Author: Chris Riley

The best ever storage idea for an A’van

| Chris Riley

Since buying our little Avan, Georgie Girl, we’ve looked on line for storage ideas that we can add to her. Being what I think is termed ‘a low hipped A’van’, the height of all benches is only 720cms, and consequently, all drawers, cupboards and storage are below that height. There are no cupboards near the central kitchen area that are ideal for pantry storage. Not finding anything inspiring in our on line searches, my clever man came up with his own idea, and I think it’s absolutely brilliant.

The A’liner goes up to a high peak above the sink area, and this is the area we felt was best to add some kitchen storage too. However, very little can be permanently above the 720cm line in the van as the sides need to fold down for travelling. Therefore anything on that wall needed to be removable, lightweight, and needed to be out from the curtains so as they could still be pulled across at nights.

This is what my man came up with:

First he designed some wooden brackets that could be permanently left on the van. As you can see from the shape of them, when the shelf is fixed to them the curtains can still be pulled behind the shelf.

Next he built a lightweight box out of a thin ply. It’s 900 long, 240 high, and 160 deep. He added a thicker piece of wood across the bottom for the cup hooks. There is one screw on either side to hold the box to the bracket. We have a lot of the square Sistema containers in our house. We buy some whenever we see them at half price in the supermarket. They have a great variety of sizes and they stack up on each other cleverly and securely. He kept them in mind when designing the shelf, and they fit brilliantly. Our china cups hang below the shelf, as does a tea towel, and there are still two additionally hooks not used as yet. The shelf itself holds a load of Sistema containers with our tea bags, sugar, coffee, crackers, nuts, muesli bars – loads of stuff. Our coffee perculator sits on the shelf, as does our peanut paste and Vegemite, and all at a great height to access the items easily. Our little ornament yacht sits on top and suits the triangular shape of the van. It’s nice to have a little bit of space for something that’s just for decoration. And on either side we have room for our crystal wine glasses. We use unbreakable melamine plates for our travelling dinner ware, but like most travellers, we still prefer our coffee out of proper china cups, and our wine out of a nice glass. Presto – we now have a pantry!

The screws that hold the box in place just come out and the box slips off. It rides comfortably and safely on the bed when travelling with all of the containers sitting inside it. It literally takes less than two minutes to remove what has to be removed. The cups, wine glasses and perculator travel inside a soft storage container which I purchased from Kmart for a few dollars. These sit on the floor on a piece of none slip matting along with a couple of plastic drawers when travelling. The yacht tucks under the pillow on the bed.

The little plastic drawers live on top of the drawers that hold our cutlery and dinner ware when not in transit. They’re very useful for things like glad wrap and alfoil, as well as all those other little odds and ends that don’t really have a home. We have noticed that a few people seem to use the addition of plastic drawers on top of their fixed drawers, so this was an idea we copied. The pantry idea – that was all our own. And it is brilliant – I know I’ve said that before, but I’m so happy with it that I just had to say it again.

So there you have it – the best storage idea addition that I’ve seen so far to make an A’van more user friendly, an idea that my clever man came up with all on his own. Such a pleasure to be married to such a clever man – He’s a keeper!

Dog Friendly, Flinder’s Bay Caravan Park at Augusta

| Chris Riley

For our first trip away in our little Avan, Georgie Girl, we decided we’d go again to Flinder’s Bay Caravan Park at Augusta. We stayed here only a few weeks ago in our previous Erde Camper trailer, and it was after that trip that we realised that ‘caravanning/camping’ really does put us in our ‘happy place’. That trip inspired us to go back to something that wasn’t canvas, it inspired us to get our little Georgie Girl. (Not that we don’t like canvas, in fact we do, it’s just that canvas is a little harder for two old codgers nearing their 70th birthdays). As you can see from the images below the caravan park is full of beautiful shady trees, with many of the sites having trees around three sides providing both shade and a feeling of privacy.

There’s three caravan parks in town, but during the main season Flinder’s Bay caravan park is the only one that takes dogs. I think during the off season it closes, and then dogs are allowed at Turner’s Caravan Park. I think both parks are council owned.

The park is right on the southern ocean, so the crashing waves provide wonderful background music. Several tracks lead out of the park directly to the ocean for a lovely walk down the rocky foreshore, or for a cooling dip for those brave enough to venture into the cold waters of the Southern Ocean. (Not me – if it’s not 40 in the shade, not much more than my big toes gets near the water). Dogs aren’t allowed on all of the coastline down here, but there is a dog friendly area of the beach at the eastern end of the caravan park. However, currently there are dozens (possibly even hundreds) of toxic Sea Hares washed up on shores of the ocean, and the banks of the river. These creatures are absolutely deadly to dogs, so it’s not wise to let a dog off the lead at the moment anywhere near water in Augusta. If you’ve never seen a Sea Hare, below is an image of 4 together on the banks of the river. Each would be around 20cms in length, and around 10cms across. They look like a huge piece of liver.

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A little mobile Ice Cream van that makes delicious real fruit Ice creams is often at Flinder’s Bay. Our first encounter with said Ice Cream van was accidental on our first night here when we walked down the path that led to the beach. Of course, we tried one. Yum! Today’s encounter was much more deliberate.

There are two ablution blocks in the park. Both are more than adequate, and are kept perfectly clean. With Seniors discount the cost for three nights is $145. It’s a lovely park, not pristine, and there’s no jumping pillows, no swimming pools, and no kids adventure playgrounds. It’s a park that feels close, (and is close) to nature. As I type this, our Mr Tilly is lying out under the trees, and there’s lots of little birds flitting all around, the waves are crashing in the background, and I can smell the eucalypt. Tills is happy, we’re happy, and in fact there are a lot of dogs here, and they all seem happy, as do their owners.

The park is about a twenty minute walk to the river. We have walked it, but we prefer to drive into the river picnic area and then walk down the river to the river mouth and back again to our car. It gives us about an hours walk and there’s so much to see on the river. Today we saw pelicans, dolphins, wind surfers, kite surfers, kayakers, swimmers, paddle boarders, and water craft of all types. As we meandered down the shady trees that line the river back we saw huge trees, Hampton’s style grand houses, little old river cottages, and of course, those ugly, deadly Sea Hares.

Augusta is a lovely little coastal town located at the south west corner of Western Australia. It’s where two rivers meet and run out into the ocean, and it’s also where two oceans meet, the Indian, and the Southern Oceans. You can read more about the town here https://lifeofrileyow.com/2019/05/14/augusta-the-small-town-where-two-big-oceans-meet/ It’s only just over an hour’s drive from Busselton where we live, but it’s a very different sort of coastal town. Busselton is a place with calm pristine waters and beaches. Augusta is place with a rugged coastline, and crashing waves. As far as coastal towns go, Busselton and Augusta are both gorgeous places, but they are as different from each other as night is from day.

We go home tomorrow after our three night ‘shake down’ trip. It’s been wonderful. A real pleasure, and we will be back this way again for sure. It’s a lovely caravan park, in an even more wonderful unpretentious little coastal town.

Georgie Girl – the first trip.

| Chris Riley

Having a few days to spare before having to sort out kitchen renovations (that’s another story), we decided we’d take our little Georgie Girl for a bit of a whirl. For our first trip in our little Aliner we headed down to Flinder’s Bay Caravan Park at Augusta in the South West of WA. More about the caravan park and town later…..

We packed up Georgie Girl with clothes and food for three nights and headed down to Augusta. It’s only about an hours drive from home, so a nice distance for a short get away. The town is just gorgeous, very different to Busselton, we love it.

We ensured we had enough Prozac for hyper-vigilant, Mr Tilly, but we forgot to give him one before leaving home. We tied him on his long lead to a tree on our site, and proceeded to set up camp. He lay down in the shade watching us, and watching the world go by. And he stayed happy and contented for the rest of the day. Maybe he’s turned a corner, maybe he’s decided this caravanning/camping caper is worthwhile after all. He was an absolute pleasure, and without any Prozac. Phew! That’s been nearly eight years coming. Below is a photo of him lying under the table like a beached whale, in the dirt, and looking very relaxed.

The van itself goes up very easily. I think it takes less than a minute to push up both sides and to connect the door. For this trip we decided we’d try out the Avan awning which came with the van. We didn’t hold out much hope for it, as most Avan owners seem to prefer using a gazebo. Another pleasant surprise, it went up very easily. We can see we haven’t fitted quite correctly, so later today we’ll try to work out exactly how it goes. It looks like it’ll add a lovely addition to our outside space when we head off to Broome later this year for our longer winter trip, so it’ll be worth nutting out exactly how to get it up correctly.

As you can see the two peaks aren’t aligned correctly. We’ll sort it out. Our plan for when we’re up in Broome during the winter later this year was to use two gazebos, one fully enclosed against the weather and the other open for breezy fresh air, with a sun shade. If the awning works well, we’ll use it for the sun shelter and will still erect one enclosed gazebo to be able to sit outdoors in windy conditions.

The Avan is small, so our intention is to use it basically as just a bedroom, and to transport our gear. We want to get back to outdoor living when away from home, just like it was in the early days when we were in tents. We loved our tenting years, caravanning, though convenient, just isn’t quite the same. So, we’d like to get to somewhere between the two. 

Next came our first disappointment – Paul connected the water, but so far he hasn’t been able to get the pump to work. Perhaps it needs a new pump. Paul tried to work it out yesterday afternoon, but after an hour or two decided that’s a job to be looked at when we get home. We have a tap at our door, so we can get water for the kettle and washing up etc. It won’t be a hardship for three days.

Our van, being 23 years old, doesn’t have a hot water system fitted. Maybe one day we’ll get one fitted, maybe not. Although it was a pleasant convenience in the fifth wheeler and the New Age, not having it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. In fact, it’s one of those things that makes it feel more like we’re camping.

We both slept soundly last night, and as always when camping, it was an early night. Paul slept on the double bed with Mr Tilly, and I slept on the single (cafe dining converted to single bed). The double bed isn’t big enough for two old codgers and a dog, plus we don’t want to climb over each other when nature calls during the night. At nearly 70 a really good nights sleep is becoming more elusive, so the convenience of our own bed when away from home seems to ensure a better night’s sleep.

We noticed a few drips of water coming from the peak in the roof this morning. There was a lot of condensation over night, but with all the windows opened in the van, we shouldn’t have been getting any inside the van. Maybe the seal needs some attention, another little job that my man will look at when we get home. I’m sure it’s nothing major. Gee, I’m pleased to have a partner that’s a very clever and capable ‘handy man’. I feel so sorry for women who have partner’s that hardly know one end of a screwdriver from the other. Sometimes though I wonder if Paul doesn’t wish he was one of those useless types – he’s always so busy. Part of him loves the busyness, but I’m sure there’s sometimes just a little part of him that just wants to sit down with a good book while someone else does the hard work. As I type this though, he is relaxing with his book. What a pleasure!

‘Georgie Girl’ comes home

| Chris Riley

We went up to Perth and picked up our little Avan (Georgie Girl) on Saturday. It was around 4pm when we arrived home, so with an hour or two of daylight left, we set about emptying her out, and starting to give her a good clean.

Every storage compartment was full. There was crockery, cutlery, pots and pans, a gazebo, an awning, multiple hoses, absolutely loads of stuff. It was a bit like a lucky dip as we dragged everything out. Deciding what will stay and what will go was a job for later.

Everything out, we started to give her a good clean with sugar soap and water, a microfibre cloth, and an old toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies. We did what we could Saturday night, including taking all the cushions inside to clean. Using some carpet shampoo mixed up in a bucket of warm water, and a microfibre cloth, we did what we could to clean and freshen them all up.

Sunday morning we rose early and started again. Paul unclipped all the rubber backed curtains. They are turquoise in colour, but were looking very dull, almost grey really. Realising they’re no doubt as old as the 23 year old van, and possibly hadn’t ever been cleaned, we didn’t hold out much hope for them. Nor did we hold out much hope for the upholstered cushions to be anything but ‘replaceable’. Were we ever in for a pleasant surprise!

By three pm, and several changes of water in the bucket, she was all back together. The outside had been given a quick wash, a cat’s lick and a promise really. The inside walls, ceiling, and floor had all scrubbed up well. The curtains had survived their wash, and had been re-hung. They looked so much better than we’d expected them to look, and the upholstery on the cushions was looking brighter, and smelt clean and fresh. Friends arrived, and we sat around the little table and on the L-shaped lounge with champagne drinking a toast to the arrival of our little ‘Georgie Girl’.

After our friends left, we made up the beds and we slept there last night to try her out. We slept well – She’ll be just fine and dandy, and we’re looking forward to many years and many miles of travel with her.

We’re very happy, and are looking forward to this blog getting back to its original purpose – that of recording the ‘life of Riley on wheels’. I can sense my writing mojo may be about to return!

Introducing ‘Georgie Girl’

| Chris Riley

We’ve done it – we’ve bought an old Avan.

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She’s old, 23 years in fact, but she looks to be in reasonable shape. She’s small, so she fits into the available space we have in our unit. At the moment, she’s pretty well lacking in any character, as are most of the Avan Aliner’s. Hence, the older van – it seems more appropriate to be adding our own stamp to an older van, than it does to a newer, more expensive one. Not to mention the cost of a newer one in the first place.

The interior of Avans are quite cold and characterless in appearance. It’s going to be a challenge to transform this one into something that has warmth, style and character. We will be picking her up next week-end. Be sure to watch this space as she shed’s ‘her dowdy feathers and flies’.

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2024 draws to a close

| Chris Riley

As 2024 draws towards its end I can’t help but feel relieved. What a year, not one I hope to repeat anytime soon that’s for sure. As anyone who knows me well, I’m very adaptable to change (with the exception of changes to technology). 2024 though has seen more changes than even I can adapt to easily.

First we sold our home of 2 1/2 years in Nova Village. Thank goodness we moved into ‘one of those places’ whilst we were still young enough to recover from both the experience, and the financial loss. That’s not to say those places aren’t well suited to some people, it just didn’t suit us. At the time we sold the real estate market was at the peak of the biggest real estate boom I’ve ever seen. Finding a house, any house at all wasn’t easy. Fortunately we found a place to rent on a periodical lease whilst we looked for a place to buy. We knew the rental propert was going to be short term so we needed to pounce on anything remotely suitable. Houses were going under offer before they were even listed. It was manic!

We did find a place that suited both us, and our budget, and moved in on Paul’s birthday, the 8th of May. We’ve done a few things to it since, but at a much slower pace than is usual for us. We’ve both been tired from the two moves, not to mentioned our strapped finances after our estimated loss from the move out of the retirement village in excess of $300,000.

Our enthusiasm for home renovations has been unusually slow, but is recovering now though I’m pleased to say. We’re making plans for how we can really put our own stamp on this little villa to make it our own. I’m sure I’ll have a few changes to show you in 2025, but let’s just see the back of this God-damned awful year first.

 Above is one change we’ve made so far. The kitchen needs a bit of makeover, it’s been designed poorly, but for now Paul has built a small half wall across the end of the kitchen so as to give us a place to put our microwave, and we’ve painted the dark drawers white. (I only do white kitchens).

Below is an image of one of the planned changes to come. A double Velux roof window into the kitchen – with one window opening. It will provide ventilation and light, as well as giving a sense of space by adding some height to the low ceilings.

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We did manage to fit in a couple of little holidays this year. I went to Bali for a week with a small group of ladies from my walking group. Then Paul and I flew up to Darwin for two week break from the winter.

We bought a swag, tried that out in the forest, and loved it. Carting it along with enough camping gear in our little Toyota Hybrid though wasn’t easy. We had a tow ball fitted to the car, and looked for a light weight trailer. The most suitable one we found happened to be camper trailer – which created another dilemma for us. Anyway long story short – the camper trailer won out. Out with the swag, in with the small camper trailer, which we tried out with Mr Tilly as soon as the weather permitted.

What a nightmare that was. We’ve since decided no more mobile homes for us until Mr Tilly goes. He’s such a stress freak when away from home. He’s only 7 1/2, so that’s a good few years away I should imagine. We have still kept the camper trailer, but have removed the tent section. The trailer is very useful for our little home hobby business.

Ah – now there’s another little snippet of news for you. You may remember Paul has upcycled a lot of furniture in the past. It’s become somewhat of a hobby now. Much of our own  furniture is old pine furniture that’s been saved from land-fill with an up-cycle, and we’ve done quite a bit for friends as well. We decided a couple of months ago to try to put our spare time to good use, and try doing some up for sale. We hate the throw away mentality of the world today, so prefer to re-cycle and up-cycle for ourselves wherever possible. This has evolved from that.

We look for furniture pieces that are around 15 – 30 years old. You know the old dark stained rubber wood or pine pieces that were popular, the pieces that are now being discarded, often to land fill, as the owners replace them with the latest furniture trend. After many, many hours of sanding, filling, repairing and painting we move them on via the local face book market place. It’s become a bit of a labour of love, with enough profit to allow keep us investing in a few more pieces that we can save from the scrap heap. It gives us a sense of purpose, and we both love seeing the old transformed into something new.

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That’s not all though – you may remember a good few years ago I wrote a post on the Bunbury Farmers Market.  It’s a place we love to shop at, and a place I worked at for a short time. It was a fabulous place to work, and a job I enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately the travelling distance did prove to be to great, so I didn’t stay long. When I left though, I said, “if ever you open a place in Busselton, I’ll be back”.  Guess what – a new Bunbury Farmer’s Market opened in Vasse, a suburb of Busselton, this month. And guess what else – yes, I’m back there working as Food Presenter once again. I’m in my element!

Bunbury Farmer’s Market

I’m thoroughly enjoying it again. It’s a wonderful, business, and quite unique for Australia. It’s grown to be quite big, so much so that I believe it attracted the attention of Gina Rhinehart, who has now invested into its future growth. I hope it doesn’t grow in way that changes what makes it so special. At the moment there are of course quite a few teething problems, but on the whole it’s running fairly smoothly. I’m a bit torn. I love working there, but I also find breathing new life into an old piece of furniture very rewarding. The furniture – well that’s really a two person job, and one which Paul and I love working on together. As we move towards the start of another new year, I’m sure my way forward will become clear. Let’s see where 2025 takes me…..

The Devil’s Advocate

| Chris Riley

Yep, that’s me, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’! I often go out on a limb saying what other’s either dare not say, or dare I even say it, other’s dare not even think it. Social conditioning is such today that the right to freedom of speech, a right considered ours if we live in a democratic country is no longer a right – that is if you dare to think any misogynistic thoughts, or any thoughts such as ‘toughen up Sunshine’, or ‘just get on with it’.

I woke early today and couldn’t get back to sleep so did something I never do, I went into the living room and turned on morning TV. The first item was about Australia’s shortage of teachers. Apparently today’s kids are misogynistic, sexist, homophobic, bully’s……… And guess what the teachers aren’t getting the support they want from the board (or whomever it is that deals with teacher’s problems), so they’re leaving the profession. WELL DAH!!!! They’re kids, and just like kids from every generation, some will always push boundaries. Admittedly today, in some instances, it is harder to reign in bad behaviour without the inappropriate punishments that were available to teachers when I was at school.

So, here I am, playing Devil’s Advocate. And before you all start yelling at me, I’m not directing this at  the really, really bad behaviour, as no doubt there is enough of that in schools, just as there is in any workplace. I’m directing this question at any behaviour in any workplace, my question is “why does every little slip of voiced misogynistic, or homophobic, or sexist, or racist behaviour need to be addressed to the perpetrator?” Sometimes is the victim at the receiving end really a victim, or have they just grown up feeling a little to entitled to perfect behaviour from everyone around them. Quite honestly, I’m sick to death of feeling like I’m treading on eggshells everytime I dare to think, or voice an opinion that isn’t supportive of some minority. Why can’t someone say occasionally, ‘toughen up Sunshine’! I’m not advocating a return to last century’s mindset. I just think we’ve gone too far the other way. Can we please, please reach a comfortable balance where freedom of thoughts and speech allows for some of those spoken words to sometimes be not censured by political correctness, a comfortable balance were battles are kept for really bad and unacceptable behaviour, and a comfortable balance where sometimes we can actually to say to someone, ‘toughen up Sunshine’.

Let’s get the balance right between what it’s reasonable for someone to be able to shrug off, and what’s totally unreasonable and unacceptable behaviour, and let’s pick our battles accordingly. Teacher’s are leaving in droves apparently, and I get that some have probably left for very good and justifiable reasons. But are some leaving because all their lives mummy, or daddy, didn’t dare say, ‘toughen up Sunshine’, did mummy and daddy fail teach their child one of the fundamentals lessons of life, ‘shit happens – deal with it’, it’s not always someone else’s problem.

Next stage finished

| Chris Riley

As promised some progress shots – the painting of the kitchen cupboards is finished.

We’re vert happy with it. For just the cost of a bit of paint our kitchen is now shiny white and bright, instead of being beige and depressing.

This is a before shot. Some of you may prefer the two tone brown, it’s quite modern, but I prefer clean white.

Before.

Next the panels at the rear of the cupboards, the breakfast bar. More photos to come…..

Time to put our own stamp on our new home

| Chris Riley

We’ve been in our new home now for nearly four months. We moved in on 8 May, which in our southern hemisphere means we moved in as we were nearing winter, and what a winter it’s been. We’ve had rain, showers, or storms almost every day, so not very inspiring weather for any household decorating, or garden tasks. We’ve made very few changes as yet, which is a bit of a slow start for us. Normally we would have re-vamped the garden by now at least, and we would have at least begun to put our own stamp on the inside of any house that has become ours.

A couple of weeks ago an acquaintance from Bridge asked me how we were enjoying our new home. I answered without a lot of enthusiasm, which is unusual for me. Despite having moved house quite often, I usually love my homes. I think that’s because I love decorating. We usually buy run down places and we quickly get to work fixing everything up. After putting our hard work into transforming the places we buy we’re usually proud to call the re-newed places, ‘home’. My lack of enthusiasm this time took me by surprise. 

There’s lots of changes I’d love to make to the house, but most of them would end up too costly, as each would have a domino effect. For example, I think the layout of the kitchen is terrible. I’d love to change it, but what a can of worms that’d open – not only would it mean re-aligning plumbing, and a total rebuild of the area, but it’d also mean all the floor tiles that extend through the entire living area would need to be lifted and replaced. A $40 – $50K new kitchen would end up snowballing to an horrendous job, a job which I’m sure would end up costing in excess of $100k. Not only is that money we don’t have lying around, it’d also be over capitalising for our little unit. So – the kitchen layout will remain as is.  We had a good think about what we reasonably could do though that would put our own stamp on our little unit, things that would make the place feel like it belongs to us.

Consequently we’ve made a start. The first job was sorting out the TV alcove. As the recess isn’t very deep, we had temporarily adapted a couple of shoe cabinets to use until we decided how we’d furnish and decorate it. However the shoe cabinets fit the place so perfectly we decided that with a few adjustments they could stay. Paul’s butted them up together properly which meant shaving off a little bit of the wood, and he’s topped the white cabinets with a lovely piece of raw, light coloured timber. With the offcuts from the wood top he’s put up two offset shelves over the TV. We styled it mainly with coastal  bits and pieces we already had around the place. The only thing we had to buy was a little stack of small books, and two tall vases in which to put the white reeds which we already had. Just that little change has already added a heap of ‘Paul and Chris’ type character. Paul’s done such a good job, I love it!

 Next is the kitchen. Apart from the layout of it, there is really nothing wrong with it. All the laminated cupboards  and drawers are in good condition, but they’re beige and brown in colour, and I’m a ‘white kitchen’ person. The exhaust canopy is good quality, and is reasonably new. The gas stovetop is fine, but induction will be better down the track a bit, and the oven, well that was appalling, so it’s already been replaced. The dishwasher works well, but it’s not a great dishwasher so that’s on the list for replacement too in the not to distant future. But for now, well with the grey floor tiles, the greige coloured walls and the beige and dark brown coloured kitchen cabinets, it was all feeling a bit to – well ‘beige’ I guess.

This was the way the kitchen looked when we first bought the unit. All very tidy, but a bit to ‘beige’ for us.

So what to do – paint it of course!

At the moment our kitchen is in bits. All the drawers are emptied with their contents all over the bench tops. The dining room table has paint sheets under it, and paint sheets over it, and all the cupboard doors are off, and are laid out wherever we can find a space for them. Within a couple of days they’ll all be re-fitted but instead of being beige and brown, they’ll all be gloss white. Then in the not to distant future, the beige panelling backing onto the cupboards will be re-done with white shiplap panelling. I’ll post progress photos as we go.

After we’ve replaced all the appliances and the single sink with a double one, we’ll probably get a new bench top. Apart from the cost of the new appliances, and a new bench top, it’ll cost us very little really in the scheme of things. When our spring weather starts we’re also going to go through the entire house and repaint all the ceilings, and will freshen up the walls changing the colour from greige to a warm white. It should make everything feel lighter and brighter, and it’ll make it feel like it’s ours. Then next time someone asks me, “how do you like your new home?” I’ll be able to answer with an enthusiastic, “I love it!” Won’t that be a pleasure!