a fantastic forest by the sea, which when we move will only be five minutes drive away.
it is full of derelict croft houses, all with a clean running stream outside the door
you can go inside and see all the fireplaces, windows and doorways - it makes you realise that our ancestors lived in such small houses, but they had everything they needed - sleeping area, eating area, space for the animals close by.....
it really made Stephen and i feel slightly ridiculous ....
we are building a house that is far to big for just two adults - i know we have lots of animals and will have an "open house" for friends and family, but it did make us feel that it was all a bit excessive.
but i guess the way we all live now is full of things we do not really need but "must have"
we came home and felt the need to strip our lives back to the basics again - the house build, the house contents, our work....... everything
time to sit and reflect
time to really think of the life that is just ahead of us
time to really see what is important
i am sick of worrying about my little business and where it is headed - at the moment it is nowhere as my heart is just not in it
i am sick of looking at bloody kitchens, dishwashers, walk in showers, underfloor heating......
do we really need any of it??
back to basics for me
and i feel so much better for it x
t x
.jpg)
16 comments:
Sounds like the walk was just the medicine you needed. I'm going through a bit of the same right now, trying to pack up my life over here and realising that I don't really need about 99% of the stuff that I have in my room. I feel ridiculous, and it makes me feel guilty. Ever since I moved back home 9 months ago, I haven't felt me- a combination of leaving all my things behind in America (I have stuff spread between two countries right now), leaving behind a new life and routine that I'd just settled into, taking a break from my real job.... I've just felt like for the past 9 months I'm not supposed to have been doing what I have been. I'm hoping that now I've resigned from the job that didn't feel right I can start to feel normal again. I'll have free time to start writing my papers up, and I can start wearing proper clothes again, instead of head to foot black.
I think it's all this limbo that's not very good for the mind. I'm sure you'll feel better too when you're in the house you're supposed to be in. And I wouldn't feel so guilty about the bigger house- it's eco which must offset something :)
xx
Beautiful scenery - as always. Sometimes something simple reminds us of what we really do and really don't want, doesn't it? There are times when I can't make decisions and other times when I just can - with no difficulty.
Maybe it's just 'time' for you?
Take care. x
I hear you! I often wonder why we are living in a house the size we are when we cannot really afford it. I think often of years gone by when huge families fitted into small houses, yet I am afraid for our children to share a room and feel we are busting at the seams in our house which is full of 'stuff'. Surely if we lived in a smaller house we would still be happy, after all I did live in a caravan and was blissfully happy. So why are we now in this situation?
I think transition time is difficult and you will be fine in your new home when it eventually happens and your heart will find it's place again.
the photos are lovely, it must be really unsettling to have to make all these decisions, take care, it will all be worth it. x
How strange, not only me feeling like this then, I have felt so negative lately that I have even been applying for jobs, go to work, come home and thats it, none of this working until 10pm each evening and worrying are the sales going to come through, but then I feel guilty for thinking this way as my web site is my baby!! I dont know what to do? If you live a basic life with basic things everything is soooo much easier I guess and we dont need the extra dosh as we have nothing to spend it on!!
Good Luck with your decisions!
Andrea
x
Tracy - Did you see Grand Designs last night? Fantastic house built by the owners using a log kit from Finland. Just wonderful. One of the best GD's I've seen. (It was maybe a repeat but I'd not seen it before).
I've been struggling with clearing the clutter since January and perhaps our house is a bit too big for the three of us - but we both work at home so...
It's lovely to have space in a house and thankfully we don't have to live with the cows! If only I could win this battle with stuff.
My little business helps create a lot of this stuff and I too sometimes (all the time) wonder what I'm doing and why!
One more thing - There's an old village near Inverrary - Auchendrain I think - that's been preserved and you can see how people used to sleep in tiny box beds in the kitchen, with hardly any stuff, and all the doorways are so little with the byre just a step or two away.
Anyway stop rambling Barbara!
You really do need underfloor heating.
Oh what beautiful pictures! I would love to stand in one of those old stone homes and imagine what it would be like to have lived there. You've inspired me to reflect on what's important this afternoon.
Something in the air at the moment Tracy as so many people seem to be feeling like this. I think you need one part of your life to settle before the rest can follow suit and the biggest part seems to be the house - I bet once you are in and feling at home the rest will drop into place xx
Nothing like a good walk to clear the air, and your mind by the saounds of it. It is so easy to be seduced by the idea of mod cons and glitzy this and that. But you are right do we need it? As you know Tracy we have been renovating for 3 years now and when I think about what I had in England to what I have managed without here there really is no comparison. The simple life wins every time. Your new simple way of life is already bringing you such pleasures and all for free, look at your surroundings they are stunning. It sounds like you have made a good decision and now you can aim for what you really need and not what society tells you that you want
ps the walk looks wonderful
love jules x.
Limbo land is not a very nice place to be,once your new house is fininshed and you are settling in then I am sure you will feel better, at the moment it is all so temporary for you.
I would love to visit one of those croft houses and imagine how life was for them.
Racheal x
That place looks gorgeous. You are so lucky to be able to move near to there.
Sounds like an unsettling time and I am sure you are nervous, but just think soon enough you will wonder what all those feelings were about, if that makes any sense at all?
Great walk and it sounds like it has put some thoughts in order and maybe started a few more.
Carolyn
http://willowhouse.typepad.com
Is it necessary to make all the decisions now?
I think that building a new house must beterribly difficult. We are just converting a garage and moving the kitchen and even so at the weekend we found ourselves in John Lewis being shown brochures for £1800 fridges. It wasn't until we were driving back home that the sheer ridiculousness of it all hit us - we don't even need a new fridge - we just need to move the existing one into a different room.
Start with the things that need to be decided now- like the heating - and work from there,
You are bound to be unsettled. It is an unsettling time. I know a couple near here who built their house from scratch and bought everything new on one wild shopping spree. The house doesn't feel right somehow.
J
x
I have recently had a spring clean and this involved reducing my vivid, vile, vulgar orange (not my doing!) bathroom to the pared back whiteness it now is...
I also chuntered on and rearranged the bedroom too. Then I got rid of a cooker that was not quite right.
Now I am left with feeling very enlivened but a bit empty inside. Like all dressed up and nowhere to go! I will keep you posted about how this progresses....
I'm sure most of us reading this have lots that we don't really need, but that we do like to have. The crofter's cottages are humbling.
Post a Comment