When Sandy and I first decided to move to The Western Isles it was very much Location Location Location and the house could have been almost any tumble down place as long as it was in the right place. Last Tuesday I spent a very pleasant afternoon with The Soaplady and hers is very definitely the right place, no wonder she fell in love with it ten years ago - but I digress. After Sandy’s brother died last year and her mum came to live with us Location Location Location has become much less of a consideration and the most important criteria became Separation Separation Separation! She is such a nightmare to be around that we had to find a house which could be physically separated so that we could live in one half and she could live in the other and we could get our lives back - and we had to find it as quickly as possible. That was part of the plan when I went up to Stornoway last week and - what do you know - I found a house that will work perfectly on the very first day (same day as I found the rented place).
I’d seen this particular house on the internet a while back and it looked as if it might work but there was no floor plan so I needed to see it. It’s not the house we would have chosen for ourselves and it’s not in the area we would have chosen but getting our lives back has become the most overriding consideration and we have to compromise. What the house does have is two huge bedrooms downstairs, one of which becomes a sitting room, plus two other rooms that I can turn into a bathroom and kitchen. One simple door installed at the back of the stairs shuts off the whole of this part of the house and we can then begin to live our lives again without the constant misery that greets us everyday. I can even put in a separate external entrance door round the side and patio doors and a sun deck at the rear. She then gets a completely self contained home that is better than the one she left with the comfort of knowing that help, if required, is just beyond a door. Sounds a bit unkind but only those who have had the experience can truly judge.
The rest of the house, though not ideal, is fine for us for the next few years and we can add value to it by modernising it throughout. When the time comes we will sell it for more than we are paying and then move to Uig or Westside and buy the house we really want.
For most people it would be a pretty decent house and it has some reasonable views from some windows
The view from the kitchen with a perfect spot to park the camper
From what would be the guest bedroom
Surely room for few chickens there?
There you go, the compromise house. We have put an offer in which we are told is acceptable so now just have to wait to see if all the finances tie up and it goes ahead. Early days yet but I might just have killed two birds with one stone on that brief visit to Stornoway.
If it does go ahead I know that I can turn a rather dated house into something much more modern and desirable and it should hold us in good stead while we wait to see if The Soaplady’s house comes up for sale!
June 2nd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Ha Ha Les, I have just chuckled till my eyes watered- I’m guessing Sandy’s mum is not exactly a sunny natured, apple cheeked old lady???
To be really honest, I couldn’t have lived with any of my in laws or parents- much as I loved them, god bless their surgical stockings!!
compromise house sounds ideal- it gets you to Lewis, gets you your privacy back, and I am absolutely sure that Phil ( may he smoulder at me over the granite worktops in my dreams…) and Kirsty would approve whole heartedly.
I’m so very, very pleased for you Les, and wish you and Sandy all the luck in the world that is surely due to you both.
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:43 pm
You might have hit on something there! If you mean one of those really sour apples that make you pull a face like you’ve been slapped by a wet fish then very definitely apple cheeked!
June 6th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
You’re a braver man than I am Gunga Din! Even having the ancient female parental unit cut off by a wall would be too close for comfort.
Perhaps the crab apple doesn’t do just dropping in…
“I’m just dropping in dear,” would quickly become established on a daily basis. That way lies madness. We find a 55 minute drive into Perthshire every month or so quite adequate
Best wishes from Cookiecutter Cottage to the future inhabitants of Compromise Cottage!
June 6th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Ah, but there will be much subterfuge to prevent ‘dropping in’. One side of the house will be set up from the beginning to be beautifully neat and tidy and ‘just so’ whilst the other will contain all the things she can’t abide - like untidiness, work in progress, music, sci-fi programs, more music, the radio, central heating turned off, open windows and, of course, music. Of course we will also be ‘wild’ like not having our lunch at 1pm, the news at 6 and dinner at 7pm - we may not even look at our watches to check the time! Then of course there’s me. Not that she doesn’t like me, quite the opposite, but I’m a man and you don’t talk when a man is in the room unless you are spoken to first. Have you any idea how exasperating that is to a ‘modern man’?
June 6th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Some of that is quite recognisable…what about no radio or music in the car? “Turn that bloody racket off!” Mind you, this was said to SIL (no love lost) in her own vehicle - we are too sensible to do anything so outré as would upset the horses. Much harmless enjoyment can be had re the mealtimes. “When do you have dinner, so I don’t interrupt if I phone?” “Oh you know, any time from 5:30-ish to 7-ish…” “Tut!” The ‘ish’ is particularly irritating
I can see you’ll have lots of fun…
It took us six months to sell a 23 yo bungalow and it had ch and dg - summer is a-comin’ in, anything could happen. Me’n'Marmers are really chuffed for you and hope to see a furious outbreak of blogging soon, if only to let off steam about the Crab Apple!
June 7th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Yes, a LOT of that is recognisable to me too- how about just walling up the door while you’re doing a spot of manly DIY-ing?
Big Man always had to miss the latter half of Xmas dinner in order to get his pa Hughie driven home in time for Countdown, preceded by Hughie and Daph( my ma) re fighting WWII , complete with My Blitz Experiences Were Worse than Yours, Oh Yes They Were…
Christmas is a much quieter affair these days.
I miss ‘em both though…
June 8th, 2010 at 6:00 am
Apparently you need planning permission to physically divide a house in two and we have to think ahead to selling it otherwise it would definitely be down the Build Centre - ‘Fifteen breeze blocks and a bag of cement please’. With the door all I have to do is answer the question ‘Why do you need two double five-lever deadlocks on an internal door, sir?’
Will do a post later on ‘dropping in’ as we had to have a bit of ‘clarification’ last night! That cat might be rather astute!
June 9th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Who me, Les? Blimey!
July 26th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Wishing you all the best in youre new abode–with or without MIL