the Riverside Hotel, for anyone round that neck of the woods). This is an original early 1940's bakelite phone which cost me a small fortune, but oh, it is just so so beautiful. It makes the perfect little clunk sound when you replace the receiver and it just feels so beautiful to hold. And it works!! Total telephone porn...
So, it's all change in the Beeforth household and I'm ready to take it on and face new challenges and start a start a whole new chapter in our lives. We collect the keys in six days time and will be moving between then and Christmas and spending the festive season in our new house. I cannot wait.
In other news, I was tweeting my blogging idol last night - Jamie Beck, the co-founder (along with her now husband, Kevin Burg) of the cinemagraph (you can see more of those on Jamie's blog 'From Me To You' here). I'm slightly obsessed with Jamie's incredible life and innate sense of beautiful, elegant personal style. One of my dreams is to be able to meet Jamie for a very glamorous cup of coffee in her home city of New York. And I'm gonna make sure I make that happen- you make your own luck, remember? Talking of which, you should read this post - it's inspiring.
I'd love to hear from you on all things change - what changes are happening in your life right now? Is anyone else moving house - and um, moving before Christmas? Can anyone offer advice on how to make it an easier move for young children? And, what are your experiences of working from home and trying to keep the work and personal life separate?
Have a lovely weekend won't you.
Lots of love,
Annabel
