I have some exciting news to share, I finally have my own home!!
It’s a little one bed bungalow - secretly I much preferred bungalows over flats (- imagine having a deaf OAP neighbour who always had the TV or radio on full volume, it would have been a nightmare for my noise sensitivity!) AND this bungalow has a bath.
I was really struggling to find a one bedroom property with a bath and a times I was getting really low and fed up and disheartened as I kept being let down.
So basically because of my M.E. I really struggle with hypersensitivity so being in a shower feels like I’m being high powered jet washed - ouch! Plus I get cold in showers which triggers my muscle spasms - double ouch!!
Locally there’s one big main housing association and they were the ones letting me down. I was bidding on properties that said it had a bath and as I was in the highest priority band for housing. I often won the bid on properties which supposedly had a bath but after I won the bid on the council housing system HCL I’d be told that the bid was skipped only for me to later find out that the information was out of date and the property actually now had a wet room. This happened about 11 times so you can see why I got so disheartened after each time this happened over and over again. Then there were the properties that whilst vacant the housing association installed wet rooms. Personally I feel there just seemed to be an assumption that disabled and elderly people needed wet rooms. When I asked them about the lack of properties with baths and wet rooms being installed the solution I was given: put an inflatable bath in the wet room!? Yep that was the serious solution that was given to me and my PA.
Me and my housing support worker was just in the process of trying to get me eligible for 2 bedroom properties when I got a call about this bungalow.
When I bid on it I called the housing group that own the property (it’s different the the one I was writing about above) to put my case in for it but they said to just call the council and then when I became number 4 for the property I gave up on the idea of the property so I didn’t think it was to be but in fact it actually was! About 6/7 weeks after I bid in the property however I got a call and I was told that 3 people had turned it down and was I still interested in it and if so would I like to view it.
There’s no storage space so nowhere to store my wheelchair but I’ve found a spot near the door to put it and my bedroom is quite big so I have enough room to make it work to store my medical supplies.
The kitchen area isn’t the best but again I’ll make what I have work and it’s just me living there and I’ll see how I go once I’m living there. One solution Dad gave was to get an external kitchen unit to extend the space and I’m going to put a shelf up too. The kitchen area is part of the living room and the living area is a good size plus I can have my craft area that I REALLY wanted to have so that’s a bonus.
Dad and Mandy have finished the painting now. The doors, skirting boards and window sills have had a freshen up. In the living room I’ve gone for a paint colour called ‘nutmeg white’ along with a pop of turquoise paint. Originally I’d expected to have a separate kitchen and living room so I’ve had to merge the two rooms together as I’d bought a couple of turquoise items for my kitchen so I’ve had to incorporate turquoise into my living space. It will be quite a colourful room once my IKEA button rug is down and my Poang chairs and footstool are in there along with my other furniture. In my bedroom I’ve got the same colour as I have here as I love the colour so much and one wall has glitter mixed into the paint for a subtle shimmer.
I’m not going to need to buy much new furniture thankfully as I own a fair bit already. I’ll need to buy my craft desk which I can’t wait to set up and organise all my craft belongings into it and I’ll need a desk mat, desk chair and floor mat (for the chair). In time I’m going to save up and buy a small desk to put in my bedroom and have my first ever makeup desk. I’ll also need storage and bits and bobs for the bathroom. Then other miscellaneous items like a laundry basket, clothes rack, bins etc and my white goods of course. I’ve bought already most of my kitchen bits and pieces. At first I’ll just have the essentials but in time as I save up and add things and I settle in it will become more my home and I’ll put my own style on the place.
I really want to make a success of living on my own. I know I’ll need some care but it’ll be nice to have to quiet time with the bungalow to myself. I do have my anxieties about living alone: managing my seizures and my bad M.E. days, getting the care I need, managing my health in general and it not going downhill, managing financially and not feeling too isolated to name a few things. I want this to be a new and positive chapter in my life as for so long I haven’t felt like I’ve had much to celebrate because of my health.