House Hunting

And thus we have entered into that joyous journey known as house hunting.

Having received a letter the other day, it was brought to our notice that we have one less month to look for a new place than we thought we did. Shock Horror!....well, no, I exaggerate as it's come at a perfect time.
We realised we're in the perfect place to actually start looking. The only draw back being everything is now happening at the same time (having to house hunt, attend larp events, the latest purple play and wedding plans...ack! Larp events are required to get away from mass hussle and bustle for at least two or three days)
However, duties have been assigned and put into motion so Tom books wedding venue visits in preparation for April, once my parents return from a month long visit to Argentina and I look into booking house viewings.

We've seen two houses/flat so far. The first one, based in Acton, we walked into and fell in love with instantly. Open plan living room kitchen, huge, two large bedrooms and spacious bathroom. Everything we could have possibly wanted. We would have taken it there and then, had it not been over our budget and required us to move in next month. This left me somewhat blue as I loved the place. However, I was brought back from my melancholia by Tom pointing out the parking wasn't really suitable and we couldn't really afford to pay the rent each month without having to sacrifice our little side luxuries (cinema, dinner, going out etc) and hobbies.

Saw a second place just today, based on a road parallel to my parents'. It looked like an upgraded version of our present flat. We loved it, was just within our budget and looked terrific.
Until we walked back home and realised there were more cons than pros. By the time we got home we realised we couldn't go for it. Especially as thinking about it the flat had been nicely designed to look big whereas it was probably exactly the same size as ours and putting all our extra bits and bobs into it (it came fully furnished) would probably do the same to it as we currently have now.
Plus the kitchen was just as small as ours only better laid out. Had it been unfurnished and open plan it would have probably caught us more.

However, we do have a viewing on Tuesday after work to see a place in Brentford which looks gorgeous. It's near the canal, perfectly settled within our budget and looks stunning. The commute may be a bit of an issue, but that will be debated properly when we see it.
I'm loving how many offers we've had so far for a variety of places. Admittedly, most are available now not May when we need a place, but it's great to know so many places are available when we need them.
We're determined to have an open plan living room/kitchen in our new place as that's where most time is spent when we're back home, so we're being picky for a reason. However, I've noticed those are in abundance at the moment so fingers crossed.
We've still got a full month ahead of searching so worry hasn't struck yet!

Next month is larp week and thoroughly looking forward to that. Purple show is coming along, though wadding my way through my lines. I've learnt the first hardest bit, but there's still big challenges ahead. Works going well as making my way through the work load. And wedding plans have been put quietly to the side for a while until April whilst houses are being investigated and words are being learnt, and waiting for mother to return to view with us.

It's full steam ahead this month, but fortunately for the good not the terribly scary!