The move went without a hitch. The furniture is all in place, the boxes unpacked, and the pictures hung. Whilst floor space is reasonable, built in storage is less than we had in our previous house. We’ve managed to find spots for most things, albeit some in temporary cube storage until the right piece appears.

As you will notice in the photos below of the kitchen, there is a reasonable amount of drawer space but there isn’t a lot of bench. I found a spot for my Thermo-mix beside the stove, but there’s no room for the kettle or coffee machine. The hallway that runs passed the end of the kitchen is certainly wide enough to accommodate a coffee station, so we’ve made use temporarily of some cubes for that purpose. When we get home from Broome we’ll see about getting a permanent coffee station built in to match the rest of the kitchen.

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With the lovely Marri floors throughout the living area we decided to veer away from seaside decor, so have opted for a more earthy look. As always though, you’ll notice from the modern white coffee table and entertainment unit, our taste can be eclectic to say the least – what can I say, we just liked those pieces. Our excuse is that we think all wood would have possibly looked dark and gloomy.

Yesterday, courtesy of Gumtree, we thought we’d found the perfect pre-loved Marri buffet to match the dining suite. It sold before we had a chance to have a look at it, but another will come along I’m sure. In the meantime our old cherry wood hostess trolly will suffice in the space, with plants, and and an urn on which to charge our iPads etc.

There is a single door, plus a double door at the end of the dining area. The single door leads to the guest wing (I’ll show you that next time). The double doors lead to a study, or craft room. However, we need at least two guest rooms, so we’ve put a queen bed in that room. The room has matching Marri hardwood floors, and is a lovely light room so it seems a shame to have to close the doors all the time so as not to have a bedroom on display from our living room.

We’re thinking one of those beds that fixes up against the wall will be the answer. Paul has always really fancied one of those, but I’ve not been particularly impressed in the past. I stumbled across one today though that I think would be perfect. It’ll form a nice desk when not needed as a bed, a perfect place for leaving a jig saw set up as a work in progress. And when we have need a second guest room, the bed, disguised as a double cupboard drops down for use. I think this will be perfect in this room.

We never had an entrance of any kind in our little cottage by the sea. We didn’t like that, so although there’s no grand entrance to this place there is still an entrance hallway, with an additional little alcove at the side of the door. We’d kept our ‘ship in a bottle’ (family heirloom that’s over 100 years old), and a few of our other favourite shells and bits of seaside decor. At the moment they’re housed in our coastal style book case which fits into the little alcove nicely. I’d rather have a nice entrance stand that fits the space, but until the right piece turns up, the book case will do.

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And that folks is enough to show you for one day. The weather has been miserable so it’s been hard to get the outside in shape, but we’ve made a start on it. Our bedroom, and the guest room are taking shape, and the garage will one day be sorted out. Ill show you a bit more soon, so watch this space…..

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering what we think of our new unit in a retirement village – so far it’s just like any other house, except there’s some really good facilities right in our doorstep. The house is quiet and peaceful, with no highway noise (unlike our other house where I awoke at 5am to traffic noise every day). The neighbours are pleasant, but not intrusive. So far, really, really good! We think we’ve made a brilliant move.