An Estonian girl who has found a home in Sweden.

Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts

Monday, July 15

It Has Been a Year

July 15, 2013 Posted by Vaire , , , ,

It doesn't feel like a year has passed since I moved. A year. Already! But it has. A year ago last week, I moved, and then crashed and slept for three days. Sona was so scared of all the new that he crawled under the blanket with me and came out only to eat and use the litter box.

Sona

It is a year later and he is a lot more relaxed. He takes a keen interest in the bugs and birds flying outside, and he seems to enjoy his life. He even has started to snuggle up to me in the chair or even sleep on my lap a bit. And that makes me insanely happy.

Flowers on the balcony

Last summer I was so tired and so overwhelmed by all that needed to be done indoors that I didn't do anything at the balcony. This summer is different. At first, I decided upon what hardware to buy, and now I've started filling the boxes with flowers. I might have gone overboard a bit...

There are three big rectangular boxes, three rings with medium flower pots, and one big ring with a bucket. Then there is the cypress that survived the winter, a couple of grasses in mini pots, and a round lantern. Not to mention the black rattan chair (which takes up nearly half the balcony) and the little metal night table.

It feels like there's too much stuff on the balcony right now. It's hard to water the plants in the back box because the chair is in the way. Sadly the chair is way too big for my balcony and the rattan won't survive the winter. I am going to replace it with metal folding chairs with much smaller footprint. That way they can be folded and out of the way when they are not needed, and the metal will survive the winters.

I would also like to find something to put on the concrete. An outdoor rug or wood boards, or something. I love the grey colour, but it's so cold under bare feet. And then there is the bannister of colour that defies description. It needs to be covered with something somehow because painting it is not an option.

When I moved, I had no idea how much I'd love this place. It is just the right size for me, I love the layout, the bath, the extra nook in the kitchen, and the view. Every time I think of this place, I think of it as "perfect". And then I remember that the kitchen is horrible, the electricity cables are old, and that the entry floor is dreadful.

But all that, it doesn't matter. All that can be fixed, I just need to save up, rebuild, and restore. It will take years, and I'm fine with that. I have found my forever home.

Monday, July 16

The First Week

July 16, 2012 Posted by Vaire , , ,
After the rain

It's views like these that make me inordinately happy to be here. Peace, quiet, and beauty.

An evening sun

It is amazing how something that was not at all important when I made my decision to buy, makes me like this place all the more.

Sona

Sona likes to explore the new heights and is settling in more and more. I should give some serious thought to making him a high perch of some sort once the boxes are gone.

Friday, July 13

So it Begins

July 13, 2012 Posted by Vaire , , ,

New flat, new house association, new part of town. New everything, except the interior of the flat that needs to be renovated a lot more than I realised. I haven't got the money for it right now, so there's nothing I can do about it besides start saving up.

The move itself took from 16:30 to 22:00 on Monday. I was so exhausted after all the stress, packing, organising, and everything else that preceded the move itself, that I slept away the Tuesday, Wednesday and most of the Thursday.

After some frustrating hours yesterday, and a few phone calls to various support numbers today, the Internet is finally working. I've also unpacked the kitchen, the bathroom, and some other stuff in between the naps. There are still piles of boxes everywhere, but I'm taking the time to think before unpacking this time.

The room

I'm still figuring out the best way to organise the kitchen, but it's getting there. The bathroom was easy because I don't have much in the way of products, and the storage cabinet is at least twice as roomy as the old one was.

The celebratory bath on Monday after everyone had left was bliss. Finally! The bathroom may not be the most recently renovated one around, but it has a bath that is the perfect size for me. Everything there works now, and that's what's important.

I removed the wall mounted shower head that was cracked and not even connected to the water. First of all, it was swinging free, which was a bit scary and then I noticed that only the hand held shower head was connected to the water.

The bathroom

Fortunately it was easy to remove, and I don't like the "rain" style shower head anyway. I may get something else to put up there, but right now I'm enjoying the uncluttered wall. And baths. Lots of baths with nicely smelling stuff. Lovely!

Sona was not eating until late Tuesday, and he's spending a lot more time under the blanket than is usual, but he seems to have accepted that we're in the new place for good. Oddly enough, he's a lot less jumpy when I unpack and move boxes around. He used to go and hide as soon as it looked like I was moving something heavy around, but now he just stays where he was as I step over him.

The view

All in all, we're fine, if tired, and I'm looking forward to making this place a home for us. And the view is glorious.

Monday, July 2

T minus 7 days

July 02, 2012 Posted by Vaire , ,

I'm still packing, sorting, and throwing things away. I have emptied my kitchen cabinets in preparation to packing, sorted through my SCA clothes and packed them, packed all fabrics, CDs and DVDs.

I need to fetch the rest of the boxes from the attic, pack the kitchen, everyday clothes, odd sized books, techy stuff, and whatever is left over that. All in 4 evenings. Then on Sunday I'll deal with the furniture and sleep the last night on the mattress.

There was one day I didn't pack this weekend, though. I had booked a cruise via work way before the flat selling business began. In fact, I'd forgotten about it until I got a reminder a few weeks back. I decided to go anyway, just to take a break from the packing and the mess. I'm glad I did, the Stockholm archipelago is gorgeous!

Östermalm

The Thousand Islands Cruise begins in the city centre which is gorgeous in itself. Have I mentioned how much I love Stockholm architecture? Especially the older architecture? Views like this is one of the reason why I chose to live on Södermalm. Now that I'm moving away, I have decided to visit the city centre more often and enjoy the views.

Waxholm III

The day began cloudy and drizzly, but the skies cleared up about midway through the cruise. Waxholm III was built in 1903 and is a typical "archipelago boat". It is carefully restored in the early 1900s style and is gorgeous, inside and out.

Bullerö

Bullerö was the second stop on the cruise. I chose not to take the tour this time, but took lots of photos of the island and surrounding islands instead.

Sail boat

After Bullerö we met lots of sail boats, the Sandhamn harbour had a brisk traffic and there were many in the sea as well. Some people speculated that there was a regatta going on over the weekend, but even if there wasn't, the weather was beautiful and many people had come out to enjoy it.

Sunset

The sun was setting as we turned in to Stockholm City. All in all, I had a great day. The food on board was outstanding, the crew friendly, the weather was awesome, and the surroundings gorgeous. If you come to Stockholm and have a day to spare, I can heartily recommend taking this cruise. I know I'll be taking it again.

Things to do before the moving date:

  1. Pause the cleaning subscription until further notice.
  2. Order moving cleaning of the old flat.
  3. Buy a foldable trolley.
  4. Talk to the current house's association about the house keys.
  5. Investigate relocating Sona for the duration of the move.
  6. Get some moving boxes from IKEA.
  7. Buy the bar to make the bookshelf into a wardrobe.
  8. Get a temporary post redirect from the moving day on.
  9. Transfer the electricity contract to the new address.
  10. Notify the vet of the address change.
  11. Start throwing/giving away things I don't want to keep.
  12. Sort through my stuff and decide what to keep.
  13. Pack everything I want to keep.
  14. Make a pile of things to throw away.
  15. Make a pile of things to give away.
  16. Go to the bank to finalise the loan papers.
  17. Coordinate the wall repair in the old flat.
  18. Disassemble the bookshelves and the sofa.
  19. Maybe relocate Sona. Not happening.
  20. Go to my nephew's christening.

Wednesday, June 27

T minus 12 days

June 27, 2012 Posted by Vaire

The packing, sorting, and throwing/giving away continues. I'm starting to be really stressed out about it because there is so much to pack still, and I'm running out of both time and boxes to pack things in.

Yesterday I went to the bank to sign loads of papers for the many loans that I need. There are rules of how much and up to what percentage I can loan per a loan type, so that's why I'm going to end up with four loans once the whole buying and selling process is done.

I also needed to have two extra loans. The first one to cover the 10% deposit I paid because although I sold first, the deposit to me was held up by the acceptance process by the house association. Which meant that I'd get the deposit after I had to pay mine.

The second extra loan would be to cover an existent loan I'm going to transfer to the new flat. Since I need to, again, pay before I get the final sum, I need another loan to cover it. Lots of loans, lots of paperwork... I got the deposit from my buyers today, so I could pay off the first extra loan.

Only a few more weeks until all this is sorted... Few more weeks I need to survive, one day at a time, one box at a time, one signature at a time. It'll be fine in the end, even though right now it feels like I'd just like to shove everything I own down the trash chute a run away with Sona.

Things to do before the moving date:

  1. Pause the cleaning subscription until further notice.
  2. Order moving cleaning of the old flat.
  3. Buy a foldable trolley.
  4. Talk to the current house's association about the house keys.
  5. Investigate relocating Sona for the duration of the move.
  6. Get some moving boxes from IKEA.
  7. Buy the bar to make the bookshelf into a wardrobe.
  8. Get a temporary post redirect from the moving day on.
  9. Transfer the electricity contract to the new address.
  10. Notify the vet of the address change.
  11. Start throwing/giving away things I don't want to keep.
  12. Sort through my stuff and decide what to keep.
  13. Pack everything I want to keep.
  14. Make a pile of things to throw away.
  15. Make a pile of things to give away.
  16. Go to the bank to finalise the loan papers.
  17. Coordinate the wall repair in the old flat.
  18. Disassemble the bookshelves and the sofa.
  19. Maybe relocate Sona. Not happening.
  20. Go to my nephew's christening.

Wednesday, June 20

T minus 19 days

June 20, 2012 Posted by Vaire

The sorting and packing progresses nicely. This weekend I expect to be done with the attic. I cleared up half of it last weekend and tossed four bin bags worth of old rubbish; what's left is mostly SCA clothes and fabrics up there.

Those will be easy – I am going to pack them into suitcases according to the time period. The fabric stash is going to be more tricky to sort and pack. I used yarn and spinning fibre as padding in book boxes, but I've barely made a dent in that stash.

What is worrying me is that I only have nine boxes left after using 31 of them for books. Another trip to IKEA seems more and more likely. I have way too many books! I have been reducing the collection by getting audio versions of fiction, but the heavy books are the research books, and those can not be replaced. Oh how I dream of the day when research books will be available on a tablet...

In preparation to the move, I have splurged a bit on nice things for bathing. Lavender bath salt from L:A Bruket, two kinds of body scrub from Body Shop, and a bubble bath from Body Shop. I am so going to take many smelly (pleasantly smelly) baths once I've moved! Anyone know a good place to get bath bombs and/or bath oil? Not Lush, though, their bath stuff stinks and gives me head aches.

Things to do before the moving date:

  1. Pause the cleaning subscription until further notice.
  2. Order moving cleaning of the old flat.
  3. Buy a foldable trolley.
  4. Talk to the current house's association about the house keys.
  5. Investigate relocating Sona for the duration of the move.
  6. Get some moving boxes from IKEA.
  7. Buy the bar to make the bookshelf into a wardrobe.
  8. Get a temporary post redirect from the moving day on.
  9. Transfer the electricity contract to the new address.
  10. Notify the vet of the address change.
  11. Sort through my stuff and decide what to keep.
  12. Start throwing/giving away things I don't want to keep.
  13. Pack everything I want to keep.
  14. Make a pile of things to throw away.
  15. Make a pile of things to give away.
  16. Go to the bank to finalise the loan papers.
  17. Coordinate the wall repair in the old flat.
  18. Disassemble the bookshelves and the sofa.
  19. Maybe relocate Sona. Not happening.
  20. Go to my nephew's christening.

Monday, June 11

T minus 28 days

June 11, 2012 Posted by Vaire

I have started the sorting, the throwing away, and giving away of stuff. I really do want to downsize, not only because the new place is smaller with less storage, but also because I do have too much stuff. Stuff that I haven't used for more than five years, why keep it? I'll never use it.

I went to IKEA on Saturday for some moving boxes. I'd planned on buying 20, but when I saw how small they really were, I got 40. Then I promptly filled more than 20 of them with books and started to reconsider my decision that, if my stuff that's supposed to go into those boxes won't fit, then it won't come with me. I may have to go fetch some more boxes for dishes and other small stuff.

There will be things that are too big to fit in those boxes, but I have stocked up on some paper bags that should do the trick. They are the perfect size for books. I can get one shelf worth of small light books in one box and it's not too heavy to lift, even for me.

I also got the bar for my bookshelf to make it into a wardrobe. I decided to get it now, because that's the one bit I know I'll be needing before I move and can assess the situation in the new place.

How much do I love IKEA? Lots! They always have the things I need when I need them.

Things to do before the moving date:

  1. Pause the cleaning subscription until further notice.
  2. Order moving cleaning of the old flat.
  3. Buy a foldable trolley.
  4. Talk to the current house's association about the house keys.
  5. Investigate relocating Sona for the duration of the move.
  6. Get some moving boxes from IKEA.
  7. Buy the bar to make the bookshelf into a wardrobe.
  8. Sort through my stuff and decide what to keep.
  9. Start throwing/giving away things I don't want to keep.
  10. Pack everything I want to keep.
  11. Make a pile of things to throw away.
  12. Make a pile of things to give away.
  13. Go to the bank to finalise the loan papers.
  14. Coordinate the wall repair in the old flat.
  15. Get a temporary post redirect from the moving day on.
  16. Disassemble the bookshelves and the sofa.
  17. Maybe relocate Sona. Not happening.
  18. Go to my nephew's christening.

Wednesday, June 6

T minus 33 days

June 06, 2012 Posted by Vaire ,

Things to do before the moving date:

  1. Pause the cleaning subscription until further notice.
  2. Order moving cleaning of the old flat.
  3. Buy a foldable trolley.
  4. Talk to the current house's association about the house keys.
  5. Investigate relocating Sona for the duration of the move.
  6. Sort through my stuff and decide what to keep. (Have started on that.)
  7. Get some moving boxes from IKEA.
  8. Pack everything I want to keep.
  9. Make a pile of things to throw away.
  10. Make a pile of things to give away.
  11. Go to the bank to finalise the loan papers.
  12. Coordinate the wall repair in the old flat.
  13. Start throwing/giving away things I don't want to keep.
  14. Get a temporary post redirect from the moving day on.
  15. Disassemble the bookshelves and the sofa.
  16. Maybe relocate Sona. Not happening.
  17. Go to my nephew's christening.

Now for something completely different.

This video makes me want to be able to sing! No instruments involved, just voice. Awesome, isn't it?

Monday, June 4

Accepted!

June 04, 2012 Posted by Vaire

The association at the new house has approved my membership. Sweet! Now I am waiting for the current association to make their decision, and start packing.

Things to do before the moving date:

  1. Pause the cleaning subscription until further notice.
  2. Order moving cleaning of the old flat.
  3. Buy a foldable trolley.
  4. Investigate relocating Sona for the duration of the move.
  5. Get some moving boxes from IKEA.
  6. Sort through my stuff and decide what to keep.
  7. Pack everything I want to keep.
  8. Make a pile of things to throw away.
  9. Make a pile of things to give away.
  10. Go to the bank to finalise the loan papers.
  11. Coordinate the wall repair in the old flat.
  12. Start throwing/giving away things I don't want to keep.
  13. Get a temporary post redirect from the moving day on.
  14. Disassemble the bookshelves and the sofa.
  15. Maybe relocate Sona.
  16. Go to my nephew's christening.

Things to do on the moving day:

  1. Get the keys for the new flat.
  2. Sign the new loan papers.
  3. Rent a lorry.
  4. Disassemble the bed.
  5. Move all I want to keep.
  6. Make a trip to the recycling centre and/or tip and get rid of the big rubbish.
  7. Feed the friends some pizza and beer for helping me move.
  8. Take a bath and try to relax.
  9. Crash on a mattress.

Things to do after the moving date:

  1. Fetch Sona, if he was temporarily relocated.
  2. Pay a fee to the house association.
  3. Set up an internet connection in the new flat.
  4. Transfer the electricity contract to the new address.
  5. Get an insurance for the new address.
  6. Inspect the wall repair.
  7. Clean up the construction debris.
  8. Inspect the moving cleaning in the old flat.
  9. Give away the keys of the old flat.
  10. Notify the vet of the address change.
  11. Notify other places of the address change.
  12. Pay the moving cleaning bill.
  13. Make a wardrobe out of one of my Bestå bookshelves.
  14. Assemble, unpack, and organise.
  15. Reopen the cleaning subscription and transfer it to the new flat.

It's probably not going to be as straightforward, and I must have forgotten a few things, but it's a start. I can always add to the list later.

Friday, May 25

Bought!

May 25, 2012 Posted by Vaire , , , , , , , ,

Today I signed a contract for a new flat. New to me, that is. The house was built in 1938, and I adore that style, Art Deco blending with functionalism. Gorgeous! It's in a very quiet area, but there is a grocery store on the corner, and a shopping centre one metro stop away. It also is a 10 minute bus ride away from work! That is an unparalleled advantage.

The flat is quite a bit smaller than the current one, but it has a full size bath tub! Whee! It is listed as 32 m2, but it felt bigger. And it has a balcony! A tiny one, but still a balcony. The flat is not in perfect condition and there is lots to repair and even more to restore. The whole place needs to be painted, to begin with.

Some time ago someone had removed the original kitchen and put in a new one. They rearranged the kitchen at the same time and managed to put the largest appliances to the tightest place. I am dreaming of one day removing the cheap IKEA cabinets and having a custom built 30s kitchen with modern appliances put in. But first, I want to live with it for a while to see what exactly should be changed.

The bathroom was last renovated in 1991, and it too needs a little bit of love. Changing the lighting would be the first thing to do. The current one is of yellowed plastic and the light is so dim. The bathroom dream is to put in 30s style taps, lamp, and porcelain, new tiles, and a new deeper bathtub. But it'll do for now, I'm just so happy to have a bathtub!

There are no hooks, wardrobes, or even a hat rack in the hall. That would be the first priority after painting, and the dream is to get a 30's hat rack, some wardrobes, and an oak parquet floor. Probably not all at the same time.

The room still has the original oak parquet floor. I love it! The room only needs painting, and a slight crack in the wall repaired in addition to the various holes for art or shelves. The dream is to replace the modern sockets with porcelain sockets in 30s style.

I've never lived in a place with a balcony before, so I'm not sure what I want to do with it. It is tiny, so there isn't much to be done anyway. Flowers? Candle lantern? Some kind of seating and a minuscule table, most likely. A system to make sure Sona can't go to the balcony alone, that will be a must.

It sounds like there is lots I want to change, and there is, but the flat is in a decent enough condition to live in. The restoration isn't going to happen immediately, it's going to be a project for the next ten years, or even longer. Restoring the flat to the 30s style will be my main hobby for the foreseeable future.

I am completely in love with the flat, the house, and the part of the city it's in. My windows will be looking over a sound and there are no tall houses on the other shore close enough to see into my windows. My view is over water and tree tops. I am so exited to be moving there!

Wednesday, May 16

Sold!

May 16, 2012 Posted by Vaire

I sold my flat! The ad went up last week, the open showings were on Sunday and Monday, the bidding was yesterday and today I signed the contract.

The next step is to get a loan guarantee from the bank, and buy a new flat. The meeting with the bank is scheduled for Monday, and so is the final showing for a flat I've had my eye on.

If all goes well, I won't have to live in a hotel until I can move in myself. My main worry is Sona, because living in a hotel for a few weeks is nothing taxing, but I doubt that any sane hotel will allow cats.

In any case... I sold my flat! Whee!