It has been a month since we moved out of our old house on Oldfield Road, but life has been too busy to post about where we have moved to. The answer is that we have moved a couple of miles west to an estate on the edge of Coventry called Allesley Green. As the name implies, there is a lot of greenery here, which was what really attracted us to this house – the view out the front of the house is over a park/floodplain – all green. Yet we are still less than five minutes walk to a shop/bus stop. The house also has a large double garage which was also a big pull for me! Getting bikes out, or working on them will no longer be a combination of limbo and Tetris! Having tools near the cars, rather than at the end of the back garden will also be handy.

We bought the house knowing that it was going to be a(nother) full renovation project. When we initially viewed the house, back in the winter, we were put off by the layout and decor. However, nothing else we looked at could come close to the location, so we booked a second viewing, and went in looking at the potential knowing it would need some work, and decided to buy it.

The house was originally the show home for the development, so is right at the front of the estate – hence the good views. It started off as a three bedroom house with a single garage on the side, but at some point it had a full height side extension, adding a bedroom, a bathroom and extending the kitchen. The garage was turned into a room (Jen’s office), and a detached double garage built to replace it. There were also some internal layout changes: the front bedrooms were joined together to make a larger room (will eventually be the master bedroom for Jen and I) and the original bathroom was turned into a small bedroom (my office).

In the months before we were able to move in we had all sorts of ideas flying around about how we could alter the layout and how each room would be used. However, now that we are somewhat settled, we are switching up our priorities slightly. Every room still needs something doing, but we are no longer talking about knocking walls down. Our priority for the remainder of 2025 is to get the upstairs sorted – so that the boys can move into their own bedrooms. We have enough bedrooms, but are currently keeping one free so we can shuffle around as work gets done, so for now the boys are still sharing. Jen’s office will also get a mini makeover, as we were a bit too eager picking at loose wallpaper and have pretty much stripped the room.

We have more outside space, than at our old house, but it is configured differently – one bonus of being a detached house is that we can have an out of site area for storage down the side of the house, and the view out of the kitchen/conservatory is of the pretty part of the garden, no storage/garage etc. the previous owner was a keen gardener, so the garden is in a decent state, we just need to keep on top of it. We even have a hedgehog that passes through the garden occasionally. There’s also a patio between the kitchen and garage, which will be great for entertaining, and a “secret” garden on the other side of the garage with a greenhouse. In front of the house there is parking for four cars, and a lawn. Coming from our old terraced house it is nice to have some greenery at the front of the house. In the medium term we will add a flower bed, but for now we have put up some hanging baskets.

There is a lot of work to do, but we have the vision and can tell that the house will be great once it is done. Work on the house is going to be a priority over the next few years, so my blog might end up being quiet for a while, as I will got be going on as many trips.