Living The Dream

As I sit this morning at my laptop, my children divided between their respective devices (roll on the new school term), with an episode of Ru Paul playing in the background that I've seen at least five times, I find myself looking around my living room with pride.

My family of five including my fur baby moved into this house January 2019 and it was a literal shell. Nothing but stone walls and an empty inside that looked like it could have featured in an some television programme about forgotten Northern Irish houses. It is a council house that had been completely gutted, there was no flooring anywhere except some old linoleum in the kitchen and the bathroom that gave 70s budget horror movie vibes. You know the kind? Where you're pretty certain if you pulled it up you'd find a plethora of unidentifiable stains and black lights fantasy heaven? The living room "floor" and the hallway downstairs were black concrete slabs and everywhere else was bare wooden slates that resembled the crates that the beer was delivered on in the old bar I used to work in, except not as smooth. Every wall in the house was either completely bare or covered in at least three different types of half stripped wallpaper and old paint.

We were given this house by our local housing executive during a time when we desperately needed to move as a matter of personal safety because threats from my ex husband had made it imperative that we find somewhere to live where he couldn't find us. We had little choice but to move all of our belongings into this three bedroom run down old house. This was especially hard for me because I was leaving a home I adored for a house that needed more work than I at that time felt I had the energy to pour into it. I had been renting a beautiful two bedroom cottage in the town where I lived that I affectionately referred to as my little Hobbit Hole. It was beautiful and I enjoyed the challenge of living small. It was the first place that I had funded on my own and made into a home for myself and my children. I still drive past it sometimes just to see it and look back on the memories I made there, where my daughter took her first steps and my son said his first words.

I remember the day we got the keys to this house and the move was cemented. I tried to find the excitement that a new house should bring but it wasn't there. I desperately missed my Hobbit Hole and I was depressed by the bareness of this place I now had to live in. It took me the better part of three weeks to pull myself together. My always dedicated partner, Mario, slowly began to work at changing my attitudes to our new house. He walked me through each room and told me to let the creative part of my brain take over.

We didn't have an unlimited budget, but that's what made it fun. I was given a challenge by my partner and I do so love a challenge. I had to make this hollow shell, into our dream home without totally breaking the bank.

I started in the living room because it's the place our family spends the most time together. I knew that it needed to be nerdy because we are a massively nerdy family (#allnerdstogether). Mario is a gamer guy and a huge Star Wars fanatic. We all love Marvel and DC so that needed to feature heavily too and I had to get my little gothic twist in there as well, because it doesn't matter how old you get, once a goth, always a goth. I started to see it. The Stark and Targaryeon banners on the walls for Mario, a nod to his days as an Unsullied that began his new life as an actor, the photos of our lives together, the Star Wars paraphernalia that were still packed away in boxes and the places they might fit. My mind raced and the creative juices began to flow. I got out a brand new notebook, made some sketches, pulled out my tape measure, found some paint samples and got to work.

What I ended up with was a room that perfectly described each of our personalities in little ways. Every corner of our living room tells a story about us as a family. The fireplace is my area. The mantle is decorated with a variety of decorative skulls purchased for me by Mario and my best friend Honor, the porcelain swans that my beautiful cousin left me in her Will, sit between them next to the doves my Nana left me and the tiny dolls house given to me by my mother. The wallpaper adorning the space behind it is a beautiful rose gold with strong patterns, representing the fact that there is some femininity about me and on the wall, hangs a painting featuring some of our favourite Superheros. Mario's area lives with his PC. I pulled apart an old display unit to make a safe space for his prized PC to keep little hands away from it. On top of the unit is our TV and on either side you'll find an assortment of cookie jars, including a Storm Trooper, R2D2 and a Batman. There are also his two favourite photographs from our engagement photo-shoot. On the back left hand side wall, we created a bunting and from it hangs the photos of all our best family moments and underneath The Stark Banner. The kids have their input too. They have an armchair each and a coffee table where all their toys are kept. Our living room is busy, beautiful and lived in. It's full of colour and personality and I feel like when people step into this room, they get to know us. Mario did the floor in the living room himself. We purchased self adhesive imitation hard wood flooring from our local B&M bargains. It cost us £119 and even though he almost lost a finger (#fingergate), he laid the floor during the better part of one afternoon and no one has ever been able to tell it was as low cost as it was. We saved money by doing everything ourselves. My Mother did the wallpaper and we all pitched in for the stripping of the old wallpaper and the painting of the walls, even the kids helped. It truly was a family affair.

The stairs are Mario's baby and were part of his Christmas present to me in 2019. On Christmas Eve he took the day to meticulously sand the stairs and make the old and tired floorboards smooth once more. He painted them white and then wallpapered the mid sections with Marvel Wallpaper. He fitted multicoloured carpet pieces to the actual steps once the paint dried and we were left with an amazing set of stairs that cost us £24.69. He used left over paint from the living room, bought the pieces of carpet on Wish for £9.99 and the rest went on the wallpaper.

Through our dream house creation journey we've become very fond of white paint. White paint is cheap and it brings a lot of light into a house. It also gives you an opportunity to find different ways to bring colour into the house. The walls leading up our stairs are painted white, but they're far from boring. The first thing you see as you ascend our stairs is (one) of our displays featuring Funko Pops and other collectables. My feature piece here includes a display of my Runes, Tarot cards, basic Wicca kit and crystals. As you turn the corner and take the last few stairs, you'll be confronted by a giant portrait of The Joker and three comic book cover portrait prints. It's one of my favourite walls in the house.

The floors upstairs were also laid by Mario. They're made up of black and multicoloured, giant foam puzzle pieces, something my children absolutely adore and they're easy to clean. To complete our flooring upstairs, we bought the giant puzzle pieces from The Range and it cost £167.99 to cover the hallways and three bedrooms.

Our Master Bedroom is my favourite space. It's my safe space. It's where I do most of my writing and where I go to relax and to hide from my children. Every mother needs a hiding spot. This is where we keep our favourite and our most valuable collectables and where I keep my friends (my books). We used two old book cases that we bought for £10 each in a charity shop and turned them on their side to create a TV stand and a bookcase and we turned an old chest of drawers into a makeshift desk.

We're no where near finished with our home, our Nerdvana, but what we have completed gives us as a family a sense of accomplishment and pride. We enjoy being in our home and during the Pandemic that was a life saver. We were never bored here. We've created a place where we all feel welcome and everyone has a say. Even our special collection of cups tells a story of our friends and family, each one assigned to a specific person.

Our home is proof that you don't need a bottomless pit of money or a degree in interior design. You just need to know what makes you happy. We've found one hundred ways to re purpose items, especially in our walk in closet. Mario has an old book case for his clothes and he fitted an old curtain rail across the room for my best dresses. We have found ways to use all the available space without feeling claustrophobic.

I know my house isn't to everyone's taste. My mother calls my collection of decorated skulls, "a bit scary" and sometimes we're told our house is just, "too busy," but it works for us. That's the only thing that really matters.