John and I have been searching for somewhere to live for about six months now. We are just not agreeing on anywhere. The place that I loved, he thought was too small and the one he wanted, I thought was way too big! I have very high hopes for an apartment we are going to see this weekend. It’s 5 minutes from my office and only 10 from John’s. It is somewhere in the middle of the two we liked previously in terms of size and it has a communal garden! I don’t even want to think about the drama’s we are going to have when we come to furnishing the place. John’s mum is an interior stylist; she knows all the best property staging companies to advise on market trends when it comes to decorating a home for auction. I know she is going to get very involved in our design choices. A lot of the stuff she likes is actually rather amazing but way outside of our budget and way too ‘styled’.
I prefer a slightly more natural look, a hodge podge of meaningful and personal pieces. I find that all the places we are seeing look the same; the same shades of dark wood, minimal greys, slate, polished concrete and so on. I think John likes the minimal scando inspired look but I don’t want to live in just another new build. His mum keeps sending me images of bespoke woodcraft pieces and vintage candelabras, I fear I am going to have to give in to something. I keep telling her she needs to calm down until we actually find a place to live! At the moment we have no mantelpiece on which to place the exquisite 18th century compass she has found for us. I have just about managed to stop her from coming with us to look at all the apartments, especially the one this weekend. I keep telling her I don’t want to seem presumptuous by showing up with an home styling expert, as I know she would be unable to control her urges to measure things and draw up plans.