Lockdown: At Home - Annie

What’s your name and what do you do?

Hi, my name is Annie and I’m a project assistant for a construction company.

Who lives in your home?

My husband Paul and daughters Alice (3) and Ivy (18 months). 

How would you describe your home?

Well we are currently living in a new build development not far from where I grew up in Co. Derry. We left Belfast two years ago after living there for 12 years with the view to moving home to build our own house. Fingers crossed we are now in a position to begin building our home and yesterday we put our current home on the market. Hopefully this will be the last time we will have to move! 

As we knew we wouldn’t be in our current home for too long, we decorated it to an extent but I had to restrain myself from going all out. The first thing we did however was get rid of the magnolia and paint the majority of the house white except a deep navy for our bedroom and black in the family bathroom. We have however been able to put our stamp on it and made a cosy little welcoming space for us.

What have you enjoyed about your home during the lockdown?

Thankfully the good weather has allowed us to spend time in our garden. Paul built (assembled) a wendy house and painted it and the girls love spending time pottering in and out of it. I’ve enjoyed getting to know my neighbours over the fence and discovering the horses hiding a few fields away. I went back to work when Ivy was 4 months old so I’ve mostly been enjoying spending time with the girls and doing the things I never got around to doing like making banana bread, biscuits and cakes as well as doing loads of craft type things with Alice.

Is there a DIY job you've got round to that you're proud of?

Does waxing my own legs count?? I haven’t really done too much DIY but I have spent time organising our clothes especially using the various Hay crates. It’s been so satisfying sorting through everything and selling items no longer needed on ebay. 

 If you could change anything about your home, what would it be?

 It definitely lacks a little in the storage department so we are looking forward to putting in place all the storage solutions that Pinterest offers in our new home! 

What’s the most recent thing you’ve bought for your home?

I am trying so hard to save as much as possible for the new house but I did treat myself to a beautiful new print by Margo McDaid (her Instragram is margoinmargate) and a set of tall Ripple glasses by Ferm Living from Maven. These are a real joy to drink a G&T from on a Friday night.

 What’s been your go-to meal in the last few weeks?

 I am spoiled rotten when it comes to cooking – Paul is a fantastic cook and does 99.9% of the cooking in our house. He is constantly trying new ideas so we’ve eaten a wide variety of exciting meals over the last couple of months. It’s really hard to pick a favourite!

 Is there anything you’ve started to do during lockdown that you’d like to continue as ‘normality’ resumes?

Every Sunday morning we have pastries and coffee (those little pastries that you can pop in the oven from frozen) and they’re a real little treat. We also do a family zoom call every Sunday and it’s been lovely to catch up with everyone, especially my sister and nieces who live in Italy. I also want to keep up my baking as I really used to love baking as a child but had got out of the way of it.